Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my House Resolution 1740, a resolution honoring the National Guard on their 374th anniversary. And as the gentleman alluded to, 374 years long predates this Nation. The National Guard origins date to December 13, 1636, when the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered existing militias to be organized into three regiments. Since then, the National Guard has fought in every major war and conflict. From the ``shot heard round the world'' on April 19, 1775, on Lexington Green and later that day that running battle that occurred at Concord Bridge, to the men and women who have stood strong and fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the National Guard and its citizen soldiers have been there for us no matter what, always ready, always there. Going back to that day on April 19, 1775, it was one of these days that we have to remember, it was April 18, 1775, that Paul Revere and two others left Boston to alert the countryside not that the Red Coats were out but that the regulars were out. As Revere Road became known later as Battle Road from Boston across to Lexington and Concord, he was alerting the countryside, and the countryside was alarmed and the people awoke. And those were the early National Guard or the militia that responded. They were the ones that stood up on April 19, 1775, on Lexington Green to the command to stand down from the British.…”