[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1470-E1471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE CENTENNIAL OF THE DEDICATION OF THE PILGRIM MONUMENT IN 
                      PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

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                           HON. BILL DELAHUNT

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to 
join me in commemorating the centennial of the dedication of the 
Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
  One hundred years ago, on the fifth of August, 1910, United States 
President William H. Taft and Eben Draper, then-Governor of 
Massachusetts, joined scores of visitors as they congregated around the 
base of the 252-foot tower in celebration of the newly constructed 
memorial honoring the 102 brave passengers of the Mayflower and its 
historic journey.
  It was there on the tip of Cape Cod in 1620, among harsh gusts of a 
November wind, that forty-one men drafted the first democratic covenant 
of the New World--the Mayflower Compact. It was their dreams of self-
governance that instilled in us the strongest of our political and 
ethical morals; and it was their perseverance that would soon bring 
them to establish Plymouth Plantation.
  Today, one hundred years later, the steady climb up a winding 
staircase will lead you to a panoramic vista with strained glimpses of 
a Boston sky-line far in the distance. Although the immediate view 
beneath High Pole Hill has been much altered in the century since, the 
fog rolling across Cape Cod bay, the tranquil waters momentarily broken 
by the distant breach of a humpback whale, and the sting of the salt 
breeze, are reminiscent of our Pilgrims' experiences of this wonderful 
new land.

[[Page E1471]]

  Elevated on High Pole Hill, this granite tower is emblematic of much 
more than the sacrifices of the Mayflower passengers and the values 
they brought to the new land. The Monument is a memorial to the story 
of each American--for we are a unique country of immigrants, carrying 
with us our own passion for freedom, self determination and justice.
  Since the first inception in 1892, the dramatic significance of the 
Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association and the Monument they were 
dedicated to build was well-understood. President Theodore Roosevelt 
insisted on participating in the ceremonies associated with the laying 
the cornerstone of the Monument's foundation in an elaborate Masonic 
ceremony. The President sailed into Provincetown Harbor on his 
presidential yacht--named the Mayflower--and spoke of the significance 
of the First Landing to all Americans.
  And now, nearly four hundred years after their cross-seas journey led 
them to the shores of Provincetown, we gather once again in celebration 
of the passengers of the Mayflower and the Monument constructed one 
century ago in their honor.

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