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Ladies and gentlemen, / please be seated. /
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My fellow Americans, / a moment / we have all been waiting for. /
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It is now my great privilege / and high honor /
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to be the first person / to officially introduce /
the 46th President of the United States, / Joseph R. Biden Jr. /
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Chief Justice Roberts, / Vice President Harris, / Speaker Pelosi, /
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Leader Schumer, / Leader McConnell, / Vice President Pence, /
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and my distinguished guests, / and my fellow Americans. /
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This is America's day. /
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This is democracy's day. /
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A day of history and hope, / of renewal and resolve. /
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Through a crucible for the ages /
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America has been tested anew / and / America has risen to the challenge. /
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Today, / we celebrate / the triumph not of a candidate, /
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but of a cause, / the cause of democracy. /
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The people... / The will of the people / has been heard /
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and / the will of the people / has been heeded. /
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We have learned again / that democracy is precious. /
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Democracy is fragile. /
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And at this hour, / my friends, democracy / has prevailed. /
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So now, / on this hallowed ground / where / just days ago /
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violence sought to shake / this Capitol's very foundation, /
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we come together / as one nation, / under God, / indivisible, /
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to carry out / the peaceful transfer of power /
as / we have / for more than two centuries. /
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We look ahead / in our uniquely American way... /
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restless, bold, optimistic... /
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and / set our sights on the nation /
we know / we can be, / and we must be. /
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I thank my predecessors of both parties / for their presence here today. /
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I thank them / from the bottom of my heart. /
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And / I know... /
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I know / the resilience of our Constitution / and the strength of our nation. /
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As does President Carter, / who / I spoke to last night /
[[ but / who cannot be with us today, ]]
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but whom / we salute / for his lifetime of service. /
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I have just taken the sacred oath / each of these patriots / took... /
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an oath / first sworn by George Washington. /
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But / the American story depends / not on any one of us... /
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not on some of us, / but on all of us. /
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On "We the People" / who seek a more perfect Union. /
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This is a great nation, / and / we are a good people. /
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And over the centuries / through storm and strife, /
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in peace and in war, / we have come so far. /
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But / we still have far to go. /
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We will press forward / with speed and urgency, /
for / we have much to do /
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in this winter / of peril and significant possibilities. /
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Much to repair, / much to restore, /
much to heal, / much to build, / and much to gain. /
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Few periods / in our nation's history /
have been more challenging or difficult / than the one / we're in now. /
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A once-in-a-century virus / silently stalks the country. /
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It's taken as many lives / in one year / as America lost / in all of World War II. /
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Millions of jobs / have been lost. / Hundreds of thousands of businesses / closed. /
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[ A cry for racial justice / some 400 years / in the making ] moves us. /
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The dream of justice for all / will be deferred no longer. /
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A cry for survival / comes from the planet itself. /
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A cry / that can't be any more desperate / or any more clear. /
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And now, / a rise / in political extremism, /
white supremacy, / domestic terrorism /
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that we must confront, / and / we will defeat. /
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To overcome these challenges... / to restore the soul /
and to secure the future of America... /
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requires more than words. /
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It requires / that most elusive of things / in a democracy: / Unity...Unity. /
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In another January in Washington, / on New Year's Day 1863, /
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Abraham Lincoln signed / the Emancipation Proclamation. /
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When / he put pen to paper, / the President said, /
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"If / my name ever goes down into history / it will be for this act /
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and / my whole soul is in it." / My whole soul is in it. /
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Today, on this January day, / my whole soul is in this: /
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Bringing America together, / uniting our people, / and uniting our nation. /
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And / I ask every American / to join me / in this cause. /
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Uniting / to fight the common foes / we face: /
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Anger, resentment, hatred, / Extremism, lawlessness, violence, /
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Disease, joblessness, hopelessness. /
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With unity / we can do great things. /
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Important things. / We can right wrongs. /
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We can put people to work / in good jobs. /
We can teach our children / in safe schools. /
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We can overcome this deadly virus. /
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We can reward work, / rebuild the middle class, /
and make health care secure / for all. /
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We can deliver racial justice. / And / We can make America, / once again, /
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the leading force / for good in the world. /
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I know / speaking of unity / can sound to some / like a foolish fantasy / these days. /
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I know / the forces that divide us / are deep / and / they are real. /
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But / I also know / they are not new. /
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Our history / has been a constant struggle /
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between the American ideal / that we are all created equal /
and the harsh, ugly reality /
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that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization / have long torn us apart. /
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The battle is perennial / and / Victory is never assured. /
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Through the Civil War, / the Great Depression, / World War, / 9.11, /
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through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, /
our "better angels" / have always prevailed. /
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In each of these moments, / enough of us... /
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enough of us / have come together / to carry all of us forward. /
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And / we can do so now. /
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History, faith, and reason / show the way, / the way of unity. /
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We can see each other / not as adversaries / but as neighbors. /
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We can treat each other / with dignity and respect. /
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We can join forces, / stop the shouting, / and lower the temperature. /
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For without unity, / there is no peace, / only bitterness and fury. /
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No progress, / only exhausting outrage. /
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No nation, / only a state of chaos. /
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This is our historic moment / of crisis and challenge, /
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and / unity is the path forward. /
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And / we must meet this moment / as the United States of America. /
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If / we do that, / I guarantee you, / we will not fail. /
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We have never, ever, ever failed / in America /
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when / we have acted together. /
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And so today, / at this time / and in this place, / let us start afresh. /
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All of us, / let's begin listen to one another, /
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hear one another, / see one another, / show respect / to one another. /
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Politics need not be a raging fire / destroying everything in its path. /
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Every disagreement / doesn't have to be a cause / for total war. /
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And / we must reject a culture /
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in which / facts themselves are manipulated / and even manufactured. /