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President Donald Trump delivered remarks on Tuesday afternoon to a “Friends of Ireland” luncheon at the U.S. Capitol, sporting a spirited green tie as he wished those in attendance a very happy Irish holiday.
“To every friend of Ireland in this room today, I just want to wish you a very happy St. Patrick’s Day – a special day!” the president said.
President Trump also acknowledged the patriotic spirit of this year’s 250th American birthday, noting, “As part of this great celebration, we also honor 250 years of cherished Irish-American friendship, and 250 years of fierce, proud, tenacious Irish-American heritage. These are incredible people.”
The president noted, “Out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 11 of them were patriots with roots in Ireland. Back on July 4, 1776, it was a son of Ireland that actually printed that sacred document for the first time…and it was also an Irishman who first read its immortal words to the American public, proclaiming aloud that we are all made free and equal by the hand of our creator and endowed by God with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That came out of the blood of Ireland.”
The president was alluding to a little-known piece of American history: in 1776, just after the Declaration of Independence, authored largely by Thomas Jefferson, was signed by the Founding Fathers, an Irishman named John Dunlap completed the first official printing of its immortal words.
Dunlap was the official printer for the Continental Congress at the time. This hallmark printing of the Declaration of Independence is known today as the “Dunlap Broadside.”
According to the National Museum of Ireland, more than six million Irish countrymen and women have emigrated to the United States since 1820. Emigration reached its highest levels of emigration during the Irish “potato famine” in the mid-1800s, which drove almost two million people to the shores of America, in search of hope and opportunity, according to the organization’s data.