U.S. Senate Resolution 1998

Congressional record

Numerous groups and societies throughout Canada and America have taken the anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) as their national date to celebrate their Scottish roots.

On December 19th 1991, in response to action initiated by the Clans & Scottish Societies of Canada, the Ontario Legislature passed a resolution proclaiming April 6th as Tartan Day, following the example of other Canadian provinces.

America followed suit on March 20th 1998, when Senate Resolution 155 (S.Res. 155), proposed by US Senate Republican majority leader Trent Lott, was passed unanimously.

The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

S. Res. 155

Whereas April 6 has a special significance for all Americans, and especially those Americans of Scottish descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320 and the American Declaration of Independence was modelled on that inspirational document;

THE HISTORY OF NATIONAL TARTAN DAY COMMITTEE BASED IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
CELEBRATING TARTAN DAY FROM 1997 FORWARD

The National Tartan Day Committee based in Washington, D.C. established both its presence and its celebrations of Tartan Day in America in 1997, before the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament (on May 13th, 1999) and on the eve of the enactment of Senate Resolution 155 establishing Tartan Day in the United States. In April 1997, the National Tartan Day Committee invited George Reid (now Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament), Struan Stevenson (then a Scottish Member of the European Parliament) and Stuart Mackintosh (son of the late John Mackintosh) to participate in a number of Tartan Day events in Washington, D.C. Joanne Phipps, then Chair of the National Tartan Day Committee, organized a ceremony and reception at the LBJ room on Capitol Hill where Senator Lott (R-Mississippi) (sponsor of Senate Resolution 155 enacting Tartan Day) and other senatorial co-sponsors welcomed their Scottish legislature counterparts. This reception provided the catalyst for continuing celebrations in the nation’s capital, to use Tartan Day as a showcase for contemporary Scotland and to develop and encourage political, business, cultural and academic links between both countries.

Since 1997, the National Tartan Day Committee has focused on those three critical aspects to Tartan Day. Each year, the committee has sought to reach out to those Americans of Scottish descent as well as any and all Americans interested in Scotland today as a means by which to promote an inclusive and broad based approach to the celebration of contemporary Scotland.

Tartan day crowd
Highlights 2004

 

Cheney at previous Tartan Day event
Previous Highlights
Declaration of Arbroath 1320

Declaration of Arbroath
Scotlands Tartan Day

The Letter of 1320 from the Barons of Scotland to Pope John XXII was composed during a two year truce from Christmas 1319 in the long war with England arising from Edward I's attempt to conquer Scotland in 1226.

More than five years after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and despite other Scottish victories, Edward II persisted in the war and had enlisted the support of the Pope who consistently refused to recognise Robert Bruce as king.

 

As a diplomatic move, the Scots sent this collective Letter to the Pope to convince him they were united in their resolve to preserve their independence.

 

The Letter is framed as a petition to the Pope in the most the polished and eloquent Latin, believed to be the work of Bernard de Linton, Abbot of Aberbrothock (Arbroath) and Chancellor of Scotland.

 

It asserts the whole people's loyalty to king Robert the Bruce and their determination never to yield to England but to maintain freedom at all costs.

 

The original letter delivered to the Pope at Avignon is lost, but a contemporary copy made for the record is preserved in Register House, Edinburgh.
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