Statement by the President: Bill of Rights Day.

[Released December 14, 1955. Dated December 12, 1955]

BILL OF RIGHTS DAY ranks in the forefront of our days of commemoration. On this day, the people of America remember and honor the passage of the Bill of Rights--the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

By the Bill of Rights our people are guaranteed the most precious of liberties: freedom of speech, press and religion; the right peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government; freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and the right of privacy; judicial safeguards of life, liberty and property; the right to a fair trial and protection against excessive punishment. These rights, indispensable to our happiness and security, reaffirm our belief in the dignity of the individual.

On this day I hope that citizens throughout our land will renew in their hearts and minds a devotion to these freedoms and a determination to defend them against all forms of attack. Let us also highly resolve to continue to strive for a peaceful world in which all mankind will share them.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER