{"id":40802244038,"date":"2019-09-26T09:18:16","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T13:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/?p=40802244038"},"modified":"2021-01-25T11:22:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:22:03","slug":"a-welcome-to-new-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/2019\/09\/26\/a-welcome-to-new-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"A Welcome to New Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Patrick Murray<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwas asked to deliver the keynote remarks at a naturalization ceremony this\nweek, where 24 new U.S. citizens took their oaths of allegiance to this\ncountry.  These new Americans came here\nfrom Brazil, Canada,\nChina, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, New Zealand, Pakistan,\nUnited Kingdom, and Zambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve\ngiven a lot of speeches and presentations over the years, but this was one of\nthe biggest honors of my life.  During\nthe turbulent times our country is going through right now, it was truly\ninspiring to witness these new Americans promise to \u201csupport\nand defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against\nall enemies, foreign and domestic.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urgent <\/em>need\nto remember the values of our Constitution was one of the reasons I started the\n<\/em>Guardians\nof the Republic<\/a> podcast with my friend Ian Kahn (who portrayed George\nWashington on TURN: Washington\u2019s Spies). And in that\nspirit, I wanted to share my welcome to those new Americans with you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarks\nfor US Naturalization Ceremony<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington\u2019s\nHeadquarters Museum<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morristown\nNational Historical Park<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September\n25, 2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome, fellow\ncitizens of the United States of America! \nIt is an honor to be the first to say that to you in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every September,\nwe celebrate Constitution Day to commemorate the signing of the document that\nwould become the foundation of our system of government.  And immigration was one of the issues they\ndebated at the Constitutional Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this\ndebate, the renowned statesman Benjamin Franklin reportedly said: \u201cWhen foreigners – after looking about for some other Country in which\nthey can obtain more happiness – give a preference to ours, it is a proof of\nattachment which ought to excite our confidence and affection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin saw people wanting to immigrate to\nAmerica as validation of the distinctiveness of our new country and a sign of\nthe opportunities that could only be found here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, from the\nvery beginning, our founders acknowledged that immigrants were central to building\nAmerica. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I\u2019m going to\ngive you a little quiz.  It might be a little\ntougher than the questions on the naturalization test. But here it is.  The first official government holiday \u2013 that\nmeans a recognized day off \u2013 in the United States of America is believed to\nhave been declared right here in Morristown in 1780.  Does anyone know what holiday it was?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t the 4th<\/sup>\nof July.  And it wasn\u2019t Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas actually Saint Patrick\u2019s Day \u2013 an immigrant\u2019s holiday.  Yes, General George Washington wanted to give\nhis troops a day off after a harsh winter camping just south of where we are\nsitting right now.  So, in recognition of\nthe many Irish immigrants who were serving in the Continental Army and their\nconnection to the fight for Irish independence, he felt that St. Patrick\u2019s Day\nwas the perfect choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the war,\nWashington wrote a letter to a friend in New York who was helping new Irish\nimmigrants coming to this country.  This\nis what he said in that letter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nbosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable\nStranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom\nwe shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by\ndecency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nWashington was saying is that America welcomes immigrants from all walks of\nlife.  But with that welcome comes\nresponsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nof your most important responsibilities is to exercise your right to vote.  And you are in luck, New Jersey holds\nelections for some office or another every single year.  Which means the next one is in six weeks.  You have until October 15th<\/sup> to\nregister to participate in your very first election.  You will be able to choose representatives\nfor state government in the General Assembly as well as a number of local\noffices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nI\u2019m going to let you in on a little secret. \nThe people who serve in these local offices will have much more impact\non your day to day life than those who get elected to big statewide offices\nlike Governor and U.S. Senator.  So get\nout there and do your civic duty this November!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay.  So that\u2019s your first job as citizens.  But there is one more special thing about\nyour home state that I want to tell you before I close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are fond of\nsaying that America is a nation of immigrants. \nAnd indeed New Jersey is a state of immigrants.  Did you know that over 20 percent of the\npeople who live in New Jersey were not born in this country?  That means that 1 out of every 5 people you\nmeet in the great Garden State are like you \u2013 immigrants!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, 125 years\nago, my own ancestors were among the many immigrants who came to these shores.\nAnd my family continues to be populated with recent immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a\nchild, my grandfather would take my brother and me to many of the sites in New\nJersey that were crucial to the creation of our country.  I do the same with my children today \u2013\nwhether they like it or not!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the great\nthings about living in New Jersey is that you can stumble across some reminder\nof the values and the struggles that gave birth to our country every single\nday.  These places are everywhere in New\nJersey.  It is why, 13 years ago,\nCongress designate much of the state as the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these childhood\nvisits to Revolutionary War sites instilled a very important message in me.  It\u2019s one that I hope is instilled in my own\nchildren \u2013 and in you as well.  And that\nmessage is that this grand story \u2013 the story of America with all its high\npoints and low points \u2013 is our story too. We may not be able to trace our\nlineage back to 1776, but we share equally in the story of the creation of America\nand in everything that makes it what it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you come\nto feel that too.  Because you are now\npart of the American story!  And your job\nis to keep that story going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for agreeing\nto accept that job, I have only one thing to say \u2013 Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Patrick Murray I was asked to deliver the keynote remarks at a naturalization ceremony this week, where 24 new U.S. citizens took their oaths of allegiance to this country.  These new Americans came here from Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, United Kingdom, and Zambia. I\u2019ve given a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40802244038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802244038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802244038"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802244038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802244197,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802244038\/revisions\/40802244197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802244038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802244038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802244038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}