Bill Text: IL HR0492 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Congratulates the Most Serene Republic of San Marino upon the 2017 celebration of the Feast of San Marino and of the foundation of the Republic.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-21 - Resolution Adopted [HR0492 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HR0492-Introduced.html

---

HR0492 LRB100 13071 MST 27458 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the Most Serene Republic of
San Marino was adopted on October 8, 1600, making the European
enclave the world's oldest constitutional republic; and
WHEREAS, On the 3rd day of September, 2017, the Most Serene
Republic of San Marino will celebrate the Feast of San Marino,
a holiday recognizing the anniversary of the foundation of the
Republic in A.D. 301; and
WHEREAS, In the mid-19th century, there were only a few
republics in Europe; hundreds of letters poured in from all
over the world in the spring of 1861, congratulating Abraham
Lincoln, the favorite son of the State of Illinois, on his
inauguration as President of the United States; one in
particular from the oldest surviving republic in the world,
"the Most Serene Republic of San Marino", caught the eye of
Secretary of State William Henry Seward; the message was
addressed to the new president of a much younger and most
troubled republic facing secession and civil war; and
WHEREAS, President Lincoln was greatly moved by the letter
and it stirred him to view the national calamity now facing his
own country as part of a much grander question: what future, if
any, did republican democracy have in a world beset by slavery

HR0492 - 2 - LRB100 13071 MST 27458 r
and tyranny; and
WHEREAS, In his reply to San Marino, President Lincoln
wrote: "Great and Good Friends .... Although your dominion is
small, your State is nevertheless one of the most honored, in
all history. It has by its experience demonstrated the truth,
so full of encouragement to the friends of Humanity, that
Government founded on Republican principles is capable of being
so administered as to be secure and enduring"; and
WHEREAS, President Lincoln's letter then turned to
America's troubles: "You have kindly adverted to the trial
through which this Republic is now passing. It is one of deep
import. It involves the question whether a Representative
republic, extended and aggrandized so much as to be safe
against foreign enemies can save itself from the dangers of
domestic faction. I have faith in a good result."; a thought
the president would place at the center of his Gettysburg
Address, still two and a half years in the future; and
WHEREAS, In President Lincoln's reply to the Captains
Regent on May 7, 1861, the United States of America by exchange
of notes recognized the Most Serene Republic of San Marino
through the President's acceptance of San Marino's offer of
honorary citizenship; therefore, be it

HR0492 - 3 - LRB100 13071 MST 27458 r
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
congratulate the Most Serene Republic of San Marino upon the
2017 celebration of the Feast of San Marino and of the
foundation of the Republic, and with an enduring memory of the
ties between our peoples we thank the people and Captains
Regent of San Marino for their friendship to the United States
and their recognition of President Abraham Lincoln; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the people and the Captains Regent of the Most
Serene Republic of San Marino.