[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 119 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.J.Res. 119
                       One Hundred Third Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three


                            Joint Resolution


 
   To designate the month of March 1994 as ``Irish-American Heritage 
                                Month''.

Whereas the first Irish emigrants arrived in America as early as 1621;
Whereas 9 of the generals who served in the Continental Army during the 
  American Revolution were Irish born;
Whereas Commodore John Barry of County Wexford, Ireland, served 
  brilliantly in the Continental Navy and is widely regarded as the 
  father of the American Navy;
Whereas James Smith, George Taylor, Matthew Thornton, and Charles 
  Thomson, 4 of the individuals who signed the Declaration of 
  Independence, were Irish born and 9 other signers were of Irish 
  ancestry;
Whereas the contributions of the Irish to America's victory in the 
  American Revolution led Lord Mountjoy to exclaim in the British 
  Parliament that ``America was lost by the Irish emigrants'';
Whereas beginning at the time of the potato blight and famine in Ireland 
  in 1845, over 700,000 Irish immigrants came to the United States 
  during the 1840's, 900,000 during the 1850's, and over 300,000 in each 
  decade through 1910;
Whereas Irish Americans participated heavily in the industrial and 
  economic development of America during the nineteenth century, 
  building our cities and canals and the railroads that expanded the 
  Nation to the West;
Whereas even today, it is said that under every railroad tie an Irishman 
  is buried;
Whereas the Irish contributed greatly to the development of the labor 
  movement in the United States, including the establishment of the 
  American Miners Association in 1861;
Whereas nearly 150,000 natives of Ireland served in the Union forces 
  during the Civil War;
Whereas more than 500 members of the Irish Brigade were killed while 
  fighting for the Union in the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 
  1862, a date that has been called the bloodiest day in American 
  history;
Whereas the Irish Brigade fought courageously in several other Civil War 
  battles including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Yorktown, Fair 
  Oaks, Gaines Mill, Allen's Farm, Savage Station, White Oak Bridge, 
  Glendale, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, and Bristow Station;
Whereas in 1892, Annie Moore from County Cork, Ireland, at age 15 became 
  the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island;
Whereas Irish Americans have made numerous contributions to the arts and 
  to sports, as exemplified by the achievements of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 
  Eugene O'Neill, Helen Hayes, Georgia O'Keefe, John L. Sullivan, and 
  Connie Mack;
Whereas the first woman to serve as the organizer of the American 
  Federation of Labor was Mary Kennedy O'Sullivan;
Whereas at the beginning of the twentieth century, many of the school 
  teachers in America's largest cities were Irish American women;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy was the first American President to 
  visit Ireland during his term in office;
Whereas Irish Americans, including Kathryn Sullivan, the first American 
  woman to walk in space, and Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, America's 
  first school teacher in space who perished on the Challenger mission, 
  have bravely served as America's pioneers in space;
Whereas more than 200 Irish Americans have been awarded the 
  Congressional Medal of Honor;
Whereas President William Jefferson Clinton is the nineteenth American 
  President of Irish ancestry;
Whereas 37 United States governors and mayors designated March 1993 as 
  ``Irish-American Heritage Month''; and
Whereas 44 million Americans are of Irish ancestry: Now, therefore, be 
  it

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the month of March 1994 is 
designated as ``Irish-American Heritage Month''. The President is 
authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people 
of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies 
and activities.







                                Speaker of the House of Representatives.







                             Vice President of the United States and    
                                                President of the Senate.