[Title 3 CFR 7047]
[Code of Federal Regulations (annual edition) - January 1, 1998 Edition]
[Title 3 - Presidential Documents]
[Proclamation 7047 - Proclamation 7047 of November 1, 1997]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


3Presidential Documents11998-01-011998-01-01false7047Proclamation 7047Presidential Documents
Proclamation 7047 of November 1, 1997

National American Indian Heritage Month, 1997

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

American Indians and Alaska Natives have played a vital role in the life 
of our country, and their many contributions have enhanced the freedom, 
prosperity, and greatness of America today. In celebrating National 
American Indian Heritage Month, we reaffirm our country's commitment to 
remember those contributions and to honor the unique heritage of our 
continent's first inhabitants.
This special observance also reflects our continuing commitment to 
American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments as an integral part 
of the social, political, and economic fabric of the United States. The 
framers of our Constitution incorporated Indian nations into the 
political and legal framework of this country, forever joining the 
destiny of the tribal nations with that of the American people. By this 
action, our founders charged themselves and future generations with the 
moral obligation to guard the rights and fundamental liberties of our 
country's tribal peoples as zealously as we protect the rights of all 
Americans.



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As we enter the next millennium, we have an exciting opportunity to open 
a new era of understanding, cooperation, and respect among all of 
America's people. We must work together to tear down the walls of 
separation and mistrust and build a strong foundation for the future. To 
accomplish this, we must strengthen tribal governments, improve the 
quality of education for American Indian and Alaska Native youth, build 
stable, diversified economies in tribal communities, create high-wage 
jobs, and ensure that all our citizens have the skills, education, and 
opportunities they need to reach their full potential.
The government-to-government relationship between the tribes and the 
United States embodies the fundamental American belief that people of 
widely varied and diverse cultural backgrounds can join together to 
build a great country. Such greatness can be sustained, however, only so 
long as we honor the ideals and principles upon which America is founded 
and abide by our commitments to all our people. In recognition of 
America's moral and legal obligations to American Indians and Alaska 
Natives, and in light of the special trust relationship between tribal 
governments and the Government of the United States, we celebrate 
National American Indian Heritage Month.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of 
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 1997 as National 
American Indian Heritage Month. I urge all Americans, as well as their 
elected representatives at the Federal, State, local, and tribal levels, 
to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                                    WILLIAM J. CLINTON