[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 191 (Wednesday, December 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H15487-H15493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              THE RELIGIOUS HERITAGE OF THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it's interesting following the gentleman 
from Florida. In the spirit of Christmas, it sounds like accusing 
previously Members of Congress and now Members of the Senate of 
basically being responsible for deaths. I can't help but address that 
in this respect--ignorance is a dangerous thing, and the fact is, if 
you will examine, Mr. Speaker, the statistics of those, for example, 
you take numbers I'm familiar with of women who find a localized tumor, 
of breast cancer, they have a 98 percent chance of success, of complete 
elimination of the cancer. That's in the United States with our health 
care.
  If we go to what the gentleman from Florida is proposing, as we see 
in other countries like England, it's about 20 points less. In other 
words, the program the gentleman from Florida is advocating would be 
responsible for killing one out of five women who find those type 
tumors. And you can run those statistics throughout health care.
  So, despite what some have said--I know not intentionally trying to 
misrepresent, because I know the gentleman is an honorable man. As 
Shakespeare said, so are they all, all honorable men. But they're wrong 
about the facts. And the truth is, we have numerous proposals to reform 
health care and to provide health care for everyone. But one of the 
great misrepresentations that's been made this year in this House is 
that so-called health care reform is about health care reform. It is 
not. We've heard everyone from the President to lots of people on this 
side of the aisle say that yes, we want to insure 30 million more 
people. Well, the statistics tell us if they do their program, then 
they are going to be millions who lose their health care insurance. And 
even if you wanted to insure 30 million people, well, the statistics 
indicate those 30 million are in approximately 10 million households, 
and you can insure those 10 million households for potentially less 
than $10,000. So for $100 billion, you could insure all the people that 
they say they need to add to the health care insurance rolls for $100 
billion. And yet the estimates are anywhere from $1.2 trillion to $2.5 
trillion as to what they're proposing will cost.
  That makes it clear that the truth is their proposals are not about 
health care reform. They are about government control. And 
consistently, when you go through the statistics of the success rates 
with regard to different types of cancer, if you go to the programs 
being advocated, then people get on lists and they die waiting on those 
lists. People die waiting for the treatment, the therapy, the 
diagnostics that require lists in a socialized medicine setting.
  But I want to get away from the partisan politics and the nasty 
allegations that have been made in here just prior to me speaking, and 
back and forth throughout this year, because this may well be the last 
hour that we have here in the House before we recess for Christmas and 
before we come back next year. So, instead of getting into all this 
rancor, I thought it would be

[[Page H15488]]

good to help address an area that some people have just not had 
education about, and that this is the appropriate place, Mr. Speaker, 
to make sure that the record is correct, because we have so much 
wonderful history in this building, in this House.
  For example, I hear people really concerned around this building, 
around the Supreme Court, across the way, around Capitol Hill here, 
about someone, my goodness, praying in public. Well, we begin every day 
we're in session here in the House and the Senate's in session with a 
prayer.

