    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [July 4, 2001]
    [Pages 823-826]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at an Independence Day Celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    July 4, 2001

        Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. I
    appreciate so much your hospitality. Laura and I are honored to be here
    in Philadelphia. It's the perfect place to celebrate our Nation's
    birthday.
        I told the mayor in front of the country,
    when I addressed the Congress, that I was coming to Philadelphia to
    celebrate the wonderful missions that take place in this grand city. Mr.
    Mayor, thank you for allowing me to come, and thank you for your
    gracious hospitality. Same to the Governor of this great State, our
    close friend Tom Ridge and his wife,
    Michele. Thank you all very much for your
    hospitality.
        It's an honor to be on the stage with the senior Senator, who
    married quite well himself. [Laughter] I appreciate you being here,
    Senator, and the honorable--it's an honor to be on the stage with
    leaders of the faith community in Philadelphia. Distinguished guests, my
    fellow citizens, thank you for your warm welcome.
        And thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your lovely
    gift. Laura and I will make a special place for it at the White House.
        Today we celebrate American independence in the place of America's
    birth, close to a symbol of American liberty. As millions know, to see
    the Liberty Bell is a moving experience. In America, we set aside
    certain places and treasures like this to protect them from the passing
    of the years. We grant them special care to mark a moment in time. Here
    in Philadelphia, these markers are all around us, reminders of our
    history.
        This is a dynamic and modern city. Yet if the Founders themselves
    were here, they would know the place. Benjamin Franklin and his wife
    could still find their way from here to the corner where they first saw
    each other, at Market and 4th. John Adams could make his way to City
    Tavern and show us the spot where he first shook the hand of George
    Washington. Thomas Jefferson would still find waiting for him the room
    where he drafted the Declaration of

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    Independence. And each of the Founders, coming here, would know the ring
    of the Liberty Bell. It rang to announce the first public reading of the
    Declaration of Independence 225 years ago.
        Those new citizens of a nation just 4 days old heard inspiring words
    but not original thoughts. Our Founders considered themselves heirs to
    principles that were timeless and truths that were self-evident. When
    Jefferson sat down to write, he was trying, he said, to place before
    mankind ``the common sense of the subject.'' The common sense of the
    subject was that we should be free. And though great evils would linger,
    the world would never be the same after July 4, 1776.
         A wonderful country was born and a revolutionary idea sent forth to
    all mankind: Freedom, not by the good graces of government but as the
    birthright of every individual; equality, not as a theory of
    philosophers but by the design of our Creator; natural rights, not for
    the few, not even for a fortunate many but for all people, in all
    places, in all times.
        The world still echoes with the ideals of America's Declaration. Our
    ideals have been accepted in many countries and bitterly opposed by
    tyrants. They are the mighty rock on which we have built our Nation.
    They are the hope of all who are oppressed. They are the standard to
    which we hold others and the standard by which we measure ourselves. Our
    greatest achievements have come when we have lived up to these ideals.
    Our greatest tragedies have come when we have failed to uphold them.
        When Abraham Lincoln wondered whether civil war was preferable to
    permanent slavery, he knew where to seek guidance. Speaking in
    Independence Hall, he said, ``I have never had a feeling, politically,
    that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of
    Independence. The Declaration,'' Lincoln said, ``gave promise that in
    due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men and
    all should have an equal chance.''
        From the ideals in the Declaration came the laws and the
    Constitution, including the free exercise of religion. The Liberty Bell
    was originally cast to mark the 50th anniversary of William Penn's
    Charter of Privileges, the first guarantee of religious freedom in this
    Commonwealth. Now, exactly three centuries after William Penn's charter,
    the Founders would be pleased to see that we have respected this right
    of the people and the limitation on the Government. They knew what
    dangers can follow when Government either dictates or frustrates the
    exercise of religion.
        Our Founders would also be pleased to walk these streets again and
    to find, amid the problems of modern life, a familiar American spirit of
    faith and good works. They would see the signs of poverty and want, but
    also acts of great kindness and charity. They would see addiction and
    the wreckage it brings, but they would also see in the works of the
    religious groups and charities throughout this city the power that can
    rescue abandoned hopes and repair a broken life. In a world very
    different from theirs, they would see different kinds of hardships,
    fears, and suffering; yet they would also recognize the brotherly love
    that gave this city its name.
        Your mayor and I have just come from an
    Independence Day celebration in north Philadelphia, organized by a great
    American named Herbert Lusk. Herb first came
    into prominence as an athlete. Today, he is pastor of Greater Exodus
    Baptist Church, and his parishioners still like him. [Laughter] Herb's
    church is one of the hundreds of churches and synagogues and mosques in
    this city where worship of the Almighty is expressed in service to
    neighbors in need.
        In every part of Philadelphia, caring people are doing the work of
    compassion. They teach boys and girls to read, as in a program called
    Youth Education for Tomorrow, where more than 20 faith-based literacy
    centers are producing great results

