[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 20 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Pages 627-630]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at America's 400th Anniversary Celebration in Williamsburg, 
Virginia

May 13, 2007

    Thank you all. Thank you, Justice O'Connor. Laura and I are really 
happy to join you today. This State is known as the ``Mother of 
Presidents,'' which reminds me, I needed to call my mother today. 
[Laughter] I wish all mothers around our country a happy Mother's Day. 
And if you haven't called your

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mother, you better start dialing here after this ceremony.
    We're honored to be in Jamestown on this historic day. We appreciate 
the opportunity to tour the beautiful grounds here. I would urge our 
fellow citizens to come here to see the fantastic history that's on 
display. I think you'll be amazed at how our country got started. And I 
want to thank all the good folks who are working to preserve the past 
for your hard work, and I appreciate the fact that you spent a lot of 
time educating our fellow citizens.
    Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America; it 
predated the Mayflower Compact by 13 years. This is a very proud State, 
and some people down here like to point out that the pilgrims ended up 
at Plymouth Rock by mistake. [Laughter] They were looking for Virginia. 
[Laughter] They just missed the sign. [Laughter]
    As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown to honor the 
beginnings of our democracy, it is a chance to renew our commitment to 
help others around the world realize the great blessings of liberty. And 
so Laura and I are proud to join you. Justice, it's good to see you. 
There's no finer American than Sandra Day O'Connor, and I'm proud to 
share the podium with her.
    We're also proud to be with Governor Tim Kaine and Anne Holton. I'm 
proud to call them friends, and I hope, Ms. Kaine, that the Governor 
recognized Mother's Day. Glad you're here. I want to thank Secretary 
Dirk Kempthorne of the Department of the Interior; Michael Griffin, the 
Administrator of NASA; Members of the United States Congress; members of 
the statehouse, including the Lieutenant Governor. I appreciate the 
attorney general being here. I thank the speaker for joining us. Most of 
all, thank you for coming.
    I thank the members of the Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission. 
Those are all the good folks who worked hard to get this celebration in 
order. I appreciate the members of the Association for the Preservation 
of Virginia Antiquities. Laura and I saw members of the Association for 
the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities digging--in dirt. [Laughter] It 
just so happened we wandered up, and they found some artifacts. 
[Laughter] I appreciate members of the Jamestown 2007 Steering 
Committee.
    The story of Jamestown will always have a special place in American 
history. It's the story of a great migration from the Old World to the 
New. It is a story of hardship overcome by resolve. It's a story of the 
Tidewater settlement that laid the foundation of our great democracy.
    That story began on a dock near London in December of 1606. More 
than 100 English colonists set sail for a new life across the ocean in 
Virginia. They had dreams of paradise that were sustained during their 
long months at sea by their strong spirit. And then they got here, and a 
far different reality awaited them.
    On May 13, 1607, 400 years today, they docked their ships on a 
marshy riverbank. Being loyal subjects, they named the site after their 
King, and that's how Jamestown was born. Today we celebrate that moment 
as a great milestone in our history, yet the colonists who experienced 
those first years had little reason to celebrate.
    Their search for gold soon gave way to a desperate search for food. 
An uneasy peace with the Native Americans broke into open hostilities. 
The hope for a better life turned into a longing for the comforts of 
home. One settler wrote, ``There were never Englishmen left in a foreign 
country in such misery as we were in the new discovered Virginia.''
    Looking back, 400 years later, it is easy to forget how close 
Jamestown came to failure. The low point came after the terrible winter 
of 1610. The survivors boarded their ships. They were prepared to 
abandon the settlement, and only the last minute arrival of new settlers 
and new provisions saved Jamestown. Back in London, one court official 
summed up the situation this way: ``This is an unlucky beginning. I pray 
God the end may prove happier.''
    Well, the prayers were answered. Jamestown survived. It became a 
testament to the power of perseverance and determination. Despite many 
dangers, more ships full of new settlers continued to set out for 
Jamestown. As the colony grew, the settlers ventured beyond the walls of 
their three-sided fort and formed a thriving community. Their

