State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
Legislation

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91_HR0610

 
                                               LRB9113382CBcb

 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, This nation's government has served as  a  model
 3    from  which  its  power is derived from the people it governs
 4    and serves; and

 5        WHEREAS, The people who govern themselves and this nation
 6    do so from the ground up, with local governments  serving  as
 7    the cornerstone of service to the citizens; and

 8        WHEREAS, The township is the oldest form of government in
 9    existence   on  the  North  American  continent,  a  form  of
10    government that was brought to the New World by Pilgrims when
11    they landed on the eastern seaboard in 1636; and

12        WHEREAS, In Illinois, the first township governments were
13    established in 1850, a century and a half ago, as the Prairie
14    State continued its emergence as one of the most  progressive
15    states in the Union; and

16        WHEREAS,   Put   into  historical  perspective,  township
17    government has served and thrived through  countless  changes
18    in  federal  and  state  administrations, sweeping social and
19    economic changes and  a  century  and  a  half  of  progress,
20    primarily  because  of its grassroots model of service to the
21    people; and

22        WHEREAS, Put further into historical perspective, in 1850
23    Zachary Taylor was serving as  this  great  nation's  twelfth
24    president;   the   Underground   Railroad   was   founded  by
25    emancipationist  Harriet  Tubman  and  began  providing  safe
26    passage from slavery to  freedom  for  hundreds  of  American
27    slaves;  and  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  the  first  woman in the
28    United States to practice medicine with a degree earned  from
29    an  American medical school, began her first year in practice
30    as a medical doctor; and

31        WHEREAS, Zachary Taylor has long been  forgotten  by  all
 
                            -2-                LRB9113382CBcb
 1    but the most fervent historians, slavery has been effectively
 2    abolished  for  135  years,  machines  are  being replaced by
 3    high-tech computers, and women in medical school  are  nearly
 4    as  prominent  as  men,  but township government continues to
 5    serve and thrive; and

 6        WHEREAS, In April, 2000, township government in  Illinois
 7    celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary as the government
 8    of "the people next door", a  local government that continues
 9    to  serve  its  constituents  with efficiency and dedication;
10    therefore, be it

11        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
12    NINETY-FIRST  GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
13    we  congratulate  our  local  township  officials   as   they
14    celebrate   the  150th  anniversary  of  the  first  township
15    governments in Illinois; and be it further

16        RESOLVED, That we extend to our local township  officials
17    our  best  wishes for continued success in the service of the
18    people who  depend  on  townships  for  essential  government
19    services; and be it further

20        RESOLVED,  That  a  suitable  copy  of this resolution be
21    delivered to the Township Officials of Illinois to serve as a
22    tribute  to  the  sesquicentennial  celebration  of  township
23    government in Illinois.

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