INTRODUCTION

Representative Glen Bradley (49-R) – a Primary Co-Sponsor of H.R. 653 – delivers the final argument on the Resolution honoring the Halifax Resolves of April 12th, 1776.

This speech was delivered 7 years ago (April 12, 2011) on the floor of the historic North Carolina State Capitol – 242 years after the ratification of the Halifax Resolves.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Representative Bradley is recognized to debate the Resolution.

Representative Glen Bradley (49-R)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is good to be gathered here today on this monumental, historic day in state history, not only in North Carolina and the United States, but also for the advancement of liberty on the American continent.

While the path to true liberty for all people would still be a long road ahead, we often forget that the first step was not taken in Philadelphia or Virginia, but right here in North Carolina in the then bustling trade town of Halifax on the Roanoke River.

On April 12th, 1776 – a day proudly commemorated on our North Carolina State Flag – eighty-three (83) delegates from every region of the colony of North Carolina gathered in Halifax, North Carolina to declare their intent to break free from British rule and become sovereign in conjunction with the twelve (12) other British colonies on the American continent.

This amazing event that produced the Halifax Resolves that we hereby commemorate was not the end of the story, but only the beginning.  Three months later in Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and ratified – and so began the 8-year American war for Independence.

With the surrender of Cornwallis and the defeat of the British army, a new thing had been brought forth from among mankind – the idea that individual liberty and personal sovereignty could achieve victory over an oppressive government and go on to eventually form the most spectacular and glorious nation the world had ever seen.

In our continuing struggle for liberty, we adopted the US Constitution in 1789 – the very document which the Honorable Fredrick Douglas later referred to, saying that ‘the strict enforcement is the best guarantee of human and civil rights.’

Even then, we did not achieve human liberty in America. We were a nation that kept slaves, we fought a Civil War to end that, and became a nation of unequal opportunity. We struggled in a Civil Rights movement to stop that, and so we have seen a slow and inexorable progression – from tyranny, through slavery, through indenture, through inequality – all the way down to this very day.

I submit to you that our long journey is not yet complete.  That while we have made amazing progress towards the perfection of human liberty over the last 235 years since the ratification of the Halifax Resolves, we are not done and we still have a long way ahead.

Today, we as a nation put more people into prison per capita than any other nation on earth – more than Cuba, North Korea or the old Soviet Union during the height of the cold war.  Today, while African American make up 14% of drug users, they make up 52% of drug convictions.

By granting private central banks a monopoly on the production and management of American currency, we have seen the divide between the poor and the wealthy grow to a great chasm – artificially created and maintained by fiat.

These are the struggles which lay ahead that we can overcome – and we must overcome if we are to truly set the standard for human liberty.  Therefore, let us look at that – the ratification of the Halifax Resolves we celebrate today, not as we were in a long distant in history, but as a remembrance of the what the People of North Carolina are truly made of – what we can be and push forward along the long righteous path and struggle for human liberty and go on to reclaim the title of what’s lost and almost forgotten in our State – First in Freedom.

Let this day mark our way back to the path towards liberty for all mankind, and let history mark this day as the genesis of the Second Great Awakening, when a Renaissance of Freedom sparked once again the Great State of North Carolina, and swept across the United States and restored our nation to the Liberty which once made our nation the Greatest Nation on Earth – and which will do so again.

Friends, colleagues, and fellow North Carolinians, with your help, we can move forward from this day not in memorial for liberty once lost, but refreshed in our struggle and determined to reclaim the title of ‘First in Freedom’ which, more than anything else, will restore the United States to Greatness – which will guarantee the human and civil rights for all of our citizens.

With that, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution, to honor the ratification of the Halifax Resolves – not as much in recognition of what we once did, but rather to remind us of what we can and what we must find the courage to do again.

Thank you Mr, Speaker.

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Further discussion, further debate?

[Silence]

Ladies and gentlemen, without objection, vote will be taken by voice vote. Is there objection?

[Silence]

If not, the question before the House is to pass House Resolution 653 on it’s first reading.  All those in favor will say ‘Aye’.

All Representatives Assembled

‘Aye!’

Speaker of the House of Representatives

All those opposed will say ‘No’.

[Silence]

The ‘Ayes’ have it….