                              {time}  2115

  Many are ignorant from the place in which that tradition started, 
where it came. You have to go back to 1787, the Constitutional 
Convention.
  The Constitutional Convention, people may recall, began in 1787 as a 
result of the failure of the Articles of Confederation. And for those 
that know history, they would know that the revolution was won in 1783. 
It was the Treaty of Paris in which England finally recognized the 
United States' right to exist as a Nation, and George Washington did 
something that had never been done in the history of mankind before or 
since then, and that is lead a revolutionary military, win the 
revolution, and then resign and go home when he could be Caesar, he 
could be king, emperor, whatever. That was not his goal. His goal, as 
he said, was to do his duty to God, basically, and his country, kind of 
like the Scout oath.
  Anyway, here they are in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, 1787. It's 
June. Benjamin Franklin is 80 years old. Now, many people say, Well, we 
know he was a deist from history. That means he believed there was a 
creator out there but that he believed God, the creator, created things 
and then stood back and let everything happen and that he never 
interfered. Well, those who also know history know that there were 
times in his life when Benjamin Franklin sowed some wild seeds, and 
that included some in Europe and in England. But by the time of the 
Constitutional Convention, there in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, 
1787, Benjamin Franklin was between 2 and 3 years away from meeting his 
judge, meeting his maker, and he knew that. He was as brilliant as 
ever, as witty, an amazing man, the genius that he was, and there he 
sits.
  There is a picture right outside the House floor depicting that area 
in Independence Hall where they were meeting. Now, in the beautiful 
painting, the windows are open. Well, the windows were covered. It may 
have been by blankets instead of beautiful lined curtains depicted in 
the scene. But for nearly 5 weeks, they went without accomplishing much 
of anything. Finally, the 80-year-old Ben Franklin rose and was 
recognized by the President of the Constitutional Convention, George 
Washington. And we have these words because James Madison recorded them 
as secretary of that convention.
  These are the exact words of Benjamin Franklin, June 28, 1787, in 
Philadelphia during the Constitutional Congress. Benjamin Franklin 
said: ``Mr. President, the small progress we have made after 4 or 5 
weeks' close attendance and continual reasonings with each other, our 
different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last 
producing as many noes as ayes, is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the 
imperfection of human understanding. We, indeed, seem to feel our own 
want of political wisdom, since we've been running about in search of 
it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government and 
examined the different forms of those republics which, having been 
formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. 
And we have viewed modern states all around Europe but find none of 
their constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
  ``In this situation of this assembly groping, as it were, in the dark 
to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when 
presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto 
once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate 
our understanding? In the beginning contest with Great Britain, when we 
were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room. Our prayers, 
sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were 
engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a 
superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe 
this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of 
establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten 
that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His 
assistance?''
  Ben Franklin goes on and says: ``I have lived, sir, a long time, and 
the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that 
God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the 
ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise 
without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings 
that, `except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build 
it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His 
concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better 
than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial 
local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we, ourselves, 
shall become a reproach and a byword down to future age. And what is 
worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance despair of 
establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, 
and conquest.
  ``I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring 
the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held 
in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that 
one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in 
that service.''
  His motion was seconded, and then Ben Franklin's motion was adopted 
unanimously. And from that day to this day, we do not begin Congress in 
this body without a prayer to begin.
  Now, for those who say Ben Franklin obviously was a deist who didn't 
believe, believed a God or creator created things but never intervened, 
his own words seem to defy that. He begged and implored Congress to 
begin with prayer every day because, as he said, ``Our prayers, sir, 
were heard, and they were graciously answered.''
  So, Mr. Speaker, also, here again, in the spirit of bipartisanship, 
in the spirit, for me, of Christmas that has been so historically 
observed in this Nation, we want to just go through and make sure 
people understand our heritage.
  Now, the great thing about our Constitution, it does allow for 
freedom of religion and a freedom not to worship at all. That is 
because they're based on the teachings of Christ and his willingness to 
allow all men to make their own decisions for themselves, knowing, as 
he did, that one day, all people will meet their maker. But let's go 
back to the person that found the New World, as it was called. This was 
Christopher Columbus.
  You don't find many history books which have these kinds of quotes in 
it. This is Christopher Columbus in his own hand, in his own journal. 
He said: ``It was the Lord who put it into my mind (I could feel His 
hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to 
the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, 
ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the 
Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with the rays of marvelous 
inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.''
  Now there are those today who say the real lesson of Columbus is that 
it's amazing what you can do, even when you don't know where you're 
going, you don't know where you are when you get there, so long as you 
get the government to pay for it. But I would submit that there was a 
creator, a creator as Christopher Columbus believed, who put this into 
his mind to sail west and discover this area so that the greatest 
nation in the history of mankind could arise.
  Now if you go to the Pilgrims who came across, originally from the 
Netherlands to England and to America by way of stopping in England, 
this was 1620. Part of the Pilgrims' compact, these are their words, 
``In the name of God, Amen . . . Having undertaken for the glory of 
God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king 
and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts 
of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the 
presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves 
together in a civil body politick.'' That was the Pilgrims on the 
Mayflower, November 11, 1620.