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    for your city's children. At the Jesus School in north Philadelphia,
    little Aneeisha Graham came a year ago, not
    knowing any letters of the alphabet. Today, at age 7, she reads at the
    fourth grade level. Aneeisha is with us today. It's great to see you,
    darling. Thank you for coming.
        Other faith-based groups in this city operate shelters for the
    destitute and the homeless. They bring kindness and understanding to
    young women facing domestic violence or crisis pregnancies. They give
    time and attention to the children of prisoners. These are the kinds of
    citizens every society needs, citizens who speak for the voiceless and
    feed the hungry and protect the weak and comfort the afflicted.
        America's founding documents give us religious liberty in principle;
    these Americans show us religious liberty in action. Religious liberty
    is more than the right to believe in God's love; it is the right to be
    an instrument of God's love. Such work is beyond the reach of government
    and beyond the role of government. And those who hold positions of power
    should not be wary or hostile toward faith-based charities or other
    community groups which perform important and good works. We should
    welcome their conviction and contribution in all its diversity.
        So today I call on the United States Congress to pass laws promoting
    and encouraging faith-based and community groups in their important
    public work and to never discriminate against them. These soldiers in
    the armies of compassion deserve our support. They often need our
    support. And by taking their side, we act in the best interests and
    tradition of our country.
        Without churches and charities, many of our citizens who have lost
    hope would be left to their own struggles and their own fate. And as I
    well know, they are not the only ones whose lives can be changed and
    uplifted by the influence of faith in God. The founding generation
    discerned in that faith the source of our own rights, a divine gift of
    dignity, found equally in every human life.
        Our Nation has always been guided by a moral compass. In every
    generation, men and women have protested terrible wrongs and worked for
    justice, for the abolition of slavery, the triumph of civil rights, for
    the end of child labor, the equal treatment of women, and the protection
    of innocent life. Not every reformer in our history has been religious,
    but many have been motivated by a scriptural vision in which ``justice
    rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.''
        We welcome religion in our common life because it leads millions of
    Americans to serve their neighbor and because it leads countless others
    to speak for justice, from African American churches to Catholic
    bishops. ``Religious people,'' said Dr. Martin Luther King, ``should not
    be the servant of the state nor the master of the state but the
    conscience of the state.''
        In my Inaugural Address, I asked Americans to seek a common good
    beyond their comfort, to serve their Nation, beginning with their
    neighbor. Today I urge Americans to consider what contributions we all
    can make, and there's plenty work for us all. Every person can find
    another to help. Nearly every community of conscience and faith has more
    to share, and corporate and foundation America can give more and give
    wiser.
        In this way, we all become more responsible citizens. And by
    extending to all the promise of America, we show an important kind of
    patriotism.
        Seventy-five years ago our 30th President, the only President born
    on Independence Day, spoke words that apply to our time. Calvin Coolidge
    said, ``We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of
    material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration
    created them. The things of the spirit come first.''
        On this Fourth of July, 2001, a great anniversary of our Nation's
    birth and a

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    great anniversary of religious liberty, we remember the ideals of
    America and the things of the spirit that sustain them.
        The Liberty Bell has been mostly silent for two centuries. And
    during the Revolution, it was unseen, hidden under the floorboards of a
    church in Allentown. Yet even in silence, it has always borne one
    message, cast for the ages with the words of the Old Testament:
    ``Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants
    thereof.''
        In this place of history, we honor the first generation of Americans
    who followed those words, and we give thanks to the God who watched over
    our country then and who watches to this very day.
        Thank you all. And may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:30 p.m. at Independence National
    Historical Park. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor John F. Street of
    Philadelphia.