III 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 410 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 7, 2004 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the 
Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and 
recognizing the Marshall Islands as a staunch ally of 
the United States, committed to principles of democracy 
and freedom for the Pacific region and throughout the 
world. 
Whereas the Marshall Islands were ruled under a succession 
of colonial regimes, including under Spanish and German 
rule, followed in the 20th century by Japanese rule under 
the League of Nations system for governance of terri-
tories; 
Whereas military activities of Imperial Japan based in the 
Marshall
Islands
before
and
during
World
War
II
HCON 410 RFS 
established the strategic importance of the Marshall Is-
lands in the Pacific; 
Whereas the Marshall Islands were liberated from Japanese 
military occupation in some of the most horrific battles 
of World War II, during which brave Marshallese people 
risked their lives to aid the Armed Forces of the United 
States and its allies; 
Whereas in 1947 Congress approved a trusteeship agreement 
with the United Nations Security Council under which 
the United States became the administering power with 
plenary powers of government in the Marshall Islands; 
Whereas during the United Nations trusteeship period the 
United States fulfilled its commitment to promote the 
progress of the Marshall Islands toward democratic self- 
government and self-determination, leading to the estab-
lishment of local self-government that culminated in a 
constitutional convention in which delegates representing 
the people of the Marshall Islands proposed that they be 
constituted as a self-governing nation; 
Whereas in accordance with the enabling measures adopted 
by the United States as administering power of the Mar-
shall Islands, which encouraged and fully supported the 
emergence of the Marshall Islands as a duly constituted 
nation based on the freely expressed will of the people, 
in 1979 the people of the Marshall Islands adopted their 
own constitution and subsequently declared their form of 
government to be a republic; 
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Is-
lands established a parliamentary governmental system 
with separation of powers and a ‘‘Bill of Rights,’’ guar-
anteeing democracy and freedom for the Marshallese peo-
HCON 410 RFS 
ple based on the rule of law, limited government, and in-
dividual liberty; 
Whereas the United States and the duly constituted Govern-
ment of the Republic of the Marshall Islands adopted a 
Compact of Free Association to define government-to- 
government relations between the United States and the 
Marshall Islands as two sovereign nations under mutually 
agreed terms upon termination of the United Nations 
trusteeship for the Marshall Islands; 
Whereas the promulgation of a national constitution made 
possible the termination of the United Nations trustee-
ship in 1986 and the emergence of the Republic of the 
Marshall Islands as a sovereign nation in free association 
with the United States under the Compact of Free Asso-
ciation, forming an alliance that preserves the close and 
special political, social, economic, and military relation-
ship between the two countries that developed during the 
trusteeship period; 
Whereas the United States has no closer alliance with any 
nation or group of nations than it does with the Republic 
of the Marshall Islands under the Compact of Free Asso-
ciation, which continues the strategic partnership and 
role of the Marshall Islands in United States strategic 
programs based in the Marshall Islands, which began at 
the end of World War II and has continued under the 
trusteeship and Compact to promote the mutual security 
of the United States and the Marshall Islands; 
Whereas the Republic of the Marshall Islands is a model for 
transition of formerly non-self-governing territory rav-
aged by war to a sovereign political status as a stable de-
mocracy, a success story for institution building and re-
HCON 410 RFS 
covery from conflict not only for the Pacific region but 
throughout the world; 
Whereas in light of the shared history of the United States 
and the Republic of the Marshall Islands and special re-
lations under the Compact of Free Association, it is en-
tirely fitting for Congress to recognize the 25th anniver-
sary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic 
of the Marshall Islands, recalling the importance of duly 
constituted self-government in the self-determination 
process leading to national sovereignty for the Marshall 
Islands; and 
Whereas the Republic of the Marshall Islands has remained 
one of the staunchest allies of the United States during 
the cold war and the war on terrorism, and the voting 
record of the Republic of the Marshall Islands as a mem-
ber state in the United Nations General Assembly is un-
paralleled by any other country, further demonstrating 
the shared commitment of the two nations to promote de-
mocracy and global peace: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) recognizes the 25th anniversary of the adop-
tion of the Constitution of the Republic of the Mar-
shall Islands; and 
(2) recognizes the Republic of the Marshall Is-
lands as a staunch ally of the United States, com-
HCON 410 RFS 
mitted to principles of democracy and freedom for 
the Pacific region and throughout the world. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 6, 2004. 
Attest: 
JEFF TRANDAHL, 
Clerk.