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industry and hard work transformed Jamestown from a distant English 
outpost into an important center for trade.
    And during those early years, the colonists also planted the seeds 
of American democracy, at a time when democratic institutions were rare. 
On their first night at Jamestown, six of the leading colonists held the 
first presidential election in American history. And you might be 
surprised to know that the winner was not named George. [Laughter] A 
matter of fact, his name was Edward Wingfield. I call him Eddie W. 
[Laughter]
    From these humble beginnings, the pillars of a free society began to 
take hold. Private property rights encouraged ownership and free 
enterprise. The rule of law helped secure the rights of individuals. The 
creation of America's first representative assembly ensured the consent 
of the people and gave Virginians a voice in their government. It was 
said at the time that the purpose of these reforms was, quote, ``to lay 
a foundation whereon a flourishing State might, in time, by the blessing 
of Almighty God, be raised.''
    Not all people shared in these blessings. The expansion of Jamestown 
came at a terrible cost to the native tribes of the region, who lost 
their lands and their way of life. And for many Africans, the journey to 
Virginia represented the beginnings of a life of hard labor and bondage. 
Their story is a part of the story of Jamestown. It reminds us that the 
work of American democracy is to constantly renew and to extend the 
blessings of liberty.
    That work has continued throughout our history. In the 18th century, 
our Founding Fathers declared our independence and dedicated America to 
the principle that all men are created equal. In the 19th century, our 
Nation fought a terrible civil war over the meaning of those famous 
words and renewed our founding promise. In the 20th century, Americans 
defended our democratic ideals against totalitarian ideologies abroad, 
while working to ensure we lived up to our ideals here at home. As we 
begin the 21st century, we look back on our history with pride and 
rededicate ourselves to the cause of liberty.
    Today, democratic institutions are taking root in places where 
liberty was unimaginable not long ago. At the start of the 1980s, there 
were only 45 democracies on Earth. There are now more than 120 
democracies, and more people now live in freedom than ever before.
    America is proud to promote the expansion of democracy, and we must 
continue to stand with all those struggling to claim their freedom. The 
advance of freedom is the great story of our time, and new chapters are 
being written every day, from Georgia and Ukraine, to Kyrgyzstan and 
Lebanon, to Afghanistan and Iraq. From our own history, we know the path 
to democracy is long, and it's hard. There are many challenges, and 
there are setbacks along the way. Yet we can have confidence in the 
outcome because we've seen freedom's power to transform societies 
before.
    In World War II, we fought Germany on battlefields across Europe, 
and today, a democratic Germany is one of our strongest partners on the 
continent. And in the Pacific, we fought a bloody war with Japan, and 
now our alliance with a democratic Japan is the linchpin for freedom and 
security in the Far East. These democracies have taken different forms 
that reflect different cultures and traditions. But our friendship with 
them reminds us that liberty is the path to lasting peace and that 
democracies are natural allies for the United States.
    Today, we have no closer ally than the nation we once fought for our 
own independence. Britain and America are united by our democratic 
heritage and by the history that began at this settlement 400 years ago. 
Last month, some of the greatest legal minds in Britain and America, 
including Justice O'Connor and Chief Justice John Roberts, came to 
Jamestown to lay a plaque commemorating our shared respect for the rule 
of law and our deeply held belief in individual liberty.
    Over the years, these values have defined our two countries. Yet 
they are more than just American values and British values or Western 
values; they are universal values that come from a power greater than 
any man or any country. These values took root at Jamestown four 
centuries ago. They have flourished across our land, and one day, they 
will flourish in every land.

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    May God bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 12:02 p.m. at Anniversary Park. In his 
remarks, he referred to former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra 
Day O'Connor; Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia, his wife, Anne Holton, 
and his mother, Kathy Kaine; Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and State Attorney 
General Bob McDonnell of Virginia; and William J. Howell, speaker, 
Virginia House of Delegates.