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 legacyl 
(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
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’’
revised in 2003, help document a sufficient assem-
blage of nationally distinctive historical resources to 
demonstrate the feasibility and need to establish the 
Heritage Area. 
(15) The National Park Service operates and 
maintains the Lincoln Home National Historic Site 
in Springfield, Illinois, and is responsible for advo-
cating the protection and interpretation of the Na-
tion’s cultural and historic resources and encour-
aging the development of interpretive context for 
these resources through appropriate planning and 
preservation. 
(16) The Heritage Area can strengthen, com-
plement, and support the Lincoln Home National 
Historic Site through the interpretation and con-
servation of the associated living landscapes outside 
of the boundaries of this historic site. 
(17) There is a Federal interest in supporting 
the development of a regional framework and con-
text to partner with and assist the National Park 
Service, the State of Illinois, local organizations and 
governments, and private citizens to conserve, pro-
tect, and bring recognition to the resources of the 
Heritage Area for the educational and recreational 
benefit of this and future generations.