The holiday we celebrate today in Leipzig and tomorrow in Berlin, in Embassies and Consulates around the world, and in tens of thousands of American cities and towns, is called, officially, Independence Day, but most of us know it simply as “the Fourth of July.” It is a celebration of liberty, the fundamental human right and valued principle that links 300 million people in our common Americanness.
The way many Americans celebrate the Fourth of July nowadays illustrates our sense of common national identity amidst the vast diversity of our society. We organize community parties. Some people turn out early to set up, some people cook the hamburgers or scoop the ice cream, some organize games and races for the kids, some people judge the not-very-serious contests to select the most beautiful baby or most patriotically decorated bicycle or pet. Someone, usually a tall man, walks around shaking hands while wearing a false white beard, red-and-white striped pants, blue tailcoat and top hat – the Uncle Sam costume, that is stored at someone’s house or office for the other 364 days of the year. The local fire department -- in many places a volunteer corps -- parks a hook-and-ladder truck for the kids to climb on and learn about. Political office-holders turn out to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem with the crowd. Many towns have a parade featuring the Boy and Girl Scouts, police, fire fighters, union members, high school marching bands, Lions, Rotarians, members of lodges and social clubs or philanthropic organizations. Also walking in the parade may be the Sons of Italy, Latinos, African-Americans, Burmese-Americans, the Sierra Club, the Gay-and-Lesbian-Forum, members of the US National Guard, or any of hundreds of other groups. It is a casual, come one/come all kind of holiday: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The official name is Independence Day for a good reason. Americans stand in pride and awe, 230 years after the fact, when we contemplate the courage and creativity of the Founding Fathers. The men who met in Philadelphia in 1776 had lived their entire lives as subjects of a king. They took the giant intellectual leap to assert that the authority of a government derived from the will of the people. And this being so, they declared the independence of their homeland from the English crown. Their understanding of liberty and of the common responsibility of citizens remains essential to being an American.
In Germany I always like to point out how many leading citizens of that new nation had come not from England but from present-day Germany. Five days after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, that is, on July 9, 1776, a local publisher brought out the first German-language edition. Common efforts to establish liberty and democracy across the Atlantic thus have a tradition of centuries. Some of you, I expect, accepted our invitation in honor of that tradition, and I thank you for joining us today.
I realize, of course, that some of you were also driven by curiosity to see behind the police barriers. I want to thank our friends in the local and Saxony state police for their cooperation over many years. We in the consulate are pleased to be able to display a friendlier face through the re-opening of the streets for pedestrians and cyclists, and to be able to welcome our guests and working partners into a more secure building.
(For the complete speech, which included both English and German, please check Rede anlässlich des Empfangs zum "Fourth of July" 2006 im US-Generalkonsulat Leipzig)
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