[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 93 (Friday, June 29, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7154-S7155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the Senate will shortly recess, hopefully,
for the Independence Day holiday. Many Members will return home to meet
with their constituents. Some will perform a time-honored ritual and
take part in bunting-swagged Independence Day parades, sweating and
waving from the backs of convertibles somewhere in the line-up between
the pretty festival queens, brightly polished antique cars, flashing
fire engines, and, hopefully, ahead of the prancing equestrian groups.
It is an American tradition as familiar and as comforting as the fried
chicken and the apple pie that everyone will enjoy. Families and
friends will gather to watch the fireworks light the evening sky.
This first Independence Day of the new millennium calls to mind an
earlier year two centuries ago. The year was 1801. Of course, then, as
now, there had been a hotly contested election. Control of government
passed from one party to another. It took a vote in the electoral
college to decide the Presidency, and the House of Representatives put
Thomas Jefferson into the White House instead of Aaron Burr.
Passions ran high and many strong words were uttered. Grudges were
nursed, and we feel those same passions today, and with the recent
change of party control in the Senate, some angry feelings have been
fanned anew. It is, perhaps, a good time as we celebrate the 225th
anniversary of our country's independence as a new nation, a new
government created under God in as thoughtful and inspired a manner as
man can devise, to recall these words from President Jefferson's
inaugural address:
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed
the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes
worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to
think freely and to speak and write what they think; but this
being now decided by the voice of the Nation, announced
according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of
course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and
unite in common efforts for the common good. All too, will
bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of
the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be
rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possesses
their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to
violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens,
unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social
intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty
and even life itself are but dreary things.
The language that came from Jefferson's inaugural speech may be
archaic, but the message rings true through the ages and is
contemporary still. It reminds us of the great luxury of our liberty--
the freedom to say what we think and the ability to stand up for what
we believe. It also reminds us of the need, then as now, to remember,
protect, and preserve our liberty as our greatest common good. For
that, we must stand together as a people united in, as Jefferson says
later in his speech, ``. . . The preservation of the general government
in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at
home and safety abroad . . . .''
Americans are fortune's children. We are the lucky citizens of a
great and novel experiment in government, the golden children of a 225-
year-old alchemy that blended the best of all governmental forms into a
wholly new metal, a grand representative government that has endured
the trials of centuries. We enjoy power coupled with restraint; wealth
with generosity; individual opportunity with concern for the less
fortunate. Though at times it seems that we are consumed by petty
squabbles or diverse interests that
[[Page S7155]]
threaten to fragment us as a people, each year on the glorious Fourth
of July we are given a chance to come together proudly as one American
people, to honor, in Jefferson's words, ``[T]he wisdom of our sages and
the blood of our heros . . .'' that have been devoted to the principles
embodied in our Constitution and our government.
This next Wednesday evening, as fireworks thunder over the Jefferson
Memorial in Washington and are mirrored in the reflecting pond around
it, patriotic strains will fill the air. Similar scenes will play out
around the country. Whether in Washington or in small towns or medium-
sized cities around the Nation, or in large cities, we may all be proud
to be Americans first and foremost. Whatever other allegiances we might
have, to party, church, state, or community, we are Americans first.
Let us celebrate that and let us not forget it.
As you light your sparklers and fountains, as you hear the martial
music of John Phillip Sousa, as you applaud the fireworks displays, as
you eat the first sweet corn and tomatoes from the garden, look around
you and feel proud. Be proud that 225 years ago, bold men risked their
lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor to give us this
wonderful system of States, this amazing governmental system, this land
of the free, this home of the brave united as one nation under God and
under the red, white, and blue flag of the United States of America.
Feel glad that so many of your fellow citizens are standing at your
shoulders watching the parade, or sitting nearby with their families
looking up at the sky ablaze with man-made stars. In these crowds is
our hope for a long future as a people united still under Old Glory,
and under the Constitution of the United States.
Mr. President, Thomas Jefferson spoke of our constitutional
government as the ``sheet anchor'' of our peace and safety. He chose
his nautical allusion fittingly. A sheet anchor, according to the
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a noun that first appeared in the 15th
Century. It is a large, strong anchor formerly carried in the waist of
a ship and used as a spare in an emergency, but the phrase has also
come to be used for something that constitutes a main support or
dependence, especially in times of danger. Truly, then, the
Constitution is not just the organizing construct of our government,
but also, as Jefferson saw it, the tool by which our Nation would
preserve our liberties. It is fitting, then, to close with the words of
the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote about the republic in
``The Building of the Ship.''
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis but the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights from the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, ours prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee--are all with thee!
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I certainly join my colleagues in
expressing our warm appreciation for our senior colleague, our
President pro tempore, for addressing the Senate in such a stirring
manner. It lifts the hearts of all of us in this late hour on a Friday
afternoon, which has, I guess, a degree of uncertainty as to the manner
in which we are going to proceed.
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