[[Page H15489]]

  I have had people I have met from Harvard University who are not 
familiar with their history and the fact that Harvard University, 
September 26, 1642, this was part of their code. It was part of their 
handbook.
  Harvard University: ``Let every student be plainly instructed, and 
earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and 
studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 
17:3; and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation 
of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth 
the wisdom, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to 
seek it of him, Proverbs 2:3.'' That's Harvard University at its 
founding back around the year 1642.
  In George Washington's own personal prayer book, which he read from 
daily, this is one of the entries in that prayer book that was in 
Washington's possession when he passed away: ``O most glorious God and 
Jesus Christ, I acknowledge and confess my faults in the weak and 
imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I called on Thee for 
pardon and forgiveness of sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my 
prayers are come my sin and stand in need of pardon. I have heard Thy 
holy word, but with such deadness of spirit that I have been an 
unprofitable and forgetful hearer . . . Let me live according to those 
holy rules which Thou hast this day, according to those holy rules 
which Thou hast this day prescribed in Thy holy word . . . Direct me to 
the true object, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and life. Bless, O 
Lord, all the people of this land.'' That's George Washington's prayer 
book.
  Here is a quote from Thomas Jefferson, as we know, who wrote 
basically the Declaration of Independence at the urging of John Adams, 
and it was Jefferson who was the third President after John Adams. 
Jefferson in 1782--and for those who visit Washington, this is 
inscribed inside the Jefferson Memorial.
  Jefferson said: ``Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure 
when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds 
of people that their liberties are the gift of God?''
  Jedidiah Morse, who is called the father of the American geography, 
also father of Samuel Morse--folks who know history know who that is. 
On April 25, 1799, Jedidiah Morse said: ``Whenever the pillars of 
Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of 
government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with 
them.''
  James Madison, the fourth President, March 4, 1815, in his 
Thanksgiving Day proclamation said: ``No people ought to feel greater 
obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of events 
and of the destiny of nations than the people of the United States. His 
kind providence originally conducted them to one of the best portions 
of the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the human race. 
He protected and cherished them under all the difficulties and trials 
to which they were exposed in their early days. Under His fostering 
care, their habits, their sentiments, and their pursuits prepared them 
for a transition in due time to a state of independence and self-
government.''

                              {time}  2130

  Then John Quincy Adams, who was the son of John Adams, John Quincy 
Adams was the sixth President. Some think he may have been the smartest 
President, but there's no way to know. He was a brilliant man, the 
youngest diplomat ever appointed in America when he was 11 years of 
age. He knew all the Founders. His father, John Adams, allowed him to 
accompany him to so many events and things. He knew the Founders. He 
knew the founding.
  And John Quincy Adams in 1821 on July 4 said, ``The highest glory of 
the American Revolution was this, it connected in one indissoluble bond 
the principles of the civil government with the principles of 
Christianity, wherefrom the day of the Declaration they, the American 
people, were bound by the laws of God which they all, and by the laws 
of the Gospel which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their 
conduct.''
  Noah Webster, 1833, said: ``The moral principles and precepts 
contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil 
constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer 
from, vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, 
proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in 
the Bible.''
  Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835, said: ``There is no country in the world 
where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls 
of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its 
utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence 
is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free Nation of the 
Earth.''
  Again, John Quincy Adams, he was defeated in 1828 for a second term 
by Andrew Jackson. Then in 1830, he believed it was God's call for him 
to run for Congress, run for the House of Representatives, after having 
been President. He was elected and served for 17 years in the House of 
Representatives, just down the hall in Statuary Hall. It was John 
Quincy Adams who was retained to represent the Africans who were aboard 
the Armistad in their case before the Supreme Court. Anthony Hopkins 
did a wonderful job of portraying John Quincy Adams in the movie 
``Armistad.'' I think in the movie his closing argument was around 10 
to 12 minutes, whereas in real life it spilled into a third day.
  John Quincy Adams, 1837, after he had been in the House 6 years, he 
said, ``Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized 
the social compact on the Foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon 
Earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first 
precepts of Christianity?''
  And all of these people believed. People in America will be able to 
worship the way they choose or do not choose because the Nation was 
founded upon Christian precepts that allowed that freedom as no other 
nation in the history of mankind.
  Andrew Jackson, 1845, this was just a few weeks before his death, and 
of course, people that know Jackson know that he was quite a rounder 
and he had quite a life. But, again, as he was just a few weeks before 
his death, he knew he was going to meet his Maker. Andrew Jackson said 
these words: ``Sir, I am in the hands of a merciful God. I have full 
confidence in His goodness and mercy. The Bible is true. I have tried 
to conform to its spirit as near as possible. Upon that sacred volume I 
rest my hope for eternal salvation, through the merits and blood of our 
blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.'' That was Andrew Jackson just a 
few weeks before his death, May 29, 1845.
  Daniel Webster, considered the greatest orator probably of all times 
in this country, served in the House, served in the Senate, thought 
perhaps he might be President one day, but he urged a compromise which 
cost him the election. Whether he was right or wrong, he believed if we 
didn't have the Compromise of 1850 then the Nation was doomed, that 
there would be a civil war in 1850 from which the Nation may not 
survive.
  So he did a very selfless thing and stood up and urged the Compromise 
of 1850, knowing that he would lose his base. But he believed it was to 
save the country. Daniel Webster said in 1852: ``If we and our 
posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall 
live always in the fear of God and shall respect His Commandments, we 
may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country. But 
if we and our prosperity neglect religious instruction and authority, 
violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of 
morality, and recklessly destroy the political Constitution which holds 
us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us 
that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.''
  Daniel Webster, 1852.
  Now the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1853 stated this as a 
committee: ``We are a Christian people, not because the law demands it, 
nor to gain exclusive benefits or to avoid legal disabilities, but from 
choice and education; and in a land thus universally Christian what is 
to be expected, what desired, but that we shall pay due regard to 
Christianity?'' Senate Judiciary Committee, January 19, 1853.
  Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, February 11, 1861, said this: 
``Unless the great God who assisted Washington

