JOINT RESOLUTION CELEBRATING MARCH 25, 2007 AS THE 186TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY

WHEREAS,  on March 25, 1821, on the Feast Day of the Annunciation, the Greek nation began a war of independence and overthrew the Ottoman Empire which had oppressed and enslaved its people since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and by this war reinstituted a democracy, reclaiming its ancient heritage as the "Cradle of Democracy"; and

WHEREAS,  it was the genius of Greece which first ignited the flame of freedom in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., when Athens introduced the idea of direct representative government to the world, and ushering in a golden age of art, architecture, philosophy and drama under such giants of Western history as Pericles, Sophocles, Euripedes, Socrates and Plato; and

WHEREAS,  Philip of Macedonia, his son Alexander the Great and Alexander's tutor, the noted philosopher Aristotle, were born and raised in the northern province of Greece, Macedonia, and the language and culture of the ancient Macedonians and the ancestors of the inhabitants of northern Greece today were Hellenic; and

WHEREAS,  the Founding Fathers of the United States of America drew extensively from the political experience and philosophy of ancient Greece in forming our representative democracy, and people from all over the world have emulated the Greeks in art, culture and politics; and

WHEREAS,  modern-day Greece is a valuable and trusted ally of the United States, and is one of only 3 nations in the world outside of the former British Empire that has joined the United States in every major international conflict in the last 100 years; and

WHEREAS,  it is proper and fitting that the United States celebrate with the Greek people and reaffirm the democratic principles from which our 2 great nations were born; now, therefore, be it

That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Legislature, now assembled in the First Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to celebrate March 25, 2007 as the 186th Anniversary of Greek Independence, and we reaffirm Maine's abiding commitment to the principles of democracy and religious freedom; and be it further

That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and to the Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C.