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Freedom was the desire of our people throughout centuries. Freedom enabled our people to be owners of their destiny.

The hope of the nation which throughout the nineteenth century had not for a moment reconciled itself with the loss of independence, and fighting for its own freedom, fought at the same time for the freedom of other nations.

Our nation is defined by an unshakable belief that we, the people, have the ability to control our destiny. A belief that anyone can reach out and grab opportunity and create a more prosperous future for themselves, their children and their grandchildren.

Our nation was founded on the principals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

My parents were lured to America by the democracy here promised. In our family, freedom was a word to conjure by. Hoping for larger privileges for the growing family of children, they brought them to the New World, the world of many intellectual as well as material advantages.

There are certain moments in the history of a nation when the choices made define the decades to come.

When the United States was founded, the very idea of a nation premised on democratic principles of freedom and tolerance was viewed by the vast majority of the world as an experiment doomed to fail. Dictatorships, monarchies, and theocracies had for many centuries ruled the world.

We are a nation of immigrants, a quilt of many colors, and we've managed over more than two centuries to create a way of life that allows for a reasonable degree of upward mobility, that prizes individual liberty, promotes freedom of religion and genuinely values equal rights for all citizens.