Political Quotes

“I am so glad to have you here because a recurring tradition on the Senate floor is about to take place, and it is always particularly good for a Senator from Rhode Island to have a Senator from Massachusetts presiding while I talk about this. Today I am here to recognize and celebrate one of the earliest acts of defiance against the British Crown in our great American struggle for independence. Most Americans remember the Boston Tea Party as one of the major events building up to the American Revolution. We learned the story of spirited Bostonians--and when I say ``spirited,'' I mean that in several senses; I gather that spirits had been served to those Bostonians before they embarked on this adventure--clambering onto the decks of the East India Company's ships and dumping bales of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest of British ``taxation without representation,'' which was a fine and worthy stunt, and I am certainly not here to defend taxation without representation. However, there is a milestone on the path to revolution that is frequently overlooked, and it is the story of 60 brave Rhode Islanders who challenged British rule more than a year before that Tea Party in Boston, and they did a little bit more than throw tea bags overboard. So every year I honor those little known Rhode Island heroes who risked their lives in defiance of oppression 1 dark night more than 240 years ago.…”