Remarks at an Independence Day Celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 9, 2001

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 an his wife, Michelle. 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 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 county 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.