WHEREAS, On March 25, 1821, the Feast Day of the Annunciation, the Greek nation reclaimed its ancient heritage as the "Cradle of Democracy" by throwing off the yoke of oppression which had enslaved its people since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century, Greece waged a successful War of Independence (1821-1829) and reinstituted a democratic form of government; and

WHEREAS, It was the genius of Greece which first ignited the flame of freedom in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., when Athens introduced the idea of direct representative government to the world, thus ushering in a Golden Age of art, architecture, philosophy and drama under such giants of Western history as Pericles, Sophocles, Euripides, Socrates and Plato; and

WHEREAS, The Founding Fathers of the United States of America drew heavily upon the political experience and philosophy of ancient Greece in forming our representative democracy; and

WHEREAS, The founders of the modern Greek state modeled their government after that of the United States in an effort to best imitate their ancient democracy; and

WHEREAS, Greece is one of the only three nations in the world, beyond the former British Empire, that has been allied with the United States in every major international conflict this century; and

WHEREAS, President George W. Bush, in a letter to the Prime Minister of Greece, Constantinos Simitis, in January 2001, referred to the stable foundations and common values that are the basis of relations between Greece and the United States; and

WHEREAS, President Bush, in his January 10, 2002 meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, said, "I am most appreciative of your strong stand against terror. You have been a friend in our mutual concerns about routing out terror around the world," and, "I look forward to the Olympics. It's going to be a magnificent moment for the sporting world to have the Olympics return to Athens. I'm confident your country will do a fine job"; and

WHEREAS, It is proper and desirable to celebrate with the Greek people and to reaffirm the democratic principles from which our two great nations were born; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby celebrates March 25, 2002 as the 181st Anniversary of Greek Independence and reaffirms Rhode Island's abiding commitment to the magnificent principles of democracy; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Cranston, the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Pawtucket and St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of Newport.