Claudia Tenney: “Today is a very special day. I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Congressman Burgess Owens. Burgess Owens and…”

“Today is a very special day. I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Congressman Burgess Owens. Burgess Owens and I are leading the charge here in Congress to tell the courageous stories of America's abolitionist heroes, particularly those from upstate New York. It was an honor for me to welcome Burgess recently, in October, to upstate New York to tour our region's sacred abolitionist sites, including the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark and the National Abolition Hall of Fame in Peterboro, as well as the home of abolitionist, suffragette, and true American heroine Harriet Tubman. Opposite me, there is a photo here of Gerrit Smith. This is a picture of Gerrit Smith from Peterboro. Peterboro is named after his father, a guy named Peter Smith, and I just wanted to tell a little bit about how this all happened in Peterboro, New York. I am sure a lot of people don't know the history. It all kind of started with an abolitionist named Reverend Henry Highland, who told his good friend Frederick Douglass, when describing Peterboro, New York--which, by the way, I am honored to represent here in Congress. Many people don't even realize this little hamlet of Peterboro, up in bucolic Madison County, which happens to be my mother's home county, played a vitally important role during the abolitionist movement. This was in large part due to one of its most famous residents, Gerrit Smith.…”