William Tyler Page
Encyclopedia
American's Creed
The American's Creed is the national creed of the United States of America. It was written in 1917 by William Tyler Page as an entry into a patriotic contest. It was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives April 3, 1918.-See also:*List of U.S...
. He was born in Frederick, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a descendant of Carter Braxton
Carter Braxton
Carter Braxton was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, a planter, and a representative of Virginia....
, a signer of the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
; and of the tenth U.S. President John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
. In 1881, at the age of 13, he travelled to Washington D.C. to serve as a page at the U.S. Capitol, thus beginning a 61-year-long career as a national public servant.
In 1917 at age 49, Page wrote the American's Creed as a submission to a nationwide patriotic contest, the goal of which was to have a concise but complete statement of American political faith. Drawing on a wide variety of historical documents and speeches, including the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
, and others, he crafted a simple yet profoundly moving expression of American patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
.
His submission was chosen above more than 3000 others. On April 3, 1918 it was accepted by the U.S. House of Representatives, on behalf of the American people. Today it also often comprises part of the Naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
Ceremony for new Americans.
There is a William Tyler Page Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
.
Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives
In 1919 Page was elected Clerk of the House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, and later Emeritus Minority Clerk, a post he maintained for the remainder of his life. He was highly respected by members of both major parties throughout his service, as a principled gentleman whose patriotism was inspirational and whose love of America was unquestioned.
Page died on October 19, 1942, after serving his country his entire adult life, humbly but always proudly. The House of Representatives adjourned the following day in his honor. That day, Rep. Eaton
Charles Aubrey Eaton
Charles Aubrey Eaton was a Canadian-born clergyman and politician who rose to lead prominent congregations at Natick, Massachusetts, 1893–1895; Bloor Street, Toronto, 1895–1901; Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 1901–1909; and at Madison Avenue, New York City, 1909-1919...
(R
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
–N.J.) said:
"He believed that the Constitution of the United States was next to the word
of God: the most spiritually illuminated and divinely inspiring political
document of modern times. So he sat here, a philosopher, a friend, a Christian
gentleman, and we sat at his feet and received from him new strength, new
courage, new understanding."
For many years, Page had served as the President General of the United States Flag Association. The night before his death, he gave an address to the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
on the Golden (50th) Anniversary of the Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...
to the American Flag. The last picture taken of him shows him with his hand over his heart, gazing at the symbol of the country he loved.
American's Creed
The American's CreedAmerican's Creed
The American's Creed is the national creed of the United States of America. It was written in 1917 by William Tyler Page as an entry into a patriotic contest. It was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives April 3, 1918.-See also:*List of U.S...
is as follows:
"I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
"I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies."
"The American's Creed is a summing up, in one hundred words, of the basic principles of American political faith. It is not an expression of individual opinion upon the obligations and duties of American citizenship or with respect to its rights and privileges. It is a summary of the fundamental principles of American political faith as set forth in its greatest documents, its worthiest traditions and by its greatest leaders."
External links
- William Tyler Page (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)
- History of the American's Creed (rootsweb.com)
- The American's Creed (USFlag.org)