[[Page H15490]]

shall be with me and aid me, I must fail; but if the same Omniscient 
Mind and Mighty Arm that directed and protected him shall guide and 
support me, I shall not fail. Let us all pray that the God of our 
fathers may not forsake us now.'' Abraham Lincoln, February 11, 1861.
  We can skip over to the President's inaugural address, 1865, again, 
Abraham Lincoln. He said: ``Both'' talking about both sides of the 
Civil War, the North and the South. He said: ``Both read the same Bible 
and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. 
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been 
answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. `Woe unto the world 
because of offenses; for if it must needs be that offenses come, but 
woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.'''
  Lincoln, in that same inaugural address, went on and said: ``If we 
shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which''--
and he knew it was an offense. He knew it to his soul that slavery was 
an offense and that it would be difficult for God to ever bless America 
as long as slavery existed. And Christian people in this country did 
not treat their brothers and sisters as brothers and sisters. So 
Lincoln goes on in that address. And you can feel the analysis that he 
did as he went back and forth within himself trying to figure out how a 
just and mighty God could allow this type of injustice.
  So Lincoln goes on and he says: ``If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of those offenses which, in the Providence of God, must 
needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He 
now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this 
terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we 
discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the 
believers in a living God ascribe to Him?
  ``Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge 
of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until 
all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil 
shall be sunk, and every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be 
paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so 
it must still be said `the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether.' ''

