CITIZENSHIP AND PATRIOTISM

One of the duties of a governor is honoring the Nation's
heroes, past and present. On these occasions, Governor Tawes
recalled the sacrifices of past generations that the American
way of life might be preserved. In turn, he looked to the
younger generations with confidence that they, too, would
assume the responsibilities of citizenship and meet the tests
of leadership in a troubled world.

REMARKS, YMCA YOUTH LEGISLATURE
ANNAPOLIS
April 26, 1963

It is a pleasure to me, as Governor of the State, to welcome to this
historic State House another group of young men and young women
who have come here as members of the Youth Model Legislature
sponsored by the Young Men's Christian Association.

The General Assembly of Maryland, in whose chambers you now
sit and which serves as a model for your proceedings, adjourned
three and a half weeks ago after completing a ninety-day session. As
Marylanders, deeply aware of our traditions, we take great pride in
the fact that the legislative body about which we are speaking has
met continuously for more than three and a quarter centuries. And
it is inspiring to contemplate that this General Assembly exists today
in essentially the same form it assumed when it met in St. Mary's
City for the first time in 1635. The early Colonial Assembly itself was
fashioned on the pattern of English Parliaments which had existed
four centuries prior to that time. And thus we may say that the
General Assembly of our State, and this model legislature in which
you are taking part, are as old as the English system of representative
government, which dates back to the Magna Charta of 1213.

I hope that your meeting here this week in this old State House,
itself a shrine of American history, will inspire you to think and act
always in the interest of preserving our American heritage of freedom
and justice. But so much for the past. I know that one of the joys
of being young, one of the virtues of youth, is in thinking of the
future. It is most encouraging to those of us who are your elders to
see young men and young women showing an interest in the processes
of government.