Proclamation 4540 November 15, 1977 Anniversary of the Adoption of the Articles of Confederation By the President of the United States of America In the midst of our struggle for independence the Continental Congress, meeting in York, Pennsylvania, recognized that the new Nation would require a permanent central government. Not only was unity necessary if that struggle was to be successfully concluded, but it was essential if the new Nation was to be able to deal effectively with such matters as regulating trade, disposing of western lands, and controlling finance. Although the colonists shared a common heritage and spoke a common language, their customs, traditions and economic needs varied. Because of this their loyalties were regional in nature. These differences were overcome and, on November 15, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation became our first constitution and served the new Nation from 1781, when they were ratified, until 1789. Much of what we learned about government during that period became part of our Constitution and our heritage. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, November 15, 1977, as a Day of National Observance of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Articles of Confederation by the Continental Congress convened in York, Pennsylvania, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second. The era of modern aviation began near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright, bicycle makers and inventors, made the first successful flight in a heavier-than-air, powered aircraft. The achievement of the two brothers, almost unnoticed at the time, has since been recognized as one of history's most significant accomplishments. Trips that once took months now take a few hours and all the peoples of the earth have become neighbors. It is particularly appropriate to remember this first powered flight during 1977, the 50th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh's solo, nonstop trans-Atlantic flight on a plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis", which was powered by a Wright Whirlwind engine. To commemorate the historic achievements of the Wright brothers, the Congress, by a joint resolution of December 17, 1963 (77 Stat. 402, 36 U.S.C. 169), designated the seventeenth day of December of each year as Wright Brothers Day and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation inviting people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of this Nation, and their local and national government officials, to observe Wright Brothers Day, December 17, 1977, with appropriate ceremonies and activities, both to recall the accomplishments of the Wright brothers and to provide a stimulus to aviation in this country and throughout the world. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second. This month marks the anniversaries of two great events in the long struggle for the rights of human beings: the ratification of the American Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791, and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. The Bill of Rights culminated the Founders' efforts to create for their new country a national life grounded in liberty and respect for individual rights. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution formed a "more perfect Union" in which those rights could be fulfilled. And the first ten amendments to the new Constitution placed the keystone on this new edifice of human rights. The immediate application of those rights extended only to one country, and only to some of the people in it. But because those rights were proclaimed as the natural birthright of all human beings, the documents that embodied them were rightly seen to have a profound and universal significance. It is a lesson of history that no enumeration of rights, however eloquent, can alone ensure their protection in practice. We Americans struggled, sometimes bloodily, to make the rights promised in our founding documents a reality for all our people. That experience of successful struggle for human rights in our own country was both painful and ennobling, and it propelled us into a leading role in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. As a people, we believe what the Declaration says: that the promotion of respect for human rights is the shared responsibility of the world community. We call on the governments of other nations to join us in discharging this responsibility. Everywhere on earth, men and women have made great personal sacrifices, even to the laying down of their lives, in the long struggle for justice and human dignity. By their sacrifices, they have already hallowed the human rights anniversaries I proclaim today. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 10, 1977, as Human Rights Day and December 15, 1977, as Bill of Rights Day, and call on all Americans to observe Human Rights Week beginning December 10, 1977. Let us reflect on the significance of the Bill of Rights, which has given purpose to our national life, and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which holds the promise of greater liberty in the lives of all the inhabitants of our planet. Let us recommit ourselves, as individuals and as a Nation, to the realization of these rights, the guarantee of which we hold to be the essential purpose of the civil order. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second. JIMMY CARTER Proclamation 4543 December 27, 1977 Modifying Proclamation No. 3279, as Amended, Relating To Imports of Petroleum and Petroleum Products, and Providing for the Long-Term Control of Imports of Petroleum and Petroleum Products Through a System of License Fees By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation It is necessary that the United States complete the establishment of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve as quickly as possible. The imposition of license fees on imports of crude oil and products for such Reserve would not carry out the purposes of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, and could create administrative and other problems with respect to the expeditious completion of the Reserve. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), do hereby proclaim that, effective as of October 1, 1977, Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended as follows: Clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (1) of paragraph (a) of Section 3 are revised to read as follows: "(i) with respect to imports of crude oil (other than that imported by the Department of Energy, or by another person or agency of the Federal Government acting on behalf of the Department, for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program) and natural gas products over and above the levels of imports established in Section 2 of this Proclamation, such fees shall be $0.21 per barrel; (ii) with respect to imports of motor gasoline, unfinished oils, and all other finished products (except ethane, propane, butanes, asphalt and finished products imported by the Department of Energy, or another person or agency of the Federal Government acting on behalf of the Department of Energy, for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program), over and above the levels of imports established in Section 2 of this Proclamation, such fees shall be $0.63 per barrel;". IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second. 30-002 - 78-6 JIMMY CARTER |