  Lincoln went on: ``With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us 
strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and 
his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting 
peace among ourselves and with all Nations.''
  Abraham Lincoln, 1865.
  Edward Everett, the Massachusetts Governor also served as U.S. 
Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, he spoke immediately before Lincoln's 
Gettysburg Address. He said this: ``All the distinctive features and 
superiority of our Republican institutions''--and he wasn't talking 
about the Republican Party, he was talking about the Nation. This is 
considered a Republic. Senator Everett said the ``superiority of our 
Republican institutions are derived from the teachings of Scripture.''
  William Seward was a U.S. Senator, a Governor of New York, Secretary 
of State under Lincoln. And it was interesting, Lincoln had such a 
diverse cabinet. Many of them didn't like each other, didn't like him, 
and yet he took all of that information together and made executive 
decisions.
  William Seward said: ``I know not how long a Republican Government 
can flourish among a great people who have not the Bible. But this I do 
know: that the existing government of this country never could have had 
existence but for the Bible. And, further, I do in my conscience 
believe that if at every decade of years a copy of the Bible could be 
found in every family in the land, its Republican institutions should 
be perpetuated.''
  1862, Andrew Johnson, he was Vice President, and he said: ``Let us 
look forward to the time when we can take the Flag of our country and 
nail it below the cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden 
times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto, `Liberty 
and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,' and exclaim: Christ 
first, our country next.''
  U.S. Grant, the 18th President, 1876, said this: ``Hold fast to the 
Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your 
hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book 
we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to 
this we must look as our guide in the future.''
  Now, Mr. Speaker, in reading these quotes, I think it is important 
for people to know I'm not trying to push my religion on anyone else. 
But I think it is imperative that we at least know where the Founders 
were, where the heart was of those who provided for this incredible 
government, the incredible Nation we have that I believe is the 
greatest in the history of mankind.
  This was in the case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. the United 
States, in the opinion, February 29, 1892. The Supreme Court said: 
``Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and 
embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that 
it should be otherwise and in this sense and to this extent, our 
civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian. This is a 
religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this 
continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this 
affirmation. We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. 
These and many other matters which might be noticed at a volume of 
unofficial declarations to the massive organic utterances that this is 
a Christian Nation.'' That was the Supreme Court in their opinion 
Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892.
  Theodore Roosevelt, 1917, our 26th President, said: ``In this actual 
world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and 
scoffed at, or ignored their Christian duties, is a community on the 
rapid downgrade.''
  Warren G. Harding, our 29th President, 1920 said: ``It is my 
conviction that the fundamental trouble with the people of the United 
States is that they have gotten too far away from the Almighty God.''
  Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President, 1923, said: ``The foundations of 
our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the 
Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these 
teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.''

                              {time}  2145

  Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 6, 1935, said: We cannot read the 
history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with 
the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the 
Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying 
its precepts we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and 
prosperity. Again, Franklin Roosevelt, 1935.
  1943, President Hoover, in a joint statement with former First Ladies 
Mrs. Coolidge, Mrs. Roosevelt, Mrs. Taft, Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. 
Cleveland, gave this statement: The whole inspiration for our 
civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of 
the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity 
of American life.
  Harry Truman, our 33rd President, in 1952 said this: The basis of our 
Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. 
Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that 
enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral 
background, we will finally end up with a government which does not 
believe in rights for anyone but the State. Profound. That was Harry 
Truman, 1952.
  Charles Malik, our ambassador to the United Nations from Lebanon and 
the president of the U.N. General Assembly in 1958, made this statement 
in 1958: Whoever tries to conceive the American word without taking 
full account of the suffering and love and salvation of Christ is only 
dreaming. I know how embarrassing this matter is to politicians, 
bureaucrats, businessmen and cynics; but whatever these honored men 
think, the irrefutable truth is that the soul of America is at its best 
and highest, Christian. That was the U.N. ambassador and president of 
the U.N. General Assembly in 1958.
  Now, Ronald Reagan, our 40th President, 1984, said: The frustrating 
thing

[[Page H15491]]

