Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 5.djvu/1044

 102 STAT. 5050

PROCLAMATION 5851—SEPT. 7, 1988

prosperity, and equal opportunity in which all our citizens can fully and freely develop their talents and reach for their dreams for the good of others. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 26, 1988, as Women's Equality Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightyeight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth. RONALD REAGAN

Proclamation 5851 of September 7, 1988

Citizenship Day and Constitution Week, 1988 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Two centuries and more ago, America was blessed with the vision of freedom and with the will and ability to achieve and sustain it for posterity. We founded a Republic in which "We the People" would set limits on the power of government, and not the other way around—in which government would be forever bound to respect and to preserve life and liberty for everyone alike. The Nation thus begun was no accident, but rather the creation of men and women of character, idealism, and incredible capacity for self-sacrifice in our country's cause. All throughout our history, in peace and in war, Americans have loved and labored in defense of our Independence and our rights. For these reasons, and because freedom has enemies in every generation. Citizenship Day and Constitution Week ought to remind each of us that we must never take for granted our existence as a free land. The men of genius who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and the r sacred honor as they signed our Declaration of Independence did not take our liberty or our citizenship as Americans for granted. Neither did those who painstakingly framed our Constitution and held for the Bill of Rights during our days as a fledgling Nation. Those who have served and sacrificed in uniform through the centuries have surely taken the blessings of liberty very seriously. So have the millions of immigrants who have braved countless obstacles to reach the safety and freedom of our shores. Remembrance of the heritage of liberty and love of country embodied in our citizenship and Constitution is our duty and delight as Americans. We are continuing to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Constitution, as well as its ratification and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, with appropriate themes and programs through 1991; each of us now should offer our allegiance anew as we pledge to live by the principles of our land and to do our part in preserving liberty for the generations yet unborn.

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