[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10] [Senate] [Pages 14205-14211] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, 232 years ago the Declaration of Independence established that humans have the right to self-government because of their unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Preserving these principles requires the same wisdom, courage and spirit of sacrifice that characterized many 18th century Americans. ``What will our children say,'' wrote Boston attorney Josiah Quincy II in 1768, ``When they read the history of these times, should they find we tamely gave away, without one noble struggle, the most invaluable of earthly blessings? . . . let us . . . swear we will die, if we cannot live freemen!'' Indeed, the Americans chose to fight nobly and courageously. After the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga, Lord Chatham, a member of the British House of Lords, concluded, ``I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You cannot, I venture to say it, you cannot conquer America . . .'' These principles to which the representatives of the 13 colonies pledged their lives, their resources, and their honor still apply to our Nation today. It was on this day, July 8, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence was first read publicly, having been unanimously adopted by the Congress only 4 days before. [[Page 14206]] So, today, I am pleased to join with my colleague Senator Lieberman in starting a new, bipartisan tradition in the U.S. Senate. We will read the Declaration of Independence again. During the next hour, we will also hear from important leaders in our Nation's history who saw these principles of liberty, equality, and justice as timeless. Patrick Henry urges us to consider the consequences of weakly submitting to a tyrannical authority in the hopes of obtaining peace, rather than persisting in the fight to secure our freedom. In his famous speech at the Touro Synagogue, George Washington establishes the importance of religious freedom for the Nation. A few days before his inauguration, Abraham Lincoln makes an impromptu speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he argues that the principles of the Declaration are incompatible with slavery. Finally, in his last letter, Thomas Jefferson reflects on the significance of the Declaration and its timeless value. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Lieberman and myself may enter into a colloquy on the reading of the Declaration of Independence and that following our colloquy, Senators Whitehouse, Murkowski, Webb, Martinez, and Lieberman be, in that order, speakers for the remainer of morning business. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. COBURN. ``When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.'' Mr. COBURN. ``He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. ``He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. ``He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. ``He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. ``He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.'' Mr. COBURN. ``He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. ``He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. ``He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. ``He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. ``He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. ``He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation:'' Mr. COBURN. ``For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: ``For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: ``For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: ``For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: ``For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: ``For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:'' Mr. COBURN. ``For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: ``For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. ``He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people. ``He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. ``He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. ``He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.'' Mr. COBURN. ``In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked [[Page 14207]] by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.'' Mr. LIEBERMAN. ``Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.----'' Mr. COBURN. ``We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be free and independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.--And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.'' The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island is recognized. Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, my home State of Rhode Island has the distinction of being home to the oldest Jewish house of worship in the United States, the Touro Synagogue in historic Newport. This synagogue was founded in 1763. Today, the synagogue stands as a handsome landmark, designed by the famous colonial architect Peter Harris, a reminder of historic days past for a community that this year, 2008, will celebrate the 350th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in Rhode Island and a living expression today of our Jewish community's faith. But during the infancy of our young Nation, Touro Synagogue played a major political role in defining what religious freedom would come to mean to Americans. In 1790, the congregation at Touro Synagogue wrote to President George Washington, then in only his second year in office, when he visited Newport on a political tour to rally support for an American bill of rights. The warden of the synagogue, Moses Seixas, sought Washington's assurance that religious freedom would be guaranteed to Jews throughout the country. In those first tumultuous years of our Republic, there was much uncertainty as to the guaranteed rights of individuals. Our Declaration of Independence had declared certain unalienable rights to be self- evident, but our Constitution did not yet include our Bill of Rights. There was no guarantee of an American's right to freely exercise his or her religion as we have today in the first amendment. President Washington's public letter to the Touro congregation, coming from a political leader whose word was gold, left no doubt that the United States Government would defend the religious freedoms of all people, including those whose beliefs were different from the common ones, and it assured that this Government would have no part in stifling the beliefs of any who chose to worship as their conscience and traditions directed. It was, at the time, a revolutionary promise from a revolutionary man, and I am pleased to read the full text of this historic correspondence. To the President of the United States of America. Sir: Permit the children of the Stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits, and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to NewPort. With pleasure we reflect on those days, those days of difficulty and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your head in the day of battle: and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel, enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States. This was before the Civil War, so it was ``these States'' and not the ``United States.'' Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People, a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance-- You will see in Washington's reply that the wily fox knew a good phrase when he saw one. --but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basics is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good. For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men, beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour; you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality. Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790. Moses Seixas, Warden. And then came the President's reply. To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island. Gentlemen, While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens. The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people. The Citizens of the United States have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants: while every one shall sit in safety understood his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy. G. Washington. I yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Rhode Island, Senator Whitehouse, for that magnificent exchange of correspondence between the Hebrew congregation of Newport, RI, and President Washington. May I say that Senator Whitehouse, in his own bearing and substance, lives out the promise of religious freedom that our first President gave to all Americans. [[Page 14208]] Perhaps I should say I say that as one of the descendants of the Stock of Abraham who is privileged to be a Member of the Senate today. I thank Senator Whitehouse. I thank Senator Coburn. I am going to take the liberty, if I may, to speak for a few minutes while we are waiting for either Senator Murkowski, Senators Webb or Martinez, who are going to read documents before I conclude. But I particularly want to give a statement of appreciation to our colleague, Senator Cornyn of Texas, whose idea this was. He came to me and said: Why do we not try to establish a new Senate tradition, where every year, either on July 8, which, as Senator Coburn indicated, was the first public reading of the Declaration, or the day closest to July 4 when the Senate is in session, we read the Declaration, this magnificent statement of America's founding principles, purpose, destiny, and other patriotic documents of the moment to remind us what we are about as a Nation, and in some sense, to refresh our sense of national purpose and to build on the celebrations that are part of July 4. We all love the fireworks, we all love the time to be with our family, we love the parades and, of course, we are struck now, as we are at war, in the expressions of gratitude toward those who have put on the uniform of the United States of America to defend our freedom and our security. But this all goes back to the beginning, to the extraordinary founding of this country by an extraordinary group of human beings. The truth is we do not celebrate enough that America, unique among Nations, was not defined from the beginning by its borders, by its geography, if you will, but by its ideology, by its values, as the founding generation of Americans expressed magnificently in the first official documents. Those words of the Declaration about the self-evident truth that all of us are created equal and endowed not by Jefferson, the great American who wrote the Declaration, not by the philosophers of the enlightenment but by our Creator, with these unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that paragraph, and then it says, in order to secure those rights, the Government is formed; in other words, to secure the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I always like to say America is a faith-based initiative founded on those endowments from our Creator. Building this magnificent architecture of freedom stated in the poetry of the founding generation of Americans has probably had more effect, has definitely had more effect on more people and more political activity in the 200-plus years since 1776 than any other single document. Of course, other documents stating other ``isms'' have come along, Nazism, Communism, Islamism, but the Declaration of Independence, Americanism, has prevailed. The other thing that struck me as I read the Declaration was the anger and the passion we sometimes forget our founding generation had toward Great Britain and the King for all the tyrannical usurpations of their freedom that were the cause of the Declaration. Finally, the document is a magnificently aspirational document. It states noble goals. But let us all be honest, at this moment on this floor, particularly at the moment in 1776, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and issued, America was nowhere near realizing the glorious values stated, of equality, of life and the pursuit of life and happiness. People of color had no rights. They were not even counted equal with White people. Women had effectively no rights. I was forced, by the validity of the document, to read a terribly bigoted and offensive reference to Native Americans. But that is the story of America. The Declaration gave us our purpose. It gave us our destiny. It put us on a journey. Succeeding generations of Americans have come closer to realizing the aspirations stated in that document. Of course, the work goes on in our time as it has for every previous generation of Americans. I appreciate very much that Senator Webb has come to the Chamber. I am pleased to yield to him for a reading of Thomas Jefferson's last letter. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia. Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, it is my pleasure to participate in this remembrance today. For more than 200 years, the American experiment in self-government has been a witness to all nations about the power of ``the people.'' The Declaration of Independence establishes a fundamental principle that a government exists, not because some humans have a hereditary right to dominate others, but because the people themselves have consented to be governed by others. In 1826, the Mayor of Washington, Roger Weightman, invited Thomas Jefferson to attend the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. In his letter of reply, dated June 26, Jefferson reiterates one last time, his belief in the principles of the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson died a week later, on the Fourth of July. In that letter, Thomas Jefferson stated: I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self- government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them. I yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I thank my friend and colleague from Virginia for a characteristically purposive and eloquent reading of a great document. I thank him for carrying the torch of Jefferson, along with that other great Virginian, Senator John Warner, in our time in the Senate. While we await, hopefully soon, Senators Murkowski and Martinez, I thought I would go on and perhaps read the final document that I was going to read at the end. Before I do so, I thank Senator Cornyn of Texas whose idea this was, hoping this might form the basis of not only the Senate celebrating the documents but, of course, more than that, the values, the principles, the destiny, the American destiny captured in them and in the glorious words of our founding generation, but that we might, in doing so, perhaps carry out or begin a national civics lesson in all that we have to be grateful for as Americans, as each succeeding generation of Americans has not only taken on the responsibility to try to move the country closer to the aspirations that are expressed in these founding documents but, of course, each succeeding generation has benefited from the promise of equality stated in these documents. I thank Senator Cornyn. I wish to now thank the people working for him. Senators have good ideas occasionally, but it is the staff who makes sure we implement them. I wish to particularly thank Nicole Gustafson, of his staff, and Michelle Chin and also Clarine Nardi Riddle, who is my chief of staff, who has worked on this on behalf of my office. I have always been struck by the extent to which the founding generation of Americans was powerfully religious. In fact, they came to this country, most of them, to escape religious persecution. So it is no surprise that the original documents, as you can hear, of our country, as we read this morning, are full of references to God, the Almighty, nature's God, a whole series of [[Page 14209]] descriptions. That is why, I said earlier and I say with pride and gratitude, America is a faith-based institution. That is why it always seems to me that anyone who tries to separate America and religion is doing something unnatural. The remarkable balance the Founders established was of a nation premised on faith in God, whose purpose was, as a government, to secure the rights each of us have as an endowment from our Creator and yet to do that in a way that, as the Declaration, as the Constitution, as the magnificent letter from our first President, George Washington, to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, RI, makes clear, respects everybody's right to believe in whatever they wish to believe in. It struck me once, reading the Declaration, when we say that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is an endowment of our Creator, that one of the rights our Founders recognized is the right not just to believe in the Creator as one who chooses but, in fact, not to believe in our Creator and to equally enjoy the protections and rights that come to all Americans. It is perhaps because the Declaration of Independence is a faith-based document that it has had such universal application and effect across the world, inspiring generation after generation of people throughout the world, in every continent of the world, to essentially pick up the torch, to accept the destiny, to revolt against tyranny and despotism, to fight in the same revolutionary spirit that comes through the Declaration of Independence that we read a few moments ago for the freedom of their own people. Of course, if you say, as our Founders did and as we believe, that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that are the premise of the Declaration of Independence were the endowment of our Creator, surely our Creator, who created heaven and the Earth and all who live on it, did not intend for those rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to be the exclusive possession of Americans. This is the most universal declaration of human rights. It still guides our foreign policy because it is what we are all about--freedom and the extension of freedom. I do wish to say it has inspired enormous numbers of people throughout the world to fight, as our founding generation fought, for freedom. The document I wish to read now, chosen by staff but a fascinating one, I must say--I had never seen it before--speaks to the profound faith of the founding generation, their knowledge of the Bible. In fact, I suppose it was at the Constitutional Congress, there was a debate about the symbol of the United States of America. And before the symbol that we have now was chosen, a few of the Founders suggested-- argued, in fact--that it be a portrayal of the children of Israel crossing the sea divided by God's will because they felt they were, as some of them said, establishing here a new Jerusalem. The letter I wish to read was written by John Quincy Adams, one of the great members of the founding generation, eloquent, a fighter for freedom. He delivered an address to the New York Historical Society, celebrating the 50th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration. In that address, he urges the people to embrace the fundamental principles that motivated the founding generation, of which he was a part, and to make them a part of daily living. He premised it all on his own belief in the Bible. So let me read it to you now: When the children of Israel, after forty years of wanderings in the wilderness, were about to enter the promised land, their leader Moses, who was not permitted to cross the Jordan with them, just before his removal from among them, commanded that when the Lord their God should have brought them into the land, they should put the curse upon Mount Ebal, and the blessing upon Mount Gerizim. The injunction was faithfully fulfilled by his successor Joshua. Immediately after they had taken possession of the land, Joshua built an altar to the Lord, of whole stones, upon Mount Ebal. And there he wrote, upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the children of Israel: and all Israel and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on the two sides of the