is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the 
name of tolerance, freedom, and open-mindedness. Question: Isn't the 
real truth that they are intolerant of religion? They refuse to 
tolerate its importance in our lives. Ronald Reagan, 1984.
  Now, I point out these quotes from our history. I could read volumes 
and volumes of quotes basically along the same lines, not trying to 
push Christian religion on anyone, but just so that people understand 
where we came from. It's incredible the amount of ignorance on the 
basis of this Nation, the foundation of this Nation.
  Let me go to some of our Founders directly. Sam Adams. He was called, 
back at that time by those who knew and knew well, the ``Father of the 
American Revolution.'' Samuel Adams was a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. In the will of Samuel Adams he says this: I . . . 
recommend my soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I 
commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a 
pardon of all my sins. That was the Father of the American Revolution, 
Samuel Adams.
  In a letter written by Charles Carroll to Charles Wharton, Charles 
Carroll was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the 56. 
He said: On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His 
merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.
  William Cushing was the first Associate Justice appointed by George 
Washington to the Supreme Court. William Cushing in his will said: 
Sensible of my mortality, but being of sound mind, after recommending 
my soul to Almighty God through the merits of my Redeemer and my body 
to the Earth.
  John Dickinson was also a signer of the Constitution. In his will he 
said: Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among 
His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and 
enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign 
myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus 
Christ for the events of eternity. Again, John Dickinson, signer of the 
Declaration of Independence.
  John Hancock we know signed the Declaration larger than anyone else, 
President of the Continental Congress in 1776 when the Declaration of 
Independence was signed and made public. In his will he said: I, John 
Hancock . . . being advanced in years and being of perfect mind and 
memory--thanks be given to God--therefore calling to mind the mortality 
of my body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die (Hebrews 
9:27), do make and ordain this my last will and testament . . . 
Principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the 
hands of God that gave it, and my body I recommend to the Earth, 
nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the 
same again by the mercy and power of God. Again, that was John Hancock.
  Patrick Henry, the Governor of Virginia, a patriot, made that 
stirring speech that I gave on the radio in fifth grade, made this 
statement: This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family--
this was in his will--the religion of Christ can give them one which 
will make them rich indeed.
  John Jay played such an important role in this Nation's founding and 
negotiations of treaties. I believe he helped negotiate the Treaty of 
Paris in 1783, and so many others, but he was also the first Chief 
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In his will, Chief Justice John Jay 
said: Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render 
sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and 
especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved son. He has 
been pleased to bless me with excellent parents, with a virtuous wife, 
and with worthy children. His protection has accompanied me through 
many eventful years, faithfully employed in the service of my country; 
His providence has not only conducted me to this tranquil situation, 
but also given me abundant reason to be contented and thankful. Blessed 
be His holy name. John Jay.
  Daniel St. Thomas Jenifer was a signer of the Constitution. In his 
will he said: In the name of God, Amen. I, Daniel St. Thomas Jenifer . 
. . of disposing mind and memory, commend my soul to my blessed 
Redeemer.
  Henry Knox, Revolutionary War general, extremely important to the 
success of the American Revolution, said in his will: First, I think it 
proper to express my unshaken opinion of the immortality of my soul or 
mind, and to dedicate and devote the same to the supreme head of the 
universe--to that great and tremendous Jehovah--who created the 
universal frame of nature, worlds, and systems in number infinite. To 
this awfully sublime Being do I resign my spirit with unlimited 
confidence of His mercy and protection.
  John Langdon was a signer of the Constitution back in 1787. He also 
said: In the name of God, Amen. I, John Langdon, considering the 
uncertainty of life and that it is appointed unto all men once to die--
again, Hebrews 9:27--do make and ordain and publish this my last will 
and testament.
  John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, said in his 
will: With an awful reverence to the great Almighty God, Creator of all 
mankind, I, John Morton, being sick and weak in body but sound of mind 
and memory, thanks be given to Almighty God for the same, for all His 
mercies and favors, and considering the certainty of death and the 
uncertainty of the times thereof, do, for the settling of such temporal 
estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life.

  There are so many others, just one after another, vesting these same 
type things, signers of the Declaration of Independence, signers of the 
Constitution.
  Jonathan Trumbull said this in his will: Principally and first of 
all, I bequeath my soul to God, the Creator and Giver thereof, and body 
to the Earth, nothing doubting but that I shall receive the same again 
at the General Resurrection through the power of Almighty God, 
believing and hoping for eternal life through the merits of my dear 
exalted Jesus Christ. That was Jonathan Trumble, who painted four of 
the paintings that are out here in our Rotunda.
  One of the things that has run throughout this Nation, you go back to 
the Constitution, these were the Founders I've been quoting, those who 
were able to come together and have a Declaration of Independence, who 
sought, as Benjamin Franklin said, God's help in the revolution, and 
who sought him in the difficult, trying times after the Articles of 
Confederation were passed. And who they sought, as Benjamin Franklin 
pointed out in those great words I read, 1787, when afterwards they 
were finally able to come together with a constitution.
  But as we know from our history, the Constitution was not afforded to 
all people as it should have been. They said, as these Founders I've 
read, that they were Christians, and yet as Christians they should have 
recognized that we could not expect God to bless America while we were 
treating our brothers and sisters by putting them in chains and 
bondage.
  Martin Luther King came along after the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln, 
as I've read, made clear his beliefs in the Almighty and His grace and 
mercy and justice, and that's why he pushed for an end of slavery. But 
even still, it took Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those who worked 
with him to bring about civil rights and an abdication of the supreme 
Constitution that we hold so dear to all people. It doesn't require 
that everyone receive equal things; it requires equal opportunity.
  I would remind my friends that Martin Luther King, Jr. was an 
ordained Christian minister. He said in his letter from Birmingham 
jail: But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. 
Just as the prophets of the 8th century B.C. left their villages and 
carried their ``thus saith the Lord'' far beyond the boundaries of 
their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of 
Tarsus and carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the four corners of 
the Greco-Roman world, so I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom 
beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the 
Macedonian call for aid. That was in 1963. Profound words, Martin 
Luther King.
  One of his quotes in 1963 from Birmingham jail: Whenever the early 
Christians entered the town, the people in power became disturbed and 
immediately sought to convict the Christians for being disturbers of 
the peace

