Whereas Illinoisans will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the State of Illinois on December 3, 2018, and the lasting legacy of all that the Prairie State has to offer; Whereas Illinois was the 21st State to be admitted to the Union in 1818, expanding the heartland of the United States farther west; Whereas Illinois took part in shaping the visions and moral compass of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, and became known as the Land of Lincoln ; Whereas Abraham Lincoln demonstrated political courage in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, an Executive order which freed more than 3,000,000 enslaved persons of color in the United States; Whereas Illinois led the righteous path toward equality as the first State to ratify the 13th Amendment, banning slavery in the United States, in 1865; Whereas Illinois fostered the development of many leaders of the United States as the birthplace of President Ronald Reagan and the home of President Ulysses S. Grant and the first African-American President of the United States, Barack H. Obama; Whereas Illinois served as a pioneer in challenging the views of leadership in society by electing— (1) the third woman to ever serve in Congress, Winnifred S. Huck, in 1922; and (2) the first African-American woman to serve in the Senate, Carol Moseley Braun, in 1993; Whereas the characteristic forests, wetlands, and vast farmland of Illinois established Illinois as an agricultural leader and the predominant producer of soybeans, corn, and swine in the United States, and is home to more than 72,000 farms that cover 27,000,000 acres, or 75 percent of the State; Whereas Illinois is home to Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, which survived and rebuilt following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that resulted in 300 fatalities and incurred an estimated $200,000,000 in damage across 4 miles of the city