[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 74 (Tuesday, May 6, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S3802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 553--CONGRATULATING CHARLES COUNTY, MARYLAND, ON THE 
                   OCCASION OF ITS 350TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Ms. Mikulski) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 553

       Whereas 2008 marks the 350th anniversary of the 
     establishment of Charles County, Maryland, a historic and 
     memorable event that will be commemorated throughout the 
     year;
       Whereas Charles County was chartered in 1658 and named 
     after Charles Calvert, a royal proprietor of the colony of 
     Maryland;
       Whereas citizens of Charles County have played an important 
     role in the history of Maryland and our Nation, including 
     Thomas Stone, whose home is maintained by the National Park 
     Service in Port Tobacco and who served as a Continental 
     Congressman, a framer of the Articles of Confederation, and a 
     signer of the Declaration of Independence;
       Whereas, under the Articles of Confederation, John Hanson, 
     born in Port Tobacco, served as the President of the United 
     States in Congress Assembled;
       Whereas Josiah Henson escaped slavery and fled from Charles 
     County to Canada, where he wrote his autobiography, a 
     narrative that later inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous 
     novel ``Uncle Tom's Cabin'';
       Whereas Josiah Henson's grandnephew, Matthew Henson, left 
     Charles County farmland to become an arctic explorer, 
     venturing to the North Pole and going on to receive 
     international acclaim;
       Whereas, following the Civil War, the house of Dr. Samuel 
     A. Mudd in Waldorf was where John Wilkes Booth stopped to 
     have Dr. Mudd reset his leg, broken after he fatally shot 
     President Abraham Lincoln and jumped off the balcony of 
     Ford's Theater in Washington, DC;
       Whereas today Charles County has roughly 120,000 residents;
       Whereas, while farming and small town life still flourish, 
     particularly along the banks of the Potomac River, the 
     population of the county is growing; and
       Whereas the county is home to workers in the National 
     Capital region as well as the county's largest employer, a 
     Department of Defense Energetics Center, the Indian Head 
     Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
        (a) commends and congratulates Charles County, Maryland, 
     on the occasion of its 350th anniversary; and
       (b) requests the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an 
     enrolled copy of this resolution to the Charles County 
     Anniversary Committee as an expression of the Senate's best 
     wishes for a glorious year of celebration.

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