Therefore I think it is fitting that we here in this country should today rise in tribute and remind the Polish people and the people of the world that it was this Nation that brought to the European Continent in 1791 those concepts that had been fought for with such great dignity and great effort in our own American Revolution and carved out by our own American forefathers. It should come as no surprise that the people of Poland should have followed the United States very quickly in adopting this concept of human dignity in The first record of Poles in this country goes back to 1610 when Capt. John Smith invited the first group of Polish immigrants to come to America and settle in Jamestown. Va.. where they helped establish the first factory in this country. a glass factory. It so happened that these people were expert glassmakers in Poland. and Capt. John Smith. through his travels in Poland. recognized it. and when he came to America and helped found a colony here he recognized he needed skilled mechanics and artisans to build American industry. But. one thing stands out particularly in that first group of Poles that came here in 1610. Because America had not yet adopted its own Constitution. these Polish immigrants were treated as secondclass citizens. They were permitted to work In this first American factory. but they were not permitted to vote and they were not permitted to own property. It did not take very long before the real spirit of the Polish people. the spirit that has survived over 1.000 years of history. came to the fore. These Polish immigrants staged the first sitdown strike in America in 1619. But. it was not a sitdown strike for economic gains. it was a sitdown strike for recognition of the dignity of man. They said at that time that if we are permitted to live in this country. if we are to be permitted to work for this country. if we can share in its economy. certainly we ought to have the dignity of owning property and of having the right to vote. This yearning for complete equality as American citizens among the Polish immigrants created a serious crisis in the Jamestown Colony. As a consequence. Capt.
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immigrants