ark of the covenant, borne by the priests and Levites, six tribes over against Mount Gerizim, and six over against Mount Ebal. And he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law. Now John Quincy Adams brings it home from the Bible to America when he says: Fellow-citizens, the ark of your covenant is the Declaration of Independence. Your Mount Ebal, is the confederacy of separate state sovereignties, and your Mount Gerizim is the Constitution of the United States. He continues: In that scene of tremendous and awful solemnity, narrated in the Holy Scriptures, there is not a curse pronounced against the people, upon Mount Ebal, not a blessing promised them upon Mount Gerizim, which your posterity may not suffer or enjoy, from your and their adherence to, or departure from, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, practically interwoven in the Constitution of the United States. So Adams brings it right from the Bible to America, to the Declaration and the Constitution. Then he says, in conclusion: Lay up these principles, then in your hearts, and in your souls-- And then quoting from the Bible, or picking the metaphor up, he says-- bind them for signs upon your hands, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes--teach them to your children-- He is speaking now of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution-- speaking of them when sitting in your houses, when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up--write them upon the doorplates of your houses, and upon your gates--cling to them as to the issues of life--adhere to them as to the cords of your eternal salvation. So may your children's children at the next return of this day of jubilee-- Remember, it was 50 years after Washington's inaugural-- after a full century of experience under your national Constitution-- Today, we are now into our third century of experience-- celebrate it again in the full enjoyment of all the blessings recognized by you in the commemoration of this day, and of all the blessings promised to the children of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, as the reward of obedience to the law of God. A remarkable statement of the enduring bases of our great national documents that guide us to this very day. I am very grateful to see our friend and colleague from Alaska, Senator Murkowski, in the Chamber, and I will yield now to her for the Abraham Lincoln Independence Hall speech regarding slavery. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alaska. Ms. MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. President. I am honored this morning to join with my colleagues to observe the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and to participate by reading some of the documents that had underscored the principles of that great declaration. Near the end of President-elect Abraham Lincoln's inaugural journey from Springfield, IL, to Washington, DC, he stopped in the city of Philadelphia. It was the occasion of George Washington's birthday. Lincoln gave an impromptu speech at Independence Hall on February 22, 1861, and it was a speech that demonstrated his deep commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. It was a commitment that would be tested in the years to come and for which he, too, gave his life. So with that little introduction, I wish to read this impromptu address delivered by Abraham Lincoln. He stated: I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here, in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition of the country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils [[Page 14210]] that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can't be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But, if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle--I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no bloodshed unless it be forced upon the Government. The Government will not use force unless force is used against it. My friends, this is a wholly unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here--I supposed I was merely to do something towards raising a flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet, but I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the pleasure of Almighty God, die by. Mr. President, those were the words--the very eloquent words--given by President-elect Abraham Lincoln at Independence Hall on February 22, 1861--again, words that were impromptu, words that were inspired by his deep commitment, truly, to the principles embodied in our Declaration of Independence. It is most fitting that as a Senate, as a body, we recognize those principles; that we again read those speeches from those great leaders from so many years ago, those leaders who have shaped our Nation to be the great Nation it is. With that, I again thank the Senators who have given us the opportunity to read these profound words again and to share them with citizens across this great Nation. With that, I yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Murkowski for that moving reading of the statement by President Lincoln and for all she does in our time to carry on those principles. It struck me--I said earlier the Declaration was an aspirational document and positing the self-evident truth that all of us are created equal, having this endowment from our Creator to the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--the great promise of equality of opportunity--that it was not realized at the time, July 4, 1776, when it was written. One of the groups I mentioned--women--had essentially no equal rights at that time. The story of America is the story of trying to, over time, reach the aspirations of the founding generation. It was only into the last century, as you well know, I say to my friend from Alaska, that women got the right to vote, and only more recently that women began to be elected to the Senate in some numbers. So the work goes on. Obviously, you were elected because of your qualities as a person, not because of your gender. But I note both the progress that has been made and the progress that yet has to be made to realize the fullest range of the goals of the Founders. Senator Martinez, the final Member to speak, is on his way. I will fill in a little bit. I say to the Senator, your reading of Lincoln inspires me to recall that I recently read a book--I forget the name of the book, but I remember the author, William Lee Miller. I remember it well because he was a teacher of mine at Yale, who has now been teaching for many years at the University of Virginia. He wrote a book recently on Lincoln, and in it he analyzes Lincoln's first inaugural address. I thought he made a powerful point that reminded