Political Quotes

“Today, there is a celebration in Alaska. Tonight is the 144th anniversary of Alaska Day. This is the day that commemorates the first raising of the Stars and Stripes over Lord Baranof's castle in Sitka, AK. At the time, Sitka was called New Archangel. Until that moment, it was the capital of Russian America. We celebrate Alaska's statehood today, October 18, and we also celebrate our 52-year-old compact with the United States and its promise to grant Alaskans the opportunity to participate equally with the other States of the Union. Together with Hawaii, statehood for Alaska marked the last chapter in America's great westward expansion. Of course, that expansion began well before Alaska's statehood, well before the purchase from Russia. It goes back to Thomas Jefferson's Northwest Ordinance, which promised an equal footing for a State government to stand on its own and to make that leap out of territorial status. This resulted in States such as Ohio and Indiana forming as sovereign governments with the Federal Government, relinquishing almost all control over the lands within those borders. So people came to live, to build their lives in these new States; and with their new lives came the infrastructure--the roads, bridges, factories, and the industry. That set things in motion for expansion into the Far West frontier States such as Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, and Montana. And then gold in California and Colorado brought an urgency to the expansion.…”