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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.