Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 6.djvu/807

 PROCLAMATION 6082—DEC. 10, 1989 104 STAT. 5197 governments, and the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth. GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6082 of December 10, 1989 Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights Week, 1989 By the President of the United States of America .^ A Proclamation "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." With these words, our Nation's Founding Fathers declared America's independence from Great Britain more than 200 years ago. In so doing, they asserted the principles that form the fundamental moral vision of the United States. That vision—which recognizes protection of the God-given rights of individuals as the only legitimate end of just government—has inspired the United State's efforts to promote and defend the cause of freedom around the world. We Americans are firmly committed to the advancement of freedom and human rights because we also recognize the inherent relationship between respect for the worth and dignity of each person and the attainment of genuine peace and security. In 1789, our Nation's Founding Fathers enumerated the rights of individuals in the first ten amendments proposed to our Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. James Madison once noted that the idea of a Bill of Rights was valuable because "political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free government." Two hundred years later, the principles enshrined in our Bill of Rights have proved to be not only guiding tenets of American government, but also a model for the world. The Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, as well as freedom of religion and association; it ensures that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and it prohibits unreasonable search and seizure of a person's home, papers, or possessions. The Bill of Rights also guarantees anyone accused of a crime the right to a jury trial and defense counsel; the right to be informed of the charges against him; and protection against cruel or unusual punishment. Two hundred years after the Bill of Rights was proposed to the States by the Congress, we can behold the remarkable influence and prescience of our Nation's Founding Fathers. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted on December 10, 1948, the United Nations

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