Copy of a letter of congratulation from the President of United States of America Mr Bill J. Clinton to Mr. Milan Kučan, President of the Republic of Slovenia, on the occasion of Slovenia's Independence Day in 1995.

Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of the American people, I would like to congratulate you and the people of Slovenia as you celebrate your fourth Independence Day on June 25.

Four years after it assumed its place among the nations of the world, Slovenia has become one of the success stories of the new Europe. The people of Slovenia can be proud of their many accomplishments in building a prosperous, stable and peaceful democracy.

Although Slovenia is a new country, the links between our peoples run deep and are rooted in a shared commitment to the principles of democracy. Centuries ago, when Slovene dukes were enthroned at Gosposvetsko Polje, the ceremony required that their assumption of power be endorsed by the people over whom they would rule. Surely, the values that inspired this ancient ceremony constitute the foundation of the Western political tradition - that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed.

In the spirit of our shared commitments to democracy, the people of the United States extend to you and to the people of the Republic of Slovenia our very best wishes on this special day.

Sincerely,
/s/
William J. Clinton

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We venture to say, that the story of American democracy begins in Carinthia, the first Slovene state in the 7th century.
Reading the French historian Jean Bodin's account of the Slovene ritual installation and the democratic arrangement between people and ruler is said to have inspired Thomas Jefferson in writing the draft of his Declaration of Independence.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS (1743 - 1826)
The ancient ritual of installing Carinthian dukes carried out in the Slovene language whereby the Slovene peasantry transferred the sovereign power to make laws for their community to the dukes fascinated the celebrated humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, better known as Pope Pious II. The French legal historian and philosopher Jean Bodin, inspired by Piccolomini's tireless praise, examined the ritual in detail and described it as an original idea for the transfer of sovereignty that "had no parallel throughout the world".

So there is a persuasive documentation that this contractual relationship influenced the famous Virginian and that the story of American democracy begins in Carinthia (Karantania), the first Slovene state in the 7th century. The ritual installation of the duke of Carinthia that derived from those times was conducted in the Slovene language until the fifteenth century. The installation helped Jefferson develop the theory of the right of people to appoint their own leaders and of the power that emerges from the people themselves, ideas that he drew on when writing the Declaration of Independence.

Copy of a letter of congratulation from the President of United States of America Mr Bill J. Clinton to Mr. Milan Kučan, President of the Republic of Slovenia, on the occasion of Slovenia's Independence Day in 1995.

For more information, please visit this site: http://www.carantha.net/