Upon this soil one hundred years ago our forefathers brought to a successful issue their heroic struggle for independence. Here and then was established, and as we trust made secure upon this continent for ages yet to come, that principle of government which is the very fiber of our system--the sovereignty of the people. PRESIDENT CHESTER A. ARTHUR, YORKTOWN, OCTOBER 19, 1881. With the approach of the 150th anniversary of the Yorktown victory, there was renewed realization of the meaning of the event and of the debt which the people of the United States owed to the men who, by that victory, made the Declaration of Independence a living thing. The National Government and local organizations in 1931 cooperated in impressive commemorative services, and the battlefield of Yorktown was dedicated as a national shrine to be maintained for the people by the National Park Service. While the events commemorated in other national parks are well worth the expense to the Government in commemorating them, and they all recall to the minds of the citizens important events in our history, as well as the heroism and devotion of our soldiers, they are at best only events, although important ones, in our history, while Yorktown marks the consummation of our national independence. Other battles of the Revolutionary War led up to this one battle, while battles of other wars since then were only struggles for our rights, or for the preservation of the Government, whose existence was decided on the field at Yorktown. It was at the bridge at Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, where the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard around the world. It was on the field at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, that it was finally decided after six and one-half years of heroic struggle that shot had not been fired in vain. From that date the freedom of our country was secure and has never again been in danger. The treaty of peace acknowledging our independence two years later was but a natural and inevitable sequence to the surrender of our opponent’s finest army and ablest general. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR’S YORKTOWN COMMISSION. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bland, Schuyler Otis, _The Yorktown Sesquicentennial; Proceedings of the United States Yorktown Sesquicentennial Commission_ (Washington, 1932). General Richard Butler’s Journal of the Siege of Yorktown, _Historical Magazine_, vol. VIII (New York, 1864). Deux-Ponts, Count William de, _My Campaigns in America: A Journal kept by Count William de Deux-Ponts, 1780-81_. Translated by Samuel Abbott Green (Boston, 1868). Fitzpatrick, John C., editor, _The Writings of George Washington_, vol. 23 (Washington, 1937). Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton’s report to Major-general the Marquis De La Fayette, with a return, _The Remembrancer; or, Impartial Repository of Public Events_ (London, 1782).