[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 158 (Monday, November 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12478-S12479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 155--DESIGNATING ``NATIONAL TARTAN DAY''
Mr. LOTT submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 155
Whereas April 6 has a special significance for all
Americans, and especially those Americans of Scottish
descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish
Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320 and
the American Declaration of Independence was modeled on that
inspirational document;
Whereas this resolution honors the major role that Scottish
Americans played in the founding of this Nation, such as the
fact that almost half of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence were of Scottish descent, the Governors in 9 of
the original 13 States were of Scottish ancestry, and
Scottish Americans successfully helped shape this country in
its formative years and guide this Nation through its most
troubled times;
Whereas this resolution recognizes the monumental
achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish
Americans that have led to America's preeminence in the
fields of science, technology, medicine, government,
politics, economics, architecture, literature, media, and
visual and performing arts;
Whereas this resolution commends the more than 200
organizations throughout the United States that honor
Scottish heritage, tradition, and culture, representing the
hundreds of thousands of Americans of Scottish descent,
residing in every State, who already have made the observance
of Tartan Day on April 6 a success; and
Whereas these numerous individuals, clans, societies,
clubs, and fraternal organizations do not let the great
contributions of the Scottish people go unnoticed: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate designates April 6 of each year
as ``National Tartan Day''.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a resolution
designating April 6 of each year as ``National Tartan Day,'' not only
to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by
Scottish-Americans to the United States, but to better recognize an
important day in the history of all free men, April 6.
It was nearly 700 years ago, on April 6, 1320, that a group of men in
Arbroath, Scotland, enumerated a long list of grievances against the
English king of the day, asserted their independence in no uncertain
terms, and claimed that they, the people of Scotland, had the right to
choose their own government. They wrote, ``We fight for liberty alone,
which no good man loses but with his life * * *''
These were daring words, because the Scots who wrote those words
lived in dangerous times. Violence ruled the world. Wars were fought
for property, for conquest, for great tracts of land in far away
countries.
But the Scots who met on that cold April day, perhaps in the rain,
were not fighting for property or conquest or estates. They wrote, ``We
fight for liberty alone.'' This was all they fought for. Liberty.
These were daring words--dangerous words--words that could bring
certain death to them and their families. These Scotsmen were claiming
liberty as their birthright. They were claiming they were born free
men--and no king, no baron, no landlord with his troops could take this
liberty from the men in Scotland.
These were words that lasted, long after kings and buildings had
fallen into ruin. These were words that endured, like the mountains,
hills and stones of Scotland.
These were words that reached across the years, the centuries, across
the ocean. Over 450 years later, a group of men stood in a building in
the British colony of Pennsylvania, on a hot summer's day, debating and
then signing their own declaration of independence. They used the
Arbroath Declaration as the template for their own thoughts,
[[Page S12479]]
their own words. This was natural--many of the men in that room in
Philadelphia, almost half, were of Scottish ancestry. The draftsman of
the document was Thomas Jefferson--one of his ancestors had signed the
Arbroath Declaration, all of those centuries before. The words of the
Arbroath Declaration meant something to those men--they were daring
words--words that would not be quiet, that would not lie quiet and
still on some forgotten Scottish hill. The men in Philadelphia that day
remembered those words--``We fight for liberty alone''--and the men in
Philadelphia signed their own declaration of independence.
The words and thoughts of those long-ago Scottish patriots live on in
America. Liberty, true liberty, has been good to their descendants in
America. Scottish-Americans have helped build this nation since the
beginning. Three-fourths of all American presidents can trace their
roots to Scotland. The contributions of Scottish-Americans are
innumerable: Some of the great have included Neil Armstrong, Alexander
Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Alva Edison, William Faulkner,
Malcolm Forbes, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Washington Irving,
John Paul Jones, John Marshall, Andrew Mellon, Samuel F.B. Morse, James
Naismith, Edgar Allen Poe, Gilbert Stuart, Elizabeth Taylor, to name
only a few.
But beyond all of the accomplishments of Scottish-Americans, beyond
all the wonderful inventions like the telegraph and telephone and
electric light, all the works of literature, all the great businesses
and charitable organizations founded by Scottish-Americans, beyond all
of those accomplishments, are the words. ``We fight for liberty alone *
* * We fight for liberty alone, which no good man loses but with his
life.''
Those are haunting words. Those are words that haunted the men who
passed them down for generations, wherever men dreamed of being free,
words that haunted the men who rewrote them in Philadelphia on that
hot, steamy day, words that have haunted generations of Americans.
Words that have lived inside men, unspoken, as they marched to
Yorktown, as they lined up quietly behind the cotton bales in New
Orleans, marched to Mexico, sailed to Cuba and the Philippines, and
Europe and the Pacific and Korea and the Persian Gulf. These are words
that live inside all of us Americans, and especially inside our
veterans: ``We fight for liberty alone, which no good man loses but
with his life.'' And how many have lost their lives for our freedom.
It is appropriate that we honor April 6 as National Tartan Day. The
Scottish clansmen who met on that cold day and declared their
independence were our clansmen, no matter what nation we hail from.
They were our brothers.
Mr. President, I ask all my colleagues to support this resolution, so
that we may never forget, so that the world, in some small way, may
never forget, the beginnings of freedom in far-away, long-ago Arbroath.
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