me of the extent to which Lincoln in that first inaugural address talked about the oath of office he was taking and how it transformed him. In other words, he said when he raised his hand--the right hand--and put the other hand on the Bible and said he was now pledging to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution, it transformed him as a person. Yes, he was still Abraham Lincoln, American citizen, but he was now the President, with a solemn and sacred obligation to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution of the United States. That was a powerful insight, and one I think all of us--as thrilled as I remember I was, and I am sure every Member of the Senate was when we walked to the well of the Senate the first time, and every time since, on the day we were sworn in as Senators, to feel transformed by the oath we take, which puts the interests of the Constitution and our Nation first above personal interests, above party interests. In this particularly partisan chapter of American political history, it is worth remembering that the oath we took, as Lincoln's first inaugural instructs us, was not to protect and defend and preserve ourselves or our parties but to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and, of course, the United States itself most of all. I am grateful to see my friend from Florida in the Chamber and now yield to Senator Martinez for the reading of Patrick Henry's speech. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida. Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut and very much appreciate his contribution this morning. I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to talk about Patrick Henry and the words he expressed at such a vital time for our Nation. As the Senator from Connecticut knows, I am an immigrant to this land. I am one who has been the beneficiary of the fruits of liberty that were obtained by others, and I am incredibly grateful for those opportunities to live in freedom that I have been afforded by this great Nation. So the Fourth of July always ranks as a very special day on my calendar. The words of Patrick Henry have to do with a people who felt oppression, as I did in my youth. It is, at that time in someone's life, a little difficult to determine whether it is better to resist or reconcile, whether we move in the direction of conflict or in the direction of peace. It was in that kind of a moment that Americans in the years preceding 1776 found themselves. So on March 23, 1775, at a meeting of delegates at St. John's Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry made the case for action. There is a picture of the inside of the church which was taken from Patrick Henry's pew. Here are some excerpts from that famous speech. It reads: Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren 'til she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? . . . . . . We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrations have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending-- if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? [[Page 14211]] Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? . . . . . . The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave . . . . . . It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! Those are the words of Patrick Henry, which I feel terribly inadequate delivering myself, but I am so honored to have this incredible opportunity, and the words ring so true today. As we know how history unfolded, he was so correct about the fact that it was a time for action and that there would be an almighty who would stand on the side of freedom and on the side of liberty, which is still true today. I know the Senator from Connecticut would share that view with me. I so much appreciate this wonderful opportunity, and I yield back to the Senator from Connecticut. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Martinez for that wonderful reading and for all that his person speaks to. He said he was an immigrant to this country, born in Cuba. The truth is, we are all immigrants, the founding generation. We are all immigrants. The original Americans were Native Americans. I think some of us whose families have been here a while may forget all of that. The country in its founding documents posited these magnificent ideas based on faith, the endowment of our Creator, but then this openness and equality. The Senator from Florida, in his lifetime, his fresh memory, reminds us all how we have to be grateful for each succeeding generation as an obligation to accept the responsibility and, if you will, the destiny that is included in these documents--the Declaration and the Constitution--but we are also beneficiaries of those. Certainly, I have been in my life, and the Senator from Florida has been in his life. It is great to have somebody such as the Senator from Florida, by virtue of his own ability and hard work being a Senator, to be here and to read Patrick Henry's inspiring words. That is really what America is about. Mr. MARTINEZ. It is very special. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I am honored that Senator Warner has come to the floor. He is a great Virginian in the tradition of Jefferson, and I wish to call on him because I believe he would like to add just a few words here at the end of this hour of celebration of our independence. Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I see our distinguished colleague from Missouri on the floor. Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I apologize to my friend from Virginia, but we were going to start the FISA debate at 11. I understand there is a request to extend. I would like to lock in a time when we can accommodate those Senators wishing to speak but establish a firm time when Senator Rockefeller and I may begin the discussion of FISA. Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am going to speak for maybe 4 minutes. My distinguished colleague from Connecticut, who is too humble to say so, perhaps, deserves credit for what is going on this morning, together with Senator Cornyn. We are about to wind up in less than 15 minutes. I would think that at 11:15 we would be ready to go on the bill, and I wish to join the Senator from Missouri on this bill. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, if I may, I am going to finish up in a moment with just a minute because I have had plenty of time to speak, so we will be there before 11:15. Mr. BOND. Mr. President, are there other requests of people wishing to speak? Mr. WARNER. No. Mr. LIEBERMAN. No. Mr. WARNER. So I would put it in the form of a unanimous consent request that we be allowed to continue at this point. ____________________