LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the birth
of Abraham Lincoln

WHEREAS, From time to time this Legislative Body takes note of certain
extraordinary individuals of remarkable courage and strength of charac-
ter who lived their lives for others, and who stood for liberty and
democracy; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-
standing traditions, it is the sense of this Legislative Body to commem-
orate the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and to pay
just tribute to his many accomplishments; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, and served as
the 16th President of the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, He successfully led the country through its greatest internal
crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery;
as the war was drawing to a close, Abraham Lincoln became the first
American president to be assassinated; and
WHEREAS, Prior to his election in 1860 as the first Republican presi-
dent, Abraham Lincoln had been a lawyer, an Illinois State Legislator, a
member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an
unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate; and
WHEREAS, As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the
United States, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in
1860, and was elected president later that year; and
WHEREAS, His tenure in office was occupied primarily with the defeat
of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil
War; he introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery,
issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoting the passage
of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which passed Congress
before Lincoln's death and was ratified by the States later in 1865; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln closely supervised the victorious war effort,
especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant;
historians have concluded that he handled the factions of the Republican
Party well, bringing leaders of each faction into his cabinet and forc-
ing them to cooperate; and
WHEREAS, President Lincoln successfully defused the Trent Affair, a
war scare with Britain in 1861; under his leadership, the Union took
control of the border slave States at the start of the war; addi-
tionally, he managed his own reelection in the 1864 presidential
election; and
WHEREAS, Opponents of the war, also known as "Copperheads" criticized
President Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue;
conversely, the Radical Republicans, an abolitionist faction of the
Republican Party, criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing
slavery; and
WHEREAS, Even with these road blocks, the President successfully
rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches; his Gettysburg
Address is but one example of this; at the close of the war, Abraham
Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily
reunite the Nation through a policy of generous reconciliation, a posi-
tion his successor in the White House, Andrew Johnson, also took; and
WHEREAS, His assassination in April of 1865 by John Wilkes Booth was
the first presidential assassination in United States history, and as a
result, Abraham Lincoln has been considered a martyr for the ideal of
national unity and human rights; he has been consistently ranked by
scholars as one of the greatest Presidents of the United States of Amer-
ica; and

WHEREAS, The dedication and sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln ensures our
continued role as a Nation which embodies the ideals of democracy, and
is a defender of liberty for people throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln deserves to be recognized and cele-
brated by the citizens of this great Empire State and by all the people
of our Nation for his valiant and steadfast service to our country; and
be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.