Nebraska's 150th Anniversary

Statement

They called us "the Great American Desert." The explorer and geologist Edwin James wrote that our land was "uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture."

But in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. It made Americans a simple offer: strike out west and cultivate 160 acres of surveyed government land for five years. At the end of that time, the land would be theirs.

Families crossed the plains in covered wagons to accept it.

In fact, the law's very first claimant was a Civil War veteran named, fittingly enough, Daniel Freeman. His homestead lies just outside Beatrice, Nebraska. In this vast and roofless land, the homesteaders made the American dream real. They tilled the earth, first to feed themselves, then to feed the world.

This is the story of Nebraska. In a deep and powerful way, it is the story of America.

America grew up in Nebraska. We were the 37th state admitted to the union and the first after the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson vetoed our admission for statehood. He disagreed with a "fundamental condition" of Nebraska statehood: that black men be allowed to vote.

Congress overrode him. In that historic moment, Nebraska gave America a chance to be better. In every moment since, we have continued to make America the greatest nation in history.

Nebraskans uphold the value of every person. In 1879, Nebraska was the site of the first time that American Indians had their "day in court" when Standing Bear made his plea "I am a Man."

Nebraskans know the value of hard and honest work. In 2016, Nebraska was ranked number-one in the nation in beef exports. Today, we are number-one in the nation in Great Northern bean production, popcorn production, and irrigated acres of cropland. Nebraskans have made the "Great American Desert" into one of the greatest agricultural exporting regions in world history. We earned the nickname "the Beef State."

Nebraskans affirm the creativity of the human heart through scientific discovery. Developments in agricultural technology, including the center pivot, have allowed Nebraska ag producers to feed the world. Nebraska continues to lead the nation in center pivot irrigation technology. Today, we are even home to the four largest irrigation companies in the United States.

We have more miles of river than any other state. We sit over the Ogallala Aquifer, and we send forth eight times more water than flows into our boundaries. Our abundant supply of groundwater makes us leaders in producing soybeans, wheat, pork, and grain sorghum. Our Sandhills, God's own cattle country, are the largest grass-covered dunes in the world.

I am honored to serve as a champion for Nebraska in our nation's capital; I love our state.

I have also invited my colleagues to come and see the Good Life for themselves. I'm telling them to come and see the home of national food sensations like Kool-Aid, the Reuben sandwich, and, of course, Runzas. I encourage them to feel the thrill of cheering the Huskers at Memorial Stadium. I challenge them to find a sight more beautiful than Nebraska at night under a star-filled sky.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Willa Cather, who grew up in Nebraska, wrote of the west, "Elsewhere, the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky."

For America for 150 years, Nebraska has been a place to look up and begin again, a land of vast possibility. We are a place to dream and to realize dreams. We are a model for America and the envy of the world.

Congratulations to the people of the great state of Nebraska as we celebrate our rich history, the exciting present we are building, and the brighter future we will have in our next 150 years.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.

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