[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 120 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H2675-H2676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, this weekend America will celebrate its 244th

[[Page H2676]]

birthday. Unfortunately, we do so in a time of pandemic, a struggling 
economy, and violent protests. But it is still our birthday, and we 
should both commemorate and celebrate it.
  We usually do a good job in our celebration, although this year will 
be different since social distancing means we will be in smaller 
groups, and public fireworks displays have been canceled. I suspect 
most of us will find a way to gather with family and close friends to 
cook out and show the red, white, and blue.
  But a commemoration is more than that. Merriam-Webster defines 
``commemorate'' as ``to call to remembrance'' or ``to serve as a 
memorial of.'' How many of us will stop and remember what it meant for 
the Second Continental Congress to not only declare our independence 
from Britain, but also to state our reasons for doing so in majestic 
language positing the highest ideals?
  Let me make a suggestion: This Fourth, get a copy of the Declaration 
and read it. My extended family and friends usually get together and 
have several of us read the various portions of the Declaration out 
loud and then we talk about its meaning. It doesn't take much time, and 
we always experience a renewed appreciation for the gift that is our 
country. This year we will do it virtually, in smaller groups.
  The Declaration was meant to be read out loud. Indeed, on July 4, 
Congress not only voted to accept it but also provided for its 
distribution to the States and to the Continental Army.
  On July 6, John Hancock as president of Congress, sent letters to the 
States and to General Washington enclosing broadsides of the 
Declaration requesting that they have it ``proclaimed.'' It was read 
out loud to celebrations in dozens of cities and towns in July and 
August and to the Continental Army on July 9 as it prepared for the 
British invasion of New York.
  To some extent these events were meant to inform and inspire the 
people of a newly independent Nation. But then, and now, the 
Declaration is a defining document. It not only said we were an 
independent Nation, but also who we aspire to be. Freedom and equality 
were to be at the heart of the Nation's character. And the rights 
stated in the Declaration, life, liberty, and the pursuit of the 
happiness, are clearly labeled gifts from God himself to all of us.
  The story of our country is really the unfolding of the efforts to 
live up to these aspirations. President Lincoln used it as a primary 
basis for arguing against slavery, as in the Gettysburg Address where 
he famously said: ``Four score and 7 years ago our Fathers brought 
forth, on this continent, a new Nation, conceived in liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.'' As a 
result of the Civil War these ideals were enshrined in the 13th, 14th, 
and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
  Martin Luther King used it in his 1963 ``I Have A Dream'' speech, 
referring to the Declaration and to the Constitution as a promissory 
note to all Americans, which he and others of the civil rights movement 
called upon the Nation to honor. As a result of the movement, Congress 
passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and in 1965 the Voting Rights Act.
  I know it is fashionable now among our Nation's elites to view 
America as evil from our birth, evil in our institutions, and evil in 
our character. That view is a myth untethered to the reality of our 
history. This myth is just a false preamble to lay the groundwork for 
their efforts to radically reorganize our society and have government 
run every detail of our lives all the while piling tax upon tax upon 
us. Isn't this type of government what caused the Founders to declare 
independence in the first place? These elites call themselves 
``progressive,'' but their plan is actually a regression to a 
tyrannical central government taxing us against our will.
  Despite our faults, some of which have been grievous, we are a Nation 
established upon the highest ideals which has the strength of its 
character and institutions to self-correct as we strive toward those 
ideals. Our history repeatedly demonstrates that is who we are.
  David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian, 
several years ago told a gathering of those of us in Congress that 
Americans would be more hopeful if we only knew our history. How true. 
Complicated and contradictory, yes, but it is also a history of 
spectacular success and of a major force for good here and abroad.
  So this week let's celebrate and commemorate who we are. Let's pause 
in the middle of our present troubles to renew our pride as Americans 
and draw lessons from our founding and history for the resolution of 
the issues of the day. And let us, like our Founders, ``mutually pledge 
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.''

                          ____________________