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    "localId": "1669991",
    "label": "Bill of Rights Day/Human Rights Day and Week",
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    "id": "1669991",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Bill of Rights Day/Human Rights Day and Week",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1669991",
    "collections": [
        "William J. Baroody Files (Ford Administration)",
        "William Baroody's Proclamations Files"
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    "subjects": [
        "Bill of Rights",
        "Civil rights",
        "Holidays",
        "Human rights"
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    "coverageEndDate": {
        "logicalDate": "1976-12-31",
        "month": 12,
        "year": 1976
    },
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        "logicalDate": "1974-12-01",
        "month": 12,
        "year": 1974
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    "seq": 1,
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    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/ford/grf-0159/645220/1669991.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box 34, folder \"Bill of Rights Day/Human\nRights Day and Week\" of the William J. Baroody Files at the Gerald R. Ford\nPresidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nDigitized from Box 34 of the William J. Baroody Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nOF THE UNITED 2HL\nOF\nBill of Rights Day\nHuman Rights Day and Week\nBy the President of the United States of America\nA Proclamation\nTwo hundred years ago, in September 1774, the First Continental Congress assembled in\nCarpenters' Hall, in Philadelphia, and set in motion a course of human events which created\nthe United States. The system of government begun there, and the high principles on which\nit rests, continues today as the source of vitality for our society.\nAnticipating the bicentennial of this Nation's independence, now is an excellent time to\npause and consider the groundwork the delegates to Philadelphia laid for our independence.\nThe First Continental Congress adopted a resolution asserting, among other things, the rights\nof the American people to life, liberty, and property; to participation in the legislative\ncouncils of government to the heritage of the common law; to trial by jury; and to assemble\nand petition for redress of grievances. This resolution foreshadowed the Declaration of Inde-\npendence and the Bill of Rights.\nIt is altogether fitting to mark the 200th anniversary of this noble beginning of the Conti-\nnental Congress. Beyond that, it is imperative that all of us study and cherish the ideas and\nideals which bore fruit in the great constitutional documents of our country. At the same\ntime, we should take the opportunity, whenever possible, to strengthen the liberties which\nhave been assured us in the Bill of Rights, ratified one hundred and eighty-three years ago\nthis week, on December 15, 1791.\nAmerica's concern with human rights is not something that ends at our borders.\nBenjamin Franklin wrote to a friend in 1789:\n\"God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of\nMan, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, SO that a Philosopher may set his Foot any-\nwhere on its Surface, and say, \"This is my Country'.\"\nFranklin's spirit of universality has found rich modern expression in the Universal\nDeclaration of Human Rights. The link between it and our Bill of Rights is clear. On\nDecember 10, we celebrate the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of\nHuman Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The General Assembly said\nthat the Universal Declaration stands as \"a common standard of achievement for all\npeoples and nations,\" reminding us that \"recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal\nand inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,\njustice and peace in the world.\"\nNOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of America,\ndo hereby proclaim December 10, 1974, as Human Rights Day and December 15, 1974, as\nBill of Rights Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning\nDecember 10, 1974, as Human Rights Week. Further, I ask all Americans to reflect deeply\non the values inherent in the Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights\nand draw on those values to promote peace, justice, and civility at home and around the\nworld.\nIN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of December, in\nthe year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United\nStates of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.\nGerall R. Ford\nOF THE UNITED the OF SEAL\nBill of Rights Day\nHuman Rights Day and Week, 1975\nBy the President of the United States of America\nA Proclamation\nAs the United States of America looks forward to the two hundredth anniversary\nof our Nation's independence next July, it is appropriate that we pause and reflect on\nthe principles of self-government that underlie our society and continue to nourish it.\nEmbodied in our great national documents-the Declaration of Independence,\nthe Constitution and the Bill of Rights-are the imperishable ideas that all men are\ncreated equal, that they are endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the\npursuit of happiness, and that it is the people of the United States themselves who\nhave ordained and established the government which serves us all.\nThe Founding Fathers could not foresee in detail the threats to liberty that might\narise as the Republic grew, but they had the wisdom to know that threats would\nappear and that the people must be protected against them. When the new Consti-\ntution was being discussed in 1787, Thomas Jefferson complained in a letter to\nJames Madison of the absence of a Bill of Rights, saying: \"Let me add that a bill\nof rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general\nor particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.