I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1625 
To establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 21, 2007 
Mr. LAHOOD (for himself, Mr. RUSH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. LIPINSKI, 
Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. 
BEAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KIRK, Mr. WELLER of Illinois, Mr. 
COSTELLO, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. 
MANZULLO, Mr. HARE, and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as ‘‘Abraham Lincoln National 
Heritage Area Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Heritage Area is a cohesive assemblage 
of natural, historic, cultural, or recreational re-
sources that— 
(A) together represent distinctive aspects 
of American heritage worthy of recognition, 
conservation, interpretation, and continuing 
use; and 
(B) are best managed through partner-
ships between private and public entities. 
(2) The Heritage Area reflects traditions, cus-
toms, beliefs, or folklife, or some combination there-
of, that are a valuable part of the heritage of the 
United States. 
(3) The Heritage Area provides outstanding op-
portunities to conserve natural, cultural, or historic 
features, or a combination thereof. 
(4) The Heritage Area provides outstanding 
recreational and interpretive opportunities. 
(5) The Heritage Area has an identifiable 
theme and resources important to the theme retain 
integrity capable of supporting interpretation. 
(6) Residents, nonprofit organizations, other 
private entities, and units of government throughout 
the Heritage Area demonstrate support for designa-
tion of the Heritage Area as a national heritage area 
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and for management of the Heritage Area as appro-
priate for such designation. 
(7) As our Nation enters the 21st Century, 
there is a compelling need to educate and cultivate 
among our citizens, particularly youth, an under-
standing appreciation for, and a renewed commit-
ment to integrity, courage, self-initiative, and prin-
cipled leadership in public and private life. 
(8) Few individuals in our Nation’s history have 
as broadly exemplified such qualities as Abraham 
Lincoln, and few have so profoundly influenced 
United States history and the Character of our Na-
tion as has our 16th president. 
(9) The story and example of Lincoln’s life—his 
inspiring rise from humble origins to the highest of-
fice in the land, and his decisive leadership through 
the most harrowing and dangerous time in our Na-
tion’s history, continues to bring hope and inspira-
tion to millions in our country and around the world. 
(10) The great issues of Lincoln’s time, na-
tional unity, equality and race relations, the capacity 
for democratic government and ideals to address 
these and related issues, continue to this day to de-
fine the challenges facing our Nation. The ideals 
Lincoln espoused and the sentiments he expressed in 
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keeping our Nation together are as relevant today as 
they were in his troubled time. 
(11) Illinois is known throughout the world as 
the land of Abraham Lincoln. Unquestionably, the 
physical, social, and cultural landscape of Illinois 
helped mold Lincoln’s character. ‘‘Here I have lived 
a quarter of a century, and have passed from a 
young to an old man,’’ Lincoln remarked on leaving. 
‘‘To this place and the kindness of these people I 
owe everything’’. 
(12) Lincoln, in turn, left his own traces across 
the Illinois landscape. They remain today in the 
form 
of 
stories, 
folklore, 
artifacts, 
buildings, 
streetscapes, and landscapes. Though scattered geo-
graphically and in varying states of development and 
interpretation, together they bring an immediacy 
and tangible quality to the powerful Lincoln legacy. 
Individually and collectively, they constitute an im-
portant national cultural and historic resource. 
(13) In particular the stories and cultural re-
sources of the region’s Lincoln legacy— 
(A) reflect the values and attitudes, the ob-
stacles and ingenuity, the failures and accom-
plishments, the human frailties and strength of 
character of the men and women who made up 
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the diverse people of Lincoln’s generation of 
Americans, including upland Southerners and 
Northeastern 
Yankees, 
Anglo-settlers 
and 
American Indians, ‘‘free’’ blacks, abolitionists, 
and their critics; 
(B) reflect the material culture and rel-
ative levels of technical sophistication in the 
United States in Lincoln’s time; 
(C) recreate the physical environment, re-
vealing its impact on agriculture, transpor-
tation, trade, business, and social and cultural 
patterns in urban and rural settings; and 
(D) interpret the effect of the era’s demo-
cratic ethos on the development of our Nation’s 
legal and political institutions and distinctive 
political culture. 
(14) Three previous studies—‘‘Abraham Lin-
coln Research and Interpretive Center Suitability/ 
Feasibility Study’’ by the National Park Service 
(1991), ‘‘Looking for Lincoln Illinois Heritage Tour-
ism Project’’ commissioned by the State of Illinois 
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs in 
cooperation with the Illinois Historic Preservation 
Agency (1998), and the ‘‘Feasibility Study for the 
Proposed Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area’’ 
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