[Applause]
thank you so much Vice President Biden
[Music]
mr. Chief Justice members of the United
States Congress distinguished guests and
fellow citizens each time we gather to
inaugurate a president we bear witness
to the enduring strength of our
Constitution we affirm the promise of
our democracy we recall that what binds
this nation together is not the colors
of our skin or the tenants of our faith
or the origins of our names what makes
us exceptional what makes us American is
our allegiance to an idea articulated in
a declaration made more than two
centuries ago we hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created
equal
that they are endowed by their creator
with certain unalienable rights that
among these are life liberty and the
pursuit of happiness today we continue a
never-ending journey to bridge the
meaning of those words with the
realities of our time for history tells
us that while these truths may be
self-evident they have never been
self-executing that while freedom is a
gift from God it must be secured by his
people here on earth the Patriots of
1776 did not fight to replace the
tyranny of a king with the privileges of
a few or the rule of a mob they gave to
us a republic a government of and By and
For the People
entrusting each generation to keep safe
our founding Creed and for more than 200
years we have through blood drawn by
lash and blood drawn by sword we learned
that no Union founded on the principles
of liberty and equality could survive
half-slave and half-free
we made ourselves anew and vowed to move
forward together together we determined
that a modern economy requires railroads
and highways to speed travel and
commerce schools and colleges to train
our workers together we discovered that
a free market only thrives when there
are rules to ensure competition and fair
play together we resolved that a great
nation must care for the vulnerable and
protect its people from life's worst
hazards and misfortune
through it all we have never
relinquished our skepticism of central
authority nor have we succumbed to the
fiction that all society's ills can be
cured through government alone our
celebration of initiative and enterprise
our insistence on hard work and personal
responsibility these are constants in
our character but we have always
understood that when times change so
must we that fidelity to our founding
principles requires new responses to new
challenges the preserving our individual
freedoms ultimately requires collective
action for the American people can no
more meet the demands of today's world
by acting alone than American soldiers
could have met the forces of fascism or
communism with muskets and militias no
single person can train all the math and
science teachers will need to equip our
children for the future or build the
roads and networks and research labs
that will bring new jobs and businesses
to our shores now more than ever we must
do these things together as one nation
and one people
this generation of Americans has been
tested by crises that steeled our
resolve and proved our resilience a
decade of war is now ending an economic
recovery has begun America's
possibilities are limitless for we
possess all the qualities that this
world without boundaries demands youth
and drive diversity and openness an
endless capacity for risk and a gift for
reinvention my fellow Americans we are
made for this moment and we will seize
it so long as we seize it together
[Applause]
for we the people understand that our
country cannot succeed when a shrinking
few do very well and a growing many
barely make it we believe that America's
prosperity must rest upon the broad
shoulders of a rising middle class we
know that America thrives when every
person can find independence and pride
in their work when the wages of honest
labor liberate families from the brink
of hardship we are true to our Creed
when a little girl born into the
bleakest poverty knows that she has the
same chance to succeed as anybody else
because she is an American she is free
and she is equal not just in the eyes of
God but also in our own
we understand that outworn programs are
inadequate to the needs of our time so
we must harness new ideas and technology
to remake our government revamp our tax
code reform our schools and empower our
citizens with the skills they need to
work harder learn more reach higher
but while the means will change our
purpose indoors a nation that rewards
the effort and determination of every
single American
that is what this moment requires that
is what will give real meaning to our
Creamery
we the people still believe that every
citizen deserves a basic measure of
security and dignity we must make the
hard choices to reduce the cost of
health care and the size of our deficit
but we reject the belief that America
must choose between caring for the
generation that built this country and
investing in the generation that will
build its future for we remember the
lessons of our past when twilight years
were spent in poverty and parents of a
child with a disability had nowhere to
turn we do not believe that in this
country freedom is reserved for the
lucky or happiness for the few we
recognize that no matter how responsibly
we live our lives any one of us at any
time may face a job loss or a sudden
illness or a home swept away in a
terrible storm the commitments we make
to each other through Medicare and
Medicaid and Social Security these
things do not SAP our initiative they
strengthen us
they do not make us a nation of takers
they free us to take the risks that make
this country great we the people still
believe that our obligations as
Americans are not just to ourselves but
to all posterity we will respond to the
threat of climate change knowing that
the failure to do so would betray our
children and future generations some may
still deny the overwhelming judgment of
