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Ok get your Kilts ready!!! April 6th is National Tartan Day!

Congressional Record Entry for National Tartan Day,
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 41) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a day should be established as ``National Tartan Day'' to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish-Americans to the United States.

The Clerk read as follows:

House Resolution 41

Whereas April 6 has a special significance for all Americans, and especially those Americans of Scottish descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320, and the American Declaration of Independence was modeled in part on that inspirational document;

Whereas this resolution honors the major role that Scottish-Americans
played in the founding of the Nation, such as the fact that almost half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, the Governors in 9 of the original 13 States were of Scottish ancestry, and Scottish-Americans successfully helped shape the Nation in its formative years and guide it through its most troubled times;

Whereas this resolution recognizes the monumental achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish-Americans that have led to America's preeminence in the fields of science, technology, medicine, government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, media, and visual and performing arts;

Whereas this resolution commends the more than 200 organizations
throughout the United States that honor Scottish heritage, tradition, and culture, representing the hundreds of thousands of Americans of Scottish descent, residing in every State, who already have made the observance of Tartan Day on April 6 a success; and

Whereas these numerous individuals, clans, societies, clubs, and fraternal organizations do not let the great contributions of the Scottish people go unnoticed: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a day should be established as ``National Tartan Day'' to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish-Americans to the United States.


Declaration of Arbroath

A Model for the American Declaration of Independence:
Tartan Day Tribute to 1320 A.D. Declaration of Arbroath.

Scotland expelled the English armies under Edward II with its victory at Bannockburn in 1314 and with the recapture of Berwickin 1319. However, the English did not give up and mounted countless attacks into Robert the Bruce's Scotland. The Pope had not accepted Scottish independence, perhaps partially because Robert the Bruce had been excommunicated for killing John Comyn in a church in Dumfries in 1306.

Thus the Declaration of Arbroath was prepared as a formal Declaration of Independence. It was drawn up in Arbroath Abbey on the 6th April 1320, most likely by the Abbot, Bernard de Linton, who was also the Chancellor of Scotland. The Declaration urged the Pope to deny the English claim on Scotland. According to John Prebble (The Lion in the North: One Thousand Years of Scotland's History):


In its mixture of defiance and supplication, nonsensical history and noble thought, two things make the Declaration of Arbroath the most important document in Scottish history.
Firstly it set the will and the wishes of the people above the King. Though they were bound to him 'both by law and by his merits' it was so that their freedom might be maintained. If he betrayed them he would be removed and replaced

Secondly, the manifesto affirmed the nation's independence in a way no battle could, and justified it with a truth that is beyond nation and race. Man has a right to freedom and a duty to defend it with his life.

The original, delivered to the Pope in Avignon is lost, but was acknowledged on 28th August 1320. The Pope wrote to Edward II urging him to make peace, although it was not until 1324 that the Pope addressed Robert Bruce as King. Finally, in 1328, Edward III formally recognized King Robert's title and the independence of Scotland.

The Declaration of Arbroath: Excerpts

Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition, that we can, to win peace for ourselves.

So dust off your Kilts and have an Awesome week!!!!!!!