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PRINTER'S NO. 1042
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
209
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, MURT, HELM, BENNINGHOFF, DONATUCCI, KINSEY,
SCHLOSSBERG, LONGIETTI, CORBIN, BOBACK, VEREB, SCHREIBER,
HARHART, SCHWEYER, THOMAS, READSHAW, KIRKLAND, ROSS, MILLARD,
HENNESSEY, DUSH, SONNEY, ROZZI, SACCONE, REED, CALTAGIRONE,
KAUFFMAN, METCALFE, COHEN, D. COSTA, KILLION, MUSTIO, KIM,
FARINA, SCHLEGEL CULVER, C. PARKER, DiGIROLAMO, STAATS,
MAJOR, PICKETT, WARD, CAUSER, TOEPEL, MOUL, MARSICO, CUTLER,
A. HARRIS, KNOWLES, ELLIS, OBERLANDER, SAYLOR, YOUNGBLOOD,
O'NEILL, GRELL, GODSHALL, PEIFER, GIBBONS, EVERETT, GROVE,
WATSON, COX, SABATINA, GINGRICH, WHEELAND, MAHONEY,
ZIMMERMAN, BRADFORD, GILLEN AND GABLER, MARCH 31, 2015
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 31, 2015
A RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of President Abraham
Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, and noting his
distinguished life of public service and indelible leadership
during an era of great national crisis.
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, at
Sinking Spring Farm, a 300-acre farm with a one-room cabin near
Hodgenville, Kentucky; and
WHEREAS, A son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln was the first president born in a log cabin and the
first president born outside of the original 13 states; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln's family occupied other farms in
Kentucky and southern Indiana during his youth; and
WHEREAS, Recalling his early life on the western frontier,
Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1832: "I was born and have ever
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remained in the most humble walks of life"; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln pursued his reverence for the law in
New Salem and Springfield, Illinois, and briefly volunteered
with the Illinois militia; and
WHEREAS, Largely self-taught, Abraham Lincoln studied books
lent by a Springfield attorney; and
WHEREAS, In 1834 Abraham Lincoln realized his early political
goals with his election to the Illinois House of
Representatives; and
WHEREAS, On September 9, 1836, Illinois Supreme Court
justices issued Abraham Lincoln a license to practice law in
Illinois state courts; and
WHEREAS, On March 1, 1837, having taken an oath before the
clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court, Abraham Lincoln was
formally admitted to the Court's list of practicing attorneys;
and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln further pursued his legal career as
a circuit-riding attorney with the Eighth Judicial Circuit in
central Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Ann Todd on November 4,
1842, at a private home in Springfield; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was elected to four terms with the
Illinois General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln later won election to the 30th
Congress as a member of the United States House of
Representatives; and
WHEREAS, By the mid-1850s, Abraham Lincoln was recognized as
one of the most highly respected trial lawyers in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, In 1858 a series of seven debates between Abraham
Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas convened in towns throughout
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Illinois as part of the 1858 campaign for a United States Senate
seat; and
WHEREAS, Those debates drew widespread attention to critical
issues dividing our nation, including slavery, emancipation and
popular sovereignty; and
WHEREAS, While Abraham Lincoln was defeated in that election,
he was gaining national prominence as a party leader and
campaigner for other political figures; and
WHEREAS, On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of
office as 16th President of the United States; and
WHEREAS, In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln
appealed to seceding states to rejoin the nation; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, on moral and legal grounds, opposed
compromise with those states; and
WHEREAS, Preservation of the United States as one nation was
Abraham Lincoln's greatest duty as president of the nation,
leader of his party and commander-in-chief during years of civil
war; and
WHEREAS, In January 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation, conferring freedom on all persons
held as slaves within the Confederacy; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given in the
autumn of 1863 in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg,
directly championed national unity and the equality and dignity
of all individuals; and
WHEREAS, In February 1865, Abraham Lincoln signed a joint
resolution proposing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude
in the reconstructed union; and
WHEREAS, The 13th Amendment, duly ratified at the end of
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1865, is the only ratified amendment having a presidential
signature; and
WHEREAS, On April 14, 1865, days after the surrender which
effectively ended Civil War hostilities, a Confederate
sympathizer shot Abraham Lincoln; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was mortally wounded while attending
a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in
Washington, DC; and
WHEREAS, The nation fell into mourning when the President
died on April 15, 1865; and
WHEREAS, Mourners paid their respects in the East Wing of the
White House and later the United States Capitol Rotunda; and
WHEREAS, During the funeral procession to the Capitol, it was
reported that every "window, housetop, balcony and every inch of
the sidewalks on either side was densely crowded with a mournful
throng to pay homage to departed worth"; and
WHEREAS, The Lincoln funeral train, reaching tens of millions
of mourners along its route from Washington, DC, to Springfield,
Illinois, followed the funeral procession and observance held in
the Capitol; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives commemorate the
150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's death on April
15, 1865, and note his distinguished life of public service and
indelible leadership during an era of great national crisis.
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