President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful transfer of
authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old
traditions and make new beginnings. As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service
to our nation. And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and
ended with grace. I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America’s
leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
We have a place, all of us, in a long story-a story we continue, but whose end we will not
see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of
a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went
into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer. It is the American
story-a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and
enduring ideals.
The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs,
that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans
are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And though our nation has
sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course. Through
much of the last century, America’s faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a
raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations. Our democratic
faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal
we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along. And even after nearly 225 years,
we have a long way yet to travel.
While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our
own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden
prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so
deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country. We do not accept this, and we will
not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every
generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice
and opportunity.
I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who
creates us equal in His image. And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us
onward. America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals
that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it
means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must
uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more,
not less, American.
Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility,
courage, compassion and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to
principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will
and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can
afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.