HR1031 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY


  

 


 
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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Ulysses S. Grant became a resident of Illinois in
31860, settling in Galena with his family, a community he called
4home when elected president in 1868; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Grant became the second of now four United States
6presidents with Illinois roots; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The U.S. Grant Home in Galena is an Illinois State
8Historic Site, a site on the National Register of Historic
9Places, and has been maintained by the State of Illinois since
101931; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Following his service in the United States Army,
12Grant joined fellow Galena residents who traveled to
13Springfield in 1861 to volunteer for military service with the
14Union Army; this led to Grant being named colonel of the 21st
15Illinois Infantry, thereby beginning his now famous rise up the
16ranks of the Union Army; and
 
17    WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned Grant as
18lieutenant general in 1864, becoming, at that time, only the
19second three-star general in United States history; and
 
20    WHEREAS, On April 9, 1865, General Grant famously accepted

 

 

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1the surrender of Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army of
2Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse, thereby
3effectively ending our nation's civil war; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In 1866, General Grant was commissioned as our
5nation's first-ever four-star general; and
 
6    WHEREAS, On May 24, 1868, General Grant accepted the
7Republican Party nomination for President of the United States;
8and
 
9    WHEREAS, General Grant was elected the 18th President of
10the United States on November 3, 1868; at the age of 46, he
11became at that point the youngest-ever president by securing
12214 of 294 electoral votes and carrying 26 of 34 states; and
 
13    WHEREAS, On November 5, 1872, President Grant was elected
14to a second term as president, securing 286 of 352 electoral
15votes and carrying 31 of 37 states; and
 
16    WHEREAS, During his time in office, President Grant was a
17champion for the rights of African Americans by working to
18protect the civil rights of freed slaves; he fought against the
19rise of terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan; he enacted
20the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and he advocated for the passage
21of the 15th Amendment which was approved during his presidency,

 

 

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1thereby granting African-American men the right to vote; and
 
2    WHEREAS, President Grant became the first president to
3discuss the rights of Native Americans during an inaugural
4address by promising "proper treatment of the original
5occupants of this land - the Indians"; he also appointed
6General Ely S. Parker, a member of the Seneca Nation, as the
7first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and
 
8    WHEREAS, President Grant enacted legislation designating
9Yellowstone as our first national park, created the Justice
10Department, instituted civil service reforms reducing the
11negative effects of patronage, and peacefully settled
12longstanding disputes with England which cemented our two
13countries as allies; and
 
14    WHEREAS, More than one million people attended President
15Grant's 1886 funeral in New York, including three U.S.
16presidents, and both Union and Confederate generals served as
17pallbearers; and
 
18    WHEREAS, During the early 20th Century, President Grant's
19reputation was systematically sullied by Confederate
20sympathizers and white supremacists, doing much damage to his
21legacy of military success and his reputation as a president
22who did as much to advance the cause of freedom as almost any

 

 

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1other American; and
 
2    WHEREAS, November 3, 2018 will be the 150th anniversary of
3U.S. Grant's election as President of the United States;
4therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
6HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
7recognize the tremendous accomplishments of Ulysses S. Grant
8during his service to the United States as both president and
9military officer; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That we declare November 3, 2018 as President
11Ulysses S. Grant Day in the State of Illinois in honor of his
12achievements and in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of
13his election as president; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That we encourage the U.S. Grant Home State
15Historic Site and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
16to plan and carry out appropriate activities to commemorate the
17sesquicentennial of Grant's election as president.