Embassy of the United States

Press Releases

July 4th Celebration

July 2, 2008


       A little more than two hundred years ago, the people who would become the United States declared their independence and resolved to form a new nation, a nation unlike any other. In the Declaration of Independence, they wrote, "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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ..." A nation united, not by allegiance to single ruler, or belief in a single religion, or membership in a common race. A nation united, rather by a common dream - the dream that people, whatever their social or economic background, whatever their birth, and wherever they lived in the land, could build a better nation for themselves and their children. And it was for this purpose that the people gave their consent to be governed. This was the first, greatest gift that the United States could offer to the world.

       Throughout our nation's history, we have been blessed with exceptional leaders who put the good of the nation ahead of their personal interest, the interest of their family, their region, or their race. Leaders like:

George Washington - who refused to be crowned king of the new nation and returned to his farm. 

Franklin Roosevelt - who, though personally descended from great wealth, led the nation out of economic depression to the benefit of all its citizens, regardless of their social or economic class, and, 

Martin Luther King - who despite his fearless opposition to the oppression of his own race, dreamed of a better future for all Americans, regardless of race.

       Sixty years after its foundation, the nation was torn by a bloody civil war, a war that set region against region and even brother against brother. The toll in blood, treasure, and property was tremendous, unequalled even to this day. The future was dark and uncertain. , one path could lead to greatness, but only if the common dream could be preserved. Once again, the United States needed leadership. This time the leadership came in the form of a tall, country lawyer from Illinois, who is famous for his dedication to the preservation of the Union. But Lincoln knew that, even more than military victory, it would take national reconciliation to preserve the nation. On March 4, 1865, on the occasion of his second inaguration as President of the United States, he said, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

       It is always harder to make peace than war. Let me then offer the words of Abraham Lincoln as a gift from the people of the United States to the people of the Central African Republic and the world.