A RESOLUTION PROCLAIMING CASIMIR PULASKI TO BE
AN HONORARY CITIZEN OF THE
UNITED STATES
POSTHUMOUSLY PASSED THE U.S. SENATE
PAC
Washington D.C., March 20 - Late in the evening on March 19, 2007, the
resolution S.J.RES.5 – “A joint resolution proclaiming Casimir Pulaski to be
an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously” was passed in the
U.S. Senate by Unanimous Consent without amendment and with a preamble.
The resolution was sponsored by
Senator
Richard Durbin (D-IL) and had nine
cosponsors (in alphabetical order), Senators: Ben Cardin (D-MD),
Thomas
Carper (D-DE), Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA),
Hillary
Clinton (D-NY),
John Kerry
(D-MA),
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD),
Lisa
Murkowski (R-AK),
Barack
Obama (D-IL)
and Mark
Pryor (D-AR).
The resolution reads:
S.J. RES. 5
Whereas Casimir Pulaski was a Polish military officer who fought on the
side of the American colonists against the British in the American
Revolutionary War;
Whereas
Benjamin Franklin recommended that General George Washington accept
Casimir Pulaski as a volunteer in the American Cavalry and said that Pulaski
was ``renowned throughout
Europe
for the courage and bravery he displayed in
defense of his country's freedom'';
Whereas after arriving in America, Casimir Pulaski wrote to General
Washington, ``I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and
to live or die for it.'';
Whereas the first military engagement of Casimir Pulaski with the British
was on September 11, 1777, at the Battle of Brandywine, and his courageous
charge in this engagement averted a disastrous defeat of the American
Cavalry and saved the life of George Washington;
Whereas on September 15, 1777,
George
Washington elevated Casimir Pulaski to
the rank of Brigadier General of the American Cavalry;
Whereas Casimir Pulaski formed the Pulaski Cavalry Legion, and in February
1779, this legion ejected the British occupiers from
Charleston, South
Carolina;
Whereas in October 1779, Casimir Pulaski mounted an assault against British
forces in
Savannah, Georgia;
Whereas on the morning of October 9, 1779, Casimir Pulaski was mortally
wounded and was taken aboard the American ship USS Wasp, where he died at
sea on October 11, 1779;
Whereas before the end of 1779, the Continental Congress resolved that a
monument should be erected in honor of Casimir Pulaski;
Whereas in 1825, General Lafayette laid the cornerstone for the Casimir
Pulaski monument in
Savannah,
Georgia; and
Whereas in 1929, Congress passed a resolution recognizing October 11 of each
year as Pulaski Day in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United
States of
America in Congress assembled, That Casimir Pulaski is proclaimed to be
an
honorary citizen of the United States posthumously.
On the same date, March 19 2007, at 7:45pm, the Resolution was forwarded to
the U.S. House of Representatives where it was referred to the House
Committee on the Judiciary.
In the House, a corresponding resolution - H.J.RES.39, in identical wording,
was introduced on March 5, 2007 by
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and
cosponsored by 23 other Representatives.
Polish American Congress
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