Full Text of HR1147 100th General Assembly
HR1147 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, On May 5, 1868, John A. Logan, commander of the | 3 | | Grand Army of the Republic, issued
General Order No. 11 | 4 | | designating the 30th day of May "for the purpose of strewing | 5 | | with flowers or
otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who | 6 | | died in defense of their country ... "; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, In so doing, John Logan established the national | 8 | | Memorial Day holiday; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, This Memorial Day will mark the 150th reading of | 10 | | his "Memorial Day Order" at thousands of
Memorial Day | 11 | | observations across America; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Despite this, John Logan, according to biographer | 13 | | Gary Ecelberger "may be the most noteworthy
19th century | 14 | | American to escape notice in the 20th and 21st centuries"; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, John Alexander Logan was born in Murphysboro in | 16 | | Jackson County in 1826, the son of
Dr. John and Elizabeth | 17 | | (Jenkins) Logan; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, John Logan grew up in southernmost Illinois, a | 19 | | region derisively called "Egypt", whose residents,
according | 20 | | to the Boston Liberator, were "mostly poor whites from the |
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| 1 | | Southern States too poor to own slaves themselves, too ignorant | 2 | | to
know any better than to indulge the prejudices and ape the | 3 | | conduct of those who did."; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, In 1853, John Logan succeeded in passing a severe | 5 | | "Black Code" prohibiting African-Americans from
entering | 6 | | Illinois and blocked the passage of a bill to allow | 7 | | African-Americans to testify in court; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, After returning from the Mexican-American War, | 9 | | John Logan entered politics as a Jacksonian
Democrat, serving | 10 | | as Jackson County Clerk; in 1858, he was elected to represent | 11 | | the Ninth
Congressional District of Illinois and won reelection | 12 | | in 1860; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, With the outbreak of the Civil War, John Logan, | 14 | | being from "Egypt", had a foot in both the South and
the North, | 15 | | and for too long sought a compromise; he finally declared his | 16 | | support for the Union in June
of 1862; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, John Logan took part in the First Battle of Bull | 18 | | Run as a Congressman and, when he returned home to Marion, told | 19 | | his constituents, "The time must come when a man must be for or | 20 | | against his country, not for or against his state...I for one | 21 | | will stand or fall with the Union."; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, John Logan then raised the 31st Illinois Infantry, | 2 | | telling all who volunteered that should Lincoln free
the slaves | 3 | | he would bring his men back home; he is credited by Ulysses S. | 4 | | Grant for saving Southern
Illinois for the Union; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, John Logan entered the war as a colonel and rose | 6 | | in rank to major general; it was after his
victory at Vicksburg | 7 | | that he earned the privilege of leading the first troops after | 8 | | the cities surrender, and
it was after this victory that he | 9 | | gave his "Great Union Speech" which brought President Lincoln | 10 | | to
absolve Logan "in his own mind for all of the wrong he ever | 11 | | did and all he will do hereafter"; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, As the war progressed, John Logan's longstanding | 13 | | racist attitudes changed, and he came to accept
the | 14 | | Emancipation Proclamation; by the end of the war he supported | 15 | | the 13th Amendment; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, In 1866, John Logan won election to the U.S. House | 17 | | as a Republican, and in 1870 he became
a U.S. Senator for the | 18 | | State of Illinois; he was the Republican vice-presidential | 19 | | candidate in 1884, and it was during this
time that he | 20 | | supported the adoption of the 14th and 15th Amendments; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, The actions of John Logan brought Frederick | 22 | | Douglass to endorse him for the Republican presidential
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| 1 | | nomination in 1884, however James Blaine would eventually end | 2 | | up winning the Republican primary; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Frederick Douglass continued his support for John | 4 | | Logan and said of him in a speech, "But what of John A.
Logan? I | 5 | | will tell you. If there is any statesman on this continent, now | 6 | | in public life, to whose courage,
justice and fidelity, I would | 7 | | more fully and unreservedly trust the cause of the colored | 8 | | people of this
country, or the cause of any other people, ... | 9 | | no man has been bolder and truer to the cause of the cause
of | 10 | | the colored man and to the country, than has John A. Logan. | 11 | | There is no nonsense about him. I
endorse him to you with all | 12 | | my might, mind, and strength and without a single shadow of a | 13 | | doubt"; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Senator John A. Logan died on December 26, 1886 in | 15 | | Washington D.C.; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, As our state celebrates its bicentennial, few | 17 | | Illinoisans remember John Logan, or the fact
that just a little | 18 | | over a century ago Illinois considered itself the land of | 19 | | "Lincoln, Grant and Logan"; the bicentennial seems a perfect | 20 | | time to remember this forgotten Illinois hero who put his | 21 | | country above party loyalty and who rejected long-held racist | 22 | | beliefs to help the nation's former enslaved peoples gain equal | 23 | | rights; therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 2 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 3 | | applaud John A. Logan for his sense of duty for country, for | 4 | | his dedication to public service, for his work done to promote | 5 | | equal rights, and for starting the proud tradition of | 6 | | celebrating Memorial Day every year in this country.
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