CapFax: Madigan wants to remove Stephen Douglas portrait from House floor

Stephen Douglas

If you don't know Stephen A. Douglas was a 19th Century Democrat US Senator from Illinois who ran against Republican Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Douglas lost to Lincoln and as a result Honest Abe became one of the greatest of US Presidents.

Douglas as it turned out owned slaves in Mississippi from what I see on Wikipedia - probably could find much better sources - which he inherited from his first wife's family. That's the basis of removing Douglas portrait from the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Madigan wants to remove Stephen Douglas portrait from House floor, replace it with one of Obama https://t.co/W75vsKhHHw

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) July 9, 2020

I normally repect Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, however, he's giving in to this symbolism of removing the images of people as he stated in a press release:

“Of course, removing these images does not erase our history, but it is one more step in acknowledging the suffering of so many and committing to creating a better Illinois for everyone.”

And he wants to insure that Dr. Martin Luther King's statue will be placed in a far more prominent position at the state capitol. He plans to introduce a resolution to vote on Sen. Douglas' removal, and they will do research on any prominent person with a statue on state house grounds.

Oh I glossed over this instead of Stephen Douglas' image on the house floor in it's place President Barack Obama - although it must be noted I don't know how I feel about that. I see Senate President Don Harmon has chimed in on it, but to be honest he should consider Obama in a place of prominence in the Illinois Senate chamber. President Obama afterall was a longtime member of the Illinois Senate, he's never served in the House.