CELEBRATING 250 YEARS OF AMERICA

On 2026-06-30, Representative Tracey Mann (R-KS-1) delivered a floor speech titled "CELEBRATING 250 YEARS OF AMERICA" in the House.

CELEBRATING 250 YEARS OF AMERICA

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 109 (Tuesday, June 30, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 109 (Tuesday, June 30, 2026)] [House] [Pages H4323-H4324] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] CELEBRATING 250 YEARS OF AMERICA (Mr. Mann of Kansas was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we honor and prepare to celebrate 250 years of American independence. Mr. Speaker, 250 years ago, our Founders declared to the world that our rights do not come from government nor do they come from a king. They come from our creator. They declared that government exists to protect liberty, to secure the rights of people, and to preserve a nation where free men and women could build lives, raise families, worship God, and pursue opportunity. That idea changed the course of human history. As we approach America's 250th birthday, we ought to look back with gratitude, but we should also look forward with clarity. America's success was not an accident. We were blessed by God with extraordinary resources, but it was freedom that allowed the American people to turn those blessings into the most prosperous Nation in the history of the world. I often think about it this way: America was dealt three aces. First, we were given the largest stretch of fertile farmland in the world, which runs right through Kansas and the district that I am blessed to represent. In the Big First District, agriculture is not just an industry, it is our way of life. Our farmers, ranchers, feedlot operators, ethanol producers, researchers, truckers, and small businesses all play a role in feeding, fueling, and clothing the world. Second, running through that great patch of farmland is the largest navigable river system on the planet, the Mississippi River system. That river system gave American producers the ability to move goods, reach markets, trade with the world, and build an economy that went well beyond the county line, a State line, or even a coastline. Third, and most importantly, America was founded on faith, freedom, private property rights, the rule of law, and limited government. Fertile soil alone does not create prosperity. A river alone does not create opportunity. Natural resources alone do not make a nation great. Freedom does. It was freedom that allowed families to farm the land, own the land, improve the land, pass it down to the next generation, and build communities around it. It was freedom that allowed entrepreneurs to take risks, churches to strengthen communities, families to flourish, and citizens to govern themselves. [[Page H4324]] That is why America became the most prosperous and free Nation the world has ever known. One of the reasons we remain free is because we have never had to rely on another nation to feed us. Food security is national security. A nation that cannot feed itself cannot long remain independent. For 250 years, American farmers and ranchers have helped secure our freedoms while our brave servicemen and -women defended them on the front lines. Farmers have kept grocery store shelves stocked, strengthened rural communities, supported our economy, and ensured that America never had to turn to our adversaries to sustain us. In Kansas, we understand that well. The Big First is the most productive agriculture district in the country, ranking first in cattle, wheat, and sorghum production. We help feed, fuel, and clothe the world. We know when agriculture is strong, America is strong. Our State has always had an outsized role in the American story. We are home to Abilene, where President Dwight D. Eisenhower learned the values that helped him lead the Allied Forces to victory in World War II and later to lead this Nation as our President. We are home to leaders like Senator Bob Dole, who carried the values of faith, service, sacrifice, and duty from the plains of Kansas to the battlefields of Europe and the Halls of Congress. I like to think that the Big First District is the pilot light of America because the values that make our country great are still alive and well in my hometown and across Kansas. Folks where I am from live by faith, family, hard work, personal responsibility, and service to their neighbors. As long as those values continue to burn bright in America, our brightest days are yet to come. However, preserving those values requires us to be clear-eyed about the threats we have to freedom. History scholars know there is an inverse relationship between the size of government and the freedom of the people. The larger and more intrusive government becomes, the smaller the space becomes for families, churches, businesses, farms, and individuals to flourish. That truth is just as important today as it was in 1776. Yes, America was blessed with fertile land, mighty rivers, abundant resources, and a people willing to work, but it was freedom that allowed those blessings to become prosperity. It was faith that gave our Nation its moral foundation, and it was family that carried our values from one generation to the next. As we celebrate America's 250th birthday, let us do more than look back. Let us recommit ourselves to the principles that made our Nation possible: faith, family, freedom, limited government, private property, strong communities, gratitude, and faith in God. We must protect this inheritance, strengthen it in our time, and pass it on to our children and grandchildren so that 250 years from now, America remains prosperous, secure, free, and rooted in the truth that our rights are derived from God, not from a king. Mr. Speaker, may God bless Kansas and may God bless the United States of America. Happy birthday, America. ____________________