LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing the 150th Anniversary of President
Abraham Lincoln's death on April 15, 2015, and paying tribute to his
many accomplishments

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, this Legislative Body is moved to memorialize the
150th Anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's death on April 15,
2015, and pay tribute to his many accomplishments; and
WHEREAS, The 16th President of our great Nation, Abraham Lincoln is
regarded as one of America's greatest heroes due to both his incredible
impact on the Nation and his unique appeal; he rose from humble begin-
nings to achieve the highest office in the land; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln's humane personality and historical
role as savior of the Union during the United States Civil War and eman-
cipator of the slaves, creates a legacy that endures today; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Hardin County,
Kentucky, to Thomas and Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln; his mother died at a
young age; his father then married Sarah Bush Johnson, a strong and
affectionate woman with whom young Abraham quickly bonded; it was his
stepmother who encouraged him to read and educate himself; and
WHEREAS, At the age of 22, Abraham Lincoln left the home and made a
living splitting wood; he migrated to the small community of New Salem,
Illinois, where, throughout the years, he worked as a shopkeeper, post-
master, and an owner of a general store; and
WHEREAS, In 1834, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the Illinois State
Legislature as a member of the Whig Party; he then became interested in
becoming a lawyer, teaching himself the law by reading William
Blackstone's COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND; three years later, he
was admitted to the bar and began to practice in the John T. Stuart law
firm; and
WHEREAS, From 1847 to 1849, Abraham Lincoln served a single term in
the United States House of Representatives; after an unsuccessful
tenure, he returned to Springfield, Illinois, to practice law; and
WHEREAS, By the 1850s, the railroad industry was moving west and Illi-
nois found itself becoming a major hub for various companies; Abraham
Lincoln served as the attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad; and
WHEREAS, On November 4, 1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd; the
couple had four children, of which only one, Robert, survived to adult-
hood; and
WHEREAS, In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which
allowed individual states and territories to decide for themselves
whether to allow slavery; this action awakened Abraham Lincoln's poli-
tical zeal once again, and his views on slavery moved toward moral
indignation; and
WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln believed that America's founders intended
that all men were created with certain inalienable rights; he decided to
challenge sitting United States Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat;
and
WHEREAS, Even though he lost the election, Abraham Lincoln was vaulted
into national politics; in 1860, political operatives in Illinois organ-
ized a campaign to support him for the presidency; and
WHEREAS, In the general election, Abraham Lincoln carried 180 of 303
Electoral votes, winning the presidency; he selected a strong cabinet

which became one of his strongest assets in his first term of office;
and
WHEREAS, Before President Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in March of
1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union and by April, the
United States military installation Fort Sumter was under siege in
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina; in the early morning hours of April
12, 1861, America's costliest and most deadly conflict began; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln responded to the crisis wielding
powers as no other President before him; he distributed funds from the
Treasury for war material without an appropriation from Congress, called
for 75,000 volunteers to join the military without a declaration of war,
and suspended the writ of habeas corpus, arresting and imprisoning
suspected Confederate sympathizers without a warrant; and
WHEREAS, From all directions, President Abraham Lincoln faced dispar-
agement and defiance; he was often at odds with his Generals, his Cabi-
net, his party and a majority of the American people; and
WHEREAS, After a difficult first year and a half of battle, a conclu-
sive Union victory at Antietam on September 22, 1862, boosted morale;
President Abraham Lincoln felt confident enough to reshape the cause of
the war from union to abolishing slavery; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama-
tion on January 1, 1863, which stated that all individuals who were held
as slaves in rebellious states "henceforward shall be free"; and
WHEREAS, In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was re-elected; on April
9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Virginia,
surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the war for
all intents and purposes was over; and
WHEREAS, Five days later, on April 14th, President Abraham Lincoln was
shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, at Ford's Theater
in Washington, D.C.; after lying nine hours in a coma, he succumbed to
his injuries and died the next morning, on April 15, 1865; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln's body lay in state at the Capitol
before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in
Springfield, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Armed with a humanistic spirit, imbued with a sense of
compassion, and loved by the Nation as a whole, President Abraham
Lincoln's life was a portrait of service and patriotism, a legacy that
long endured the passage of time, and will forever remain in the hearts
of all Americans; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
.SO DOC A R307 RESO TEXT 2015
memorialize the 150th Anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's death
on April 15, 2015, and pay tribute to his many accomplishments; and be
if further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the 1st New York Light Artillery Regiment Battery M Reenact-
ment Group.