Full Text of HR1031 100th General Assembly
HR1031 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Ulysses S. Grant became a resident of Illinois in | 3 | | 1860, settling in Galena with his family, a community he called
| 4 | | home when elected president in 1868; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Grant became the second of now four United States | 6 | | presidents with Illinois roots; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Grant Home in Galena is an Illinois State | 8 | | Historic Site, a site on the National Register of Historic
| 9 | | Places, and has been maintained by the State of Illinois since | 10 | | 1931; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Following his service in the United States Army, | 12 | | Grant joined fellow Galena residents who traveled to
| 13 | | Springfield in 1861 to volunteer for military service with the | 14 | | Union Army; this led to Grant being named colonel of the 21st
| 15 | | Illinois Infantry, thereby beginning his now famous rise up the | 16 | | ranks of the Union Army; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned Grant as | 18 | | lieutenant general in 1864, becoming, at that time, only
the | 19 | | second three-star general in United States history; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, On April 9, 1865, General Grant famously accepted |
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| 1 | | the surrender of Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army
of | 2 | | Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse, thereby | 3 | | effectively ending our nation's civil war; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, In 1866, General Grant was commissioned as our | 5 | | nation's first-ever four-star general; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, On May 24, 1868, General Grant accepted the | 7 | | Republican Party nomination for President of the United States; | 8 | | and | 9 | | WHEREAS, General Grant was elected the 18th President of | 10 | | the United States on November 3, 1868;
at the age of 46, he | 11 | | became at that point the youngest-ever president by securing | 12 | | 214 of 294 electoral votes and carrying
26 of 34 states; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, On November 5, 1872, President Grant was elected | 14 | | to a second term as president, securing 286 of 352 electoral | 15 | | votes
and carrying 31 of 37 states; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, During his time in office, President Grant was a | 17 | | champion for the rights of African Americans by working to | 18 | | protect the civil
rights of freed slaves; he fought against the | 19 | | rise of terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan; he enacted | 20 | | the Civil Rights
Act of 1875, and he advocated for the passage | 21 | | of the 15th Amendment which was approved during his presidency,
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| 1 | | thereby granting African-American men the right to vote; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, President Grant became the first president to | 3 | | discuss the rights of Native Americans during an inaugural | 4 | | address by
promising "proper treatment of the original | 5 | | occupants of this land - the Indians"; he also appointed | 6 | | General Ely S.
Parker, a member of the Seneca Nation, as the | 7 | | first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, President Grant enacted legislation designating | 9 | | Yellowstone as our first national park, created the Justice
| 10 | | Department, instituted civil service reforms reducing the | 11 | | negative effects of patronage, and peacefully settled
| 12 | | longstanding disputes with England which cemented our two | 13 | | countries as allies; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, More than one million people attended President | 15 | | Grant's 1886 funeral in New York, including three U.S. | 16 | | presidents,
and both Union and Confederate generals served as | 17 | | pallbearers; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, During the early 20th Century, President Grant's | 19 | | reputation was systematically sullied by Confederate
| 20 | | sympathizers and white supremacists, doing much damage to his | 21 | | legacy of military success and his reputation as a president | 22 | | who
did as much to advance the cause of freedom as almost any |
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| 1 | | other American; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, November 3, 2018 will be the 150th anniversary of | 3 | | U.S. Grant's election as President of the United States; | 4 | | therefore, be it
| 5 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 6 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 7 | | recognize the tremendous accomplishments of Ulysses S. Grant | 8 | | during his service to the United States
as both president and | 9 | | military officer; and be it further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That we declare November 3, 2018 as President | 11 | | Ulysses S. Grant Day in the State of Illinois in honor of his
| 12 | | achievements and in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of | 13 | | his election as president; and be it further
| 14 | | RESOLVED, That we encourage the U.S. Grant Home State | 15 | | Historic Site and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
| 16 | | to plan and carry out appropriate activities to commemorate the | 17 | | sesquicentennial of Grant's election as president.
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