Passion for liberty
Ladies and gentlemen,
During the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson said that he wanted America to be an empire of liberty. What he meant was that he wanted America to be different from that other empire it wanted to free itself from. And if you look at Dutch history, if you go to the origins of this country, you can see the same passion for freedom that drove us to seek independence from the empire that was ruling the world in the late sixteenth century, Spain.
Gelegenheid: ‘Night of the Stars’
And if you look today at the document that created the Netherlands - The Charter of Secession - and you compare that to The Declaration of Independence, it is amazingly comparable. The ideals are exactly the same. And if I can summarize those ideals that The Netherlands and The United States have been sharing for 400 years, I would say: a zeal for liberty, a craving for opportunity and a passion for morality and tolerance.
I think these three ideals sum up who we are, the Dutch, and who you are, the Americans. If you take a look at the writings of the Founding Fathers and if you look at the origins of the Dutch Republic - later the Kingdom of the Netherlands - you will see exactly the same ideals. And I think this is the foundation upon which we built our relationship for over 400 years now. And I think this is also the basis upon which we will build our future relationship. This is the reason why I believe passionately in the necessity to celebrate New York 400.
That is why I strongly support all those initiatives by the government and by others. That is why Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Princess Maxima will spend the week in New York in September. Because they believe in these ideals. Because they believe in our shared values, our shared history, and our shared future.
Let me end on a different note. This evening is all about helping students to better themselves. Giving opportunities to those who might not otherwise have had those opportunities. Exactly 200 years ago, a kid was born in the Midwest. He didn’t get any education. Nobody taught him to read or to write. He taught himself. And the first thing he wrote, the only piece of paper we still have today with his own handwriting as a child reads as follows: ‘Abraham Lincoln, his arm and his pen. He will be good, but God knows when.’ And I think this sums up this passion for liberty, this craving for opportunity and also this true zeal for independence, for tolerance and for letting people be people they want to be. And that is the basis for our cooperation. That is the reason why I believe in New York 400. That is the reason why we are here tonight and that is why I do believe this will be a great year.
Thank you.