{"id":20927,"date":"2017-03-01T17:49:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T23:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=20927"},"modified":"2017-03-01T17:49:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T23:49:47","slug":"lawmakers-mark-150-years-of-nebraska-statehood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=20927","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers mark 150 years of Nebraska statehood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Gov. Pete Ricketts greets members of Lincoln’s Everett Elementary Chorus after they performed a rendition of “<\/em>Happy Birthday” to Nebraska.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Legislature celebrated Nebraska\u2019s sesquicentennial with a ceremony in the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber March 1.<\/p>\n

Officials from the executive and judicial branches of state government joined senators in the celebration, which included vocal performances, a poetry reading and a recitation by Secretary of State John Gale of the proclamation, signed March 1, 1867, by President Andrew Johnson, which made Nebraska the 37th state in the Union.<\/p>\n

Gov. Pete Ricketts opened the ceremony by remembering the Native Americans, explorers and immigrants who endured hardship and persecution to build Nebraska into what it is today. Living in Nebraska has always required courage, determination, perseverance and a willingness to work together to solve common problems, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNebraska is culture, a way of life,\u201d Ricketts said. \u201cIt\u2019s how we treat each other with dignity and respect and how we work together to build this great state \u2014\u00a0Nebraska is what America is supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricketts then signed a proclamation declaring March 1 as Statehood Day in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican said that, throughout the state\u2019s history, Nebraska courts have helped uphold the state motto: equality before the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur forebears chose those words because they embody the spirit of democracy and hope and freedom that so aptly symbolized Nebraska in 1867,\u201d he said. \u201cNebraska\u2019s courts provide citizens with an open, fair, efficient and independent forum for the resolution of legal disputes in the courthouses of all 93 of Nebraska\u2019s counties \u2014 equality before the law is on display and thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nebraska State Poet Twyla Hansen read her poem \u201cNebraska, a Treasured State<\/em>,\u201d whose three stanzas focus on the state\u2019s natural resources. She said the poem is inspired by works of art in the Capitol, including mosaics, murals and the Sower. Hansen dedicated the poem to her grandparents, who settled in Burr County in the late 1800s after immigrating from Denmark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we weather hail, heat, drought, tornado, wind, flood, blizzard, thunderstorms \u2014 the whims of Great Plains climate,\u201d the poem reads. \u201cYet we crave each sunrise, each clean breath here beneath the Milky Way, our unfettered star-gazing perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighteen third- through fifth-grade students from Everett Elementary School in Lincoln led the chamber in a sing-along of \u201cHappy Birthday<\/em>,\u201d and a Waverly High School octet performed \u201cBeautiful Nebraska<\/em>.\u201d Vocalist Hannah Huston, a Grand Island native and former finalist on \u201cThe Voice<\/em>,\u201d sang \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner<\/em>\u201d and \u201cAmerica the Beautiful<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebration was part of a full day of activities at the Capitol and the Nebraska History Museum to commemorate the anniversary. The U.S. Postal Service issued a new stamp depicting sandhill cranes flying low over the banks of the Platte River. Actors portraying Willa Cather, Chief Standing Bear and Buffalo Bill Cody gave performances in the rotunda and riders with the National Pony Express Association delivered the original statehood proclamation to the governor after parading their horses in the streets around the Capitol. Finally, the Nebraska History Museum opened an exhibit featuring oil paintings depicting scenes from each county.<\/p>\n

Norfolk Sen. Jim Scheer, speaker of the Legislature, said Nebraskans\u2019 desire for public access to elected officials and transparency in the legislative process is manifested in the state\u2019s unicameral Legislature. George Norris, a U.S. Senator and congressman from Nebraska who was instrumental in converting the state\u2019s legislature to a one-house system in the 1930s, believed that a unicameral system emphasized that all citizens are of one class, Scheer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, our Unicameral is arguably the most efficient and transparent legislative branch in existence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Norris viewed Nebraska as one community, not a divided state, the speaker added. Norris fought for the fair and equal representation of all interests, Scheer said, an ideal the Legislature still upholds today. Scheer said all senators should focus on the common goal of making the state better and protecting it for future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want to ensure that the next 150 years will indeed be better than the past,\u201d he said, \u201cand I am confident to say to you that it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Legislature celebrated Nebraska\u2019s sesquicentennial with a ceremony in the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber March 1. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-20927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ceremonies","tag-sen-jim-scheer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EverettChoir3-1-17a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20934,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20927\/revisions\/20934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}