"National Tartan Day and the Declaration of Arbroath National Tartan Day on April 6 honors Scottish heritage in the United States. Governors of nine of the original 13 states were of Scottish ancestry. Scholars believe that almost half of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, as were at least 33 of the presidents. The April 6 date for National Tartan Day commemorates the signing on April 6, 1320, of the Declaration of Arbroath, considered Scotland’s most iconic document, its own “Declaration of Independence” and perhaps source material for the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Arbroath was a letter addressed to the Pope, who had supported King Edward II and excommunicated Robert the Bruce following the Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Signed by the assembled Scottish nobility, the Declaration asked the pope to reconsider his approach to the long-running Anglo-Scottish conflict, recognize Scotland’s independence and acknowledge Robert the Bruce as the country’s lawful king. The Pope was also asked to persuade Edward II to leave the Scots in peace, and Scotland’s support for a crusade is pledged if peace should be achieved. The letter closes with a threat to the Pope – that he would be answerable to God if war continued. The Declaration’s stirring language, and its evocative sentiments of nationhood and freedom, have given it a special distinction since then, not just in Scotland but worldwide. Its most famous sentence asserts that, “For as long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom, for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
"John Prebble, in The Declaration of Arbroath 1320, arbroath.pdf (constitution.org) writes that, “The Declaration of Arbroath was and has been unequalled in its eloquent plea for the liberty of man. From the darkness of medieval minds it shone a torch upon future struggles which its signatories could not have foreseen or understood. “Two things make the Declaration of Arbroath the most important document in Scottish history. “Firstly, it set the will and the wishes of the people above the King. Though they were bound to him ‘both by law and by his merits,’ it was so that their freedom might be maintained. If he betrayed them, he would be removed and replaced.” “Secondly, the manifesto affirmed the nation’s independence in a way no battle could, and justified it with a truth that is beyond nation and race. Man has a right to freedom and a duty to defend it with his life. The natural qualifications put upon this by a medieval baron are irrelevant, as are the reservations which slave-owning Americans placed upon their declaration of independence. The truth once spoken cannot be checked, the seed once planted controls its own growth, and the liberty which men secure for themselves must be given by them to others, or it will be taken as they took it. Freedom is a hardy plant and must flower in equality and brotherhood.” The name “Declaration of Arbroath” is relatively modern, inspired by a perceived connection with the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776. The link between the two Declarations continues to be debated by historians. In 1998 the U.S. Senate passed a resolution stating that April 6 “has a special significance for all Americans, especially those of Scottish descent” and designated Tartan Day as a celebration of Scottish heritage" from the "National Defender" March-April 2021 newsletter. DAR Members website.