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and outside agitators. But the Christians pressed on, and in the 
conviction that they were a colony of heaven called to obey God rather 
than man, small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too 
God-intoxicated to be astronomically intimidated. Powerful, powerful 
words, Martin Luther King.
  Well, I think it's worth noting also, we have an original copy of the 
Treaty of Paris, 1783, located in the Department of State in a glass 
case. I didn't realize how that started until I saw that copy there, 
but it made sense once I saw it. In big bold letters at the top of the 
Treaty of Paris--this is the one that was negotiated in Paris in 1783 
after surrendering at Yorktown to get England to sign onto a treaty 
indicating they would observe the United States' right to exist as an 
independent Nation.
  It starts out in big block bold letters, ``In the name of the most 
holy and undivided Trinity.'' When I first saw that I thought, I wonder 
why they would start like that. And then you realize, you're asking the 
nation of England to sign a treaty and pledging not to ever attack or 
fail to recognize its right to exist independently of England. What do 
you get them to swear under that is so important and so manifest that 
they would not dare go back on their word? Well, they decided at that 
time it was to start with the words, In the name of the most holy and 
undivided Trinity.
  Those who are familiar with the War of 1812, 1814, we're up here on 
Jenkins Hill, where the Capitol was built, and the British proceeded 
across burning every public building, proceeded to the Capitol, set 
fire down the hall in Statuary Hall, what was then the House of 
Representatives, went down and set fire to the Senate Inn, and went to 
the White House, set fire there. The White House was terribly damaged 
inside.