science but none can avoid the
devastating impact of raging fires and
crippling drought and more powerful
storms the path towards sustainable
energy sources will be long and
sometimes difficult but America cannot
resist this transition we must lead it
we cannot cede to other nations the
technology that will power new jobs and
new industries we must claim its promise
that's how we will maintain our economic
vitality and our national treasure our
forests and waterways our crop lands and
snow-capped peaks that is how we will
preserve our planet commanded to our
care by God that's what will lend
meaning to the Creed our fathers once
declared we the people still believe
that enduring security and lasting peace
do not require perpetual war
[Applause]
our brave men and women in uniform
tempered by the flames of battle are
unmatched and skill and courage our
citizens seared by the memory of those
we have lost
know too well the price that is paid for
liberty the knowledge of their sacrifice
will keep us forever vigilant against
those who would do us harm but we are
also heirs to those who won the peace
and not just the world who turned sworn
enemies into the surest of friends and
we must carry those lessons into this
time as well we will defend our people
and uphold our values through strength
of arms and the rule of law
we will show the courage to try and
resolve our differences with other
nations peacefully not because we are
naive about the dangers we face but
because engagement can more durably lift
suspicion and fear America will remain
the anchor of strong alliances in every
corner of the globe and we will renew
those institutions that extend our
capacity to manage crisis abroad for no
one has a greater stake in a peaceful
world than its most powerful nation we
will support democracy from Asia to
Africa from the Americas to the Middle
East because our interests and our
conscience compel us to act on behalf of
those who long for freedom and we must
be a source of hope to the poor the sick
the marginalized the victims of
prejudice not out of mere charity but
because peace in our time
requires the constant advance of those
principles that our common creed
describes tolerance and opportunity
human dignity and justice
We the People declare today that the
most evident of truths that all of us
are created equal is the star that
guides us still just as it guided our
forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma
and Stonewall just as it guided all
those men and women sung and unsung who
left footprints along this Great Mall to
hear a preacher say that we cannot walk
alone to hear a king proclaim that our
individual freedom is inextricably bound
to the freedom of every soul on earth it
is now our generations task to carry on
what those pioneers began for our
journey is not complete until our wives
our mothers and daughters can earn a
living equal to their efforts
our journey is not complete until our
gay brothers and sisters are treated
like anyone else under the law well if
we are truly created equal then surely
the love we commit to one another must
be equal as well our journey is not
complete until no citizen is forced to
wait for hours to exercise the right to
vote
our journey is not complete until we
find a better way to welcome the
striving hopeful immigrants who still
see America as a land of opportunity
hotel bright young students and
engineers are enlisted in our workforce
rather than expelled from our country
our journey is not complete until all
our children from the streets of Detroit
to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet
lanes of Newtown know that they are
cared for and cherished and always safe
from harm that is our generations task
to make these words these rights these
values of life and liberty and the
pursuit of happiness real for every
American being true to our founding
documents does not require us to agree
on every contour of life it does not
mean we all define liberty in exactly
the same way or follow the same precise
path to happiness
progress does not compel us to settle
centuries long debates about the role of
government for all time but it does
require us to act in our time
[Applause]
for now decisions are upon us and we
cannot afford delay we cannot mistake
absolutism for principle or substitute
spectacle for politics or treat
name-calling as reasoned debate
we must act we must act knowing that our
work will be unperfect
we must act knowing that today's
victories will be only partial and that
it will be up to those who stand here in
four years and 40 years and 400 years
hence to advance the timeless spirit
once conferred to us in a spare
Philadelphia home oh my fellow Americans
the oath I have sworn before you today
like the one recited by others who serve
in this cabinet was an oath to God and
Country not party or faction and we must
faithfully execute that pledge during
the duration of our service but the
words I spoke today are not so different
from the oath that is taken each time a
soldier signs up for duty or an
immigrant realizes her dream my oath is
not so different from the pledge we all
make to the flag that waves above and
that fills our hearts with pride they
are the words of citizens and they
represent our greatest hope you and I as
citizens have the power to set this
country's course you and I as citizens
have the obligation to shape the debates
of our time not only with the votes we
cast but with the voices we lift in
defense of our most ancient values and
enduring ideals
[Applause]
let us each of us now embrace with
solemn duty and awesome joy what is our
lasting birthright with common effort
and Common Purpose with passion and
dedication let us answer the call of
history and carry into an uncertain
future that precious light of freedom
thank you God bless you and may he
forever bless these United States of
America
[Applause]
[Music]