Washington -- BELIEVING THAT a campaign promise is one thing but a signed contract is quite another, House Republican candidates signed the Contract With America last September.
This week, we reach the halfway point of that historic commitment to change this country. This is a time to reflect on our progress.
As promised, on a memorable first day the House passed legislation that brought Congress under the same regulatory laws as other businesses. To control runaway federal spending, we have passed the balanced budget amendment and a presidential line-item veto.
To curb Congress' habit of creating a program but leaving the payments to the states, we have enacted reform of "unfunded mandates."
To restore credibility to the criminal justice system, we have revised the exclusionary rule, which would end legal technicalities that freed many criminals, and we have established an effective death penalty.
And to ensure that our military forces are not needlessly put in harm's way, we have voted restrictions on how our troops are deployed overseas.
Despite a small majority -- 230 to 204 -- Republicans have produced huge bipartisan majorities for bills in the contract.
These results show the difference between the last legislative session and this one: a liberal Congress out of touch with the nation created gridlock; a conservative Congress elected to do the people's work creates results.
Now many of our initiatives await action in the Senate, where the rules give the minority greater power to slow debate.
The next 50 days will produce tax relief for families and the elderly, job creation bills, common sense legal reform, votes on term limits and welfare reform.
The last item will undoubtedly be the most contentious in the contract. But we cannot replace the welfare state unless we change welfare itself.
Thus, we will work to end cash payments to unmarried teen-age mothers and create incentives to get people to work while allowing governors to reform welfare at the state level, where change is most effective.
The pace that the 104th Congress has set in getting its agenda completed can make it easy to lose sight of what we are doing.
Republicans were sent to Washington not just to set records of legislative activity, though that's been necessary to fulfill the contract. Setting records is fine. But remembering the lessons of history is a far greater responsibility.
We Republicans must keep in mind that we are heirs to a great legacy. February marks the births of three of our most outstanding presidents: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.
After leading the Colonies through the Revolutionary War, Washington displayed rare insight that set the right tone for leading a young Republic. Though easily electable to a third term, he chose to return to his farm.
In effect setting a two-term limit for presidential service -- breached only during a national emergency by Franklin D. Roosevelt -- he was the true ideal of a citizen-statesman.
During some of our darkest hours, Lincoln never wavered in his belief that America's destiny lay as one unified nation.
Despite slavery, despite economic adversity and the Civil War, he fervently believed that the divisions tearing his society apart could be surmounted.
When Mr. Reagan became president, he found a dispirited country that was stagnating economically and embarrassed internationally. His policies, unswerving optimism and vision brought forth a true rejuvenation, including a record 93 months of economic expansion.
The moments associated with these three leaders -- birth, reconciliation and rejuvenation -- will remain with the Republicans as we complete the contract.
While some mourn the death of the liberal welfare state, the nation must, like Washington, be prepared for the birth of something much stronger -- in this case, a conservative opportunity society.
Despite the decay and division around us, Republicans must take Lincoln's example and never falter in our determination to see a society reconciled. And like Mr. Reagan, we must remain committed and optimistic about bringing about national rejuvenation.
Completing the Contract With America is only a beginning -- the start of a program to renew American civilization and to build a true civil society.
That is the Republicans' goal for next 50 days -- and beyond.
Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia, is speaker of the House of Representatives. He wrote this for the New York Times.