[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 125 (Tuesday, October 10, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H9516-H9517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SENSE OF CONGRESS IN SUPPORT OF A LIBERTY DAY

  Mrs. MORELLA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 376) expressing the sense of 
the Congress regarding support for the recognition of a Liberty Day.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 376

       Whereas our rights and liberties are rooted in the 
     cherished documents that gave birth to our nation, those 
     being the Declaration of Independence and the United States 
     Constitution with its Bill of Rights;
       Whereas the patriot James Madison, fourth President of the 
     United States, was the major author of the Virginia Plan, the 
     model

[[Page H9517]]

     and the basis for that United States Constitution that 
     emerged from the Constitutional Convention in 1787;
       Whereas James Madison kept detailed written records of the 
     debates and compromises that were in integral part of that 
     Convention of 1787, which records were published only after 
     the death of all delegates to the Convention;
       Whereas James Madison wrote many of the newspaper articles 
     now known as the Federalist Papers, outlining why States 
     should endorse the new Constitution and enduring as some of 
     the best arguments for our form of government;
       Whereas James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights into 
     the 1st Congress of the United States, whereupon the first 
     ten amendments to the Constitution were adopted; and
       Whereas it is altogether fitting that the 16th day of 
     March, the birthday of the distinguished founding father, 
     James Madison, would serve as a fitting reminder of Liberty 
     Day, a celebration of the Declaration of Independence and the 
     United States Constitution, where our unalienable rights and 
     liberties are enumerated: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) a Liberty Day should be celebrated each year in the 
     United States as a remembrance of both the freedom that 
     Americans were given in the Declaration of Independence and 
     the extraordinary rights and liberties that Americans were 
     given in their Constitution; and
       (2) all elected and previously-elected representatives of 
     the people who voluntarily give of their time to speak to 
     Americans about those founding documents, in furtherance of 
     that remembrance of our freedom, our rights and our 
     liberties, deserve our thanks.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).

{time}  1415

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