Eric Schmitt: “I rise today because America needs to remember that our Nation was not built by men who asked permission from history.…”

“I rise today because America needs to remember that our Nation was not built by men who asked permission from history. It was built by men who looked into the unknown and saw more than danger. They saw destiny. Mr. President, 222 years ago today, on May 14, 1804, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery departed from the St. Louis area and began one of the most consequential journeys in the history of our Republic. But before they ever set foot in that wilderness, our Nation made its boldest wager yet. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. He bought a continent on paper, sight unseen, believing that the future belonged to a people willing to bet on themselves, endure hardship, and build something greater than themselves. America 250 cannot become a yearlong exercise in nostalgia. It must be a national summons to remember what we inherited, to recover the courage that built it, and to rededicate ourselves to it. Jefferson understood something too many in this city have forgotten. Nations are not forged by committees of caution. They are forged by men with enough faith to act before every risk has been removed. Jefferson gave that honor to a small band of men who turned their restless, adventurous, and fearless American spirit into something that could be passed down for centuries. These were not soft men. They were not managed men.”