                              {time}  2200

  The Capitol, by all rights, with the intensity of the fire and with 
the munitions that were spread to make the fire get more hot, should 
have collapsed and fallen in on itself, but it didn't because a rain 
came and put out the fire.
  By the way, the next day, there was such a huge, straight-line wind. 
Some thought it was tornadic, but most believed it was a straight-line 
wind. It was so intense that it blew their canons off their mounts. 
Some credit the wind with killing soldiers.
  ``As the British troops were preparing to leave, a conversation was 
noted between the British admiral and a Washington lady regarding the 
storm. The admiral exclaimed, `Great God, Madam! Is this the kind of 
storm to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?'
  ``The lady answered, `No, sir. This is a special interposition of 
Providence to drive our enemies from our city.' '' The weather drove 
them out. The American soldiers were not able to.
  A little history about the White House nativity scene: It's Italian--
made in Naples around the time of the United States War for 
Independence, the late 1700s. It has been on exhibit in the East Room 
of the White House during the holiday season since 1967. In 1999, a new 
tableau was made for the nativity scene. The design of the new display 
was inspired by historical Neapolitan presepios, which is the Italian 
term for ``Christ,'' from the Baroque period, which incorporated 
architectural elements found in the 1700s.
  That is a little bit about the nativity scene. There has been a lot 
said about that recently.
  As far as the history of the White House Christmas tree, in 1889, the 
tradition of placing an indoor decorated tree in the White House began 
on Christmas morning during the Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. It was 
in 1895 that First Lady Frances Cleveland created a technology savvy 
tree when she hung electric lights on the White House tree, which was 
introduced into the White House in 1891.
  There is just so much history with our Founding Fathers.
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 24--obviously Christmas Eve--1934, 
said, ``This is the second year that I have joined with you on this 
happy occasion. Then, as now, with millions of others, we celebrate the 
happy observance of Christmas.
  ``The year toward which we looked then with anticipation and hope has 
passed,'' Roosevelt goes on. ``We have seen fulfilled many things that 
a year ago were only hopes. Our human life thus goes on from 
anticipation and hope to fulfillment. This year again, we are entitled 
to new hopes and new anticipations.''
  He goes on and he says, ``Just across the street is the house he 
occupied 100 years ago, the house the people of the country have built 
for their Presidents. From its windows, I see this monument to this man 
of courage.'' He is talking about Washington. ``It is an inspiration to 
me as it should be to all Americans.
  ``And so let us make the spirit of Christmas of 1934 that of courage 
and unity. It is the way to greater happiness and well-being. That is, 
I believe, an important part of what the Maker of Christmas would have 
it mean.
  ``In this sense,'' Roosevelt says, ``the scriptures admonish us to be 
strong and of good courage, to fear not, to dwell together in unity.''
  He said, ``I wish you one and all, here and everywhere, a very, very 
Merry Christmas.'' Franklin Roosevelt.
  I have a number of other speeches that he gave on Christmas. Time 
will not allow me to read all of those.
  I will go to 1962, John F. Kennedy, when he said: ``Ladies and 
gentlemen, Secretary Udall, members of the clergy: With the lighting of 
this tree, which is an old ceremony in Washington and one which has 
been among the most important responsibilities of a good many 
Presidents of the United States, we initiate, in a formal way, the 
Christmas season.
  ``We mark the festival of Christmas, which is the most sacred and 
hopeful day in our civilization. For nearly 2,000 years, the message of 
Christmas, the message of peace and goodwill towards all men, has been 
the guiding star of our endeavors.
  ``This morning, I had a meeting at the White House, which included 
some of our representatives from far countries in Africa and Asia. They 
were returning to their posts for the Christmas holidays. Talking with 
them afterwards, I was struck by the fact that, in the far-off 
continents, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, as well as Christians, pause 
from their labors on the 25th day of December to celebrate the birthday 
of the Prince of Peace.
  ``There could be no more striking proof that Christmas is truly the 
universal holiday of all men. It is the day when all of us dedicate our 
thoughts to others, when all are reminded that mercy and compassion are 
the enduring virtues, when all show by small deeds and large and by 
acts that it is more blessed to give than to receive.''
  He goes on to talk about the Christmas spirit.
  As my time grows short here, I want to finish with a speech Ronald 
Reagan gave, his Christmas message in 1988.
  He said: ``The themes of Christmas and of coming home for the 
holidays have long been intertwined in song and story. There is a 
profound irony and lesson in this because Christmas celebrates the 
coming of a Savior who was born without a home.
  ``There was no room at the inn for the Holy Family. Weary of travel, 
a young Mary, close to childbirth, and her carpenter husband, Joseph, 
found but the rude shelter of a stable. There was born the King of 
Kings, the Prince of Peace--an event on which all history would turn.
  ``Jesus would again be without a home, and more than once--on the 
flight to Egypt and during His public ministry when He said, `The foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
hath nowhere to lay his head.' ''
  Ronald Reagan goes on. ``From His very infancy on, our Redeemer was 
reminding us that, from then on, we would never lack a home in Him. 
Like the shepherds to whom the angel of the Lord appeared on the first 
Christmas Day, we could always say, `Let us now go even unto Bethlehem 
and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made 
known unto us.'
  ``As we come home with gladness to family and friends this Christmas, 
let us also remember our neighbors who cannot go home themselves. Our 
compassion and concern this Christmas and all year long will mean much 
to the hospitalized, the homeless, the convalescent, the orphaned--and 
will surely lead us on our way to the joy and peace of Bethlehem and 
the Christ Child who bids us come. For it is only in finding and living 
the eternal meaning of the Nativity that we can be

[[Page H15493]]

truly happy, truly at peace, truly home.
  ``Merry Christmas, and God bless you.'' Ronald Reagan.
  Mr. Speaker, with that wish from Reagan, I do now hereby move that we 
adjourn.

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