Looking back across two centuries, we still marvel at the courage and vision of our nation's founders. With clear eyes and staunch hearts, they fashioned a new form of government for our new country, a government that honors human dignity and protects individual rights. They devised a democracy strong enough to endure through the ages, yet flexible enough to meet new challenges and achieve new dreams. And in doing so, they made America a beacon of hope for generations of people around the world who cherish liberty and justice.

We have much to celebrate on this Independence Day. The journey our nation began more than 220 years ago has brought us to a time of peace and prosperity, a time of unprecedented opportunity to realize the full potential of all our citizens. As heirs to the freedom and equality bequeathed to us in the Declaration of Independence, it is now our responsibility -- and our privilege -- to build on that legacy and to ensure that America's promise holds true for all our people.

As we join with family and friends to commemorate another Fourth of July, let us resolve to make America a land where prejudice and discrimination have no place; to recognize that the values and ideals we share are more powerful and enduring than any force that would divide us; and to enter the twenty-first century as the "more perfect Union" first envisioned by our founders two centuries ago.