[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19786]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           BILL OF RIGHTS DAY

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to commemorate Bill of Rights 
Day. Initially, this was passed by Congress in August of 1941 as a 
joint resolution, signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on November 27, 
1941, where, in his words: ``I . . . do hereby designate December 15, 
1941, as Bill of Rights Day. And I call upon the officials of the 
government, and upon the people of the United States, to observe the 
day by displaying the flag of the United States on public buildings and 
by meeting together for such prayers and such ceremonies as may seem to 
them appropriate.''
  The Bill of Rights was first introduced by James Madison, who later 
became the fourth President. Initially, 12 amendments were proposed. 
Two were not ratified. One did become ratified later on in compensation 
of Congress in 1992.
  There were 14 original copies produced of the Bill of Rights at the 
time, one for each of the 13 States and one for the National Archives. 
Twelve of them survive today.
  When Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed that proclamation on December 
15, 1941, he had no way of knowing what was coming. Just 9 days later, 
those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time 
that men have died to win them. They come in time to take these rights 
for granted and to assume their protection is assured. We, however, 
have seen these privileges lost in other continents and other 
countries.
  Indeed, prescient words for the time.

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