\"\nMadison became convinced of the need for a Bill of Rights and wrote Jefferson:\n\"The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the char-\nacter of fundamental maxims of free government, and as they become incorporated\nwith the National sentiment, counteract the impulses of interest and passion.\" In\nthe First Congress, Madison, the principal proponent of those amendments to the\nConstitution known as the Bill of Rights, defended them in these words: \"If they\nare incorporated into the constitution, independent tribunals of justice will consider\nthemselves in a peculiar manner the guardian of those rights; they will be an impene-\ntrable bulwark against every assumption of power in the legislative or executive.\nThis has truly been our national experience. So also in the international com-\nmunity have we come to respect and rely on the Universal Declaration of Human\nRights as a fundamental statement of principles reaffirming faith in the dignity and\nworth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women as the\nfoundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.\nOn December 15 we mark the one hundred eighty-fourth anniversary of the\nadoption of the Bill of Rights and on December 10 we observe the twenty-seventh\nanniversary of the Universal Declaration. It is fitting that in 1975, which is Inter-\nnational Women's Year, we should recognize especially the contributions of women\nto political and social progress and underline our commitment to remove promptly\nsuch barriers that still remain in the way of their full participation in our Nation's life.\nNOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States\nof America, do hereby proclaim December 10, 1975, as Human Rights Day and\nDecember 15, 1975, as Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the American people to observe\nthe week beginning December 10, 1975, as Human Rights Week. Further, I urge all\nAmericans during the coming bicentennial year to contemplate the principles of\nliberty and justice enunciated in the Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of\nHuman Rights and to draw on them as the best means to assure our Nation's continued\nprogress.\nIN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of\nNovember, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-five, and of the Inde-\npendence of the United States of America the two hundredth.\nGerald R.\nOF THE UNITED THE\nOF\nBill of Rights Day\nHuman Rights Day and Week, 1976\nBy the President of the United States of America\nA Proclamation\nWe Americans have been deeply moved by the sights and sounds of our Bicen-\ntennial observance, celebrated this year with pageantry, with fireworks, and with tall\nships whose friendly visits have reminded us of our close ties, both contemporary and\nhistorical, with many nations around the globe. More importantly, we have given\nrenewed thought to those principles of liberty and justice that underlie our national\nexperience. Reexamined in the light of the past two centuries, the great instruments of\nour freedom-the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of\nRights-retain both their vitality and their relevance to today's problems.\nWhen he introduced his proposal for a Bill of Rights to the House of Representa-\ntives of the First Congress, James Madison called it \"the great work.\" He said: \"It will\nbe a desirable thing to extinguish from the bosom of every member of the community,\nany apprehensions that there are those among his countrymen who wish to deprive\nthem of the liberty for which they valiantly fought and honorably bled.\"\nMadison argued that \"the great object in view is to limit and qualify the powers\nof Government, by excepting out of the grant of power those cases in which the Gov-\nernment ought not to act, or to act only in a particular mode.\" Those cases include\nrights and freedoms all Americans cherish today-freedom of religion, of speech, of\nthe press; security against unreasonable searches and seizures; freedom from self-\nincrimination; the guarantee of due process of law; trial by jury.\nOur national commitment to the principles of the Bill of Rights is echoed in the\ncommunity of nations by our respect for the ideals enunciated in the Universal\nDeclaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in\n1948. This Declaration eloquently affirms that the foundation of freedom, justice and\npeace in the world lies in the recognition of the inherent dignity, and the equal and\ninalienable rights, of all members of the human family.\nIn December we pay special tribute to these fundamental documents. Decem-\nber 15 is the one hundred and eighty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of\nRights and December 10 is the twenty-eighth anniversary of the Universal Declara-\ntion. As we enter the third century of our national existence we need more than ever\nto remember that the principles contained in these fundamental statements of human\npurpose have immediate application, not only domestically in our dealings with one\nanother, but also internationally in our pursuit of friendly relations with all countries.\nNOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of\nAmerica, do hereby proclaim December 10, 1976, as Human Rights Day and\nDecember 15, 1976, as Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the American people to observe\nthe week beginning December 10, 1976, as Human Rights Week. Further, I ask all\nAmericans, as they reflect with conscious pride on our history, not to be content with\npast accomplishments but to recognize the future task of our Nation and mankind: to\nbring about the full realization of the ideals and aspirations expressed in the Bill of\nRights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\nIN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of\nDecember, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-six, and of the Inde-\npendence of the United States of America the two hundred and first.\nGerall R. Ford"
}