German-American Day, 1994

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Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 194
Friday, October 7, 1994

____________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6731 of October 4, 1994

German-American Day, 1994

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In a joyous celebration at Germany's Brandenburg Gate
just 3 months ago, the United States and Germany
proudly welcomed and affirmed the new era of trans-
Atlantic cooperation between our nations. Together, our
countries are working to support democratic and market
reforms that promise greater prosperity and security
for Europeans, as well as for their American friends
and allies. And our citizens look forward to the future
of this partnership with unprecedented optimism and
confidence.

For this important covenant, history has meaningful
precedent. In the first days after the signing of
America's Declaration of Independence in 1776, a
prominent firm in Philadelphia translated and published
the Declaration's text in German. That decision
reflected the significant number of German-American
colonists whose involvement in our struggle for freedom
helped to fashion our democratic system. The
Declaration's publication in German was intended to
spread the word of independence to the courageous
German colonists, who shared an abiding love of
liberty--if not yet a language--with their English-
speaking compatriots. The leaders of the revolution
recognized the integral importance of the German
population, and Germans were proud to play a central
role in the birth of American democracy.

Germans who already had settled in the colonies and
others who came to fight in the War for Independence,
such as Baron von Steuben, aided significantly in
ensuring the American triumph. The translated version
of the Declaration of Independence is a lasting symbol
both of the depth of the American-German friendship and
of Germans' extraordinary intellectual and material
contributions to the birth of representative government
in the United States. In the nearly 220 years since
that great victory, generations of German Americans
have remained active and invaluable participants in the
American experiment. Today, more citizens of the United
States can claim German ancestry than that of any other
ethnic group. Inspired by two centuries of shared
freedom, German Americans throughout the land are
helping to lead our Nation toward a future as bright as
our past--a future of growing understanding and certain
peace.

To honor today's stewards of the rich German-American
heritage, the Congress, by Public Law 103-100, has
designated October 6, 1994, as ``German-American Day''
and has authorized and requested the President to issue
a proclamation in observance of this day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 6,
1994, as German-American Day, in appreciation of the
countless contributions that people of German descent
have made to our Nation's liberty, democracy, and
prosperity.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and
nineteenth.

(Presidential Sig.)>