"was known then as the Commons. Today, we call it City Hall Park. There, within range of British guns, Washington ordered his generals to read the declaration aloud. And with the world's mightiest empire poised to attack, Washington told the people of New York City what we will celebrate tomorrow, that we had declared our independence, that freedom was within reach. That evening, danger loomed. Conflict was not a question, but a certainty. And yet, when those early New Yorkers marched toward the statue of King George III that stood in the Bowling Green, a statue they would melt down into bullets for their young army, they walked in unison, grounded not in the pursuit of plunder, but in ideals that for the first time had a name, America. Those ideals upon which our nation was built, they are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them. George is a nation working each day."