President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 48th leader of the United States earlier today. In his third bid for the presidency, Biden was successful this time around, being sworn in with Kamala Harris who has the distinction of being the first female, first black and first South Asian vice-president.

Below is the complete text of President Biden’s inaugural address:

Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris.

Speaker Pelosi,

Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished

guests, my fellow Americans, this is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A

day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Through a Crucible for the

ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.

Today, we

celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause. The cause of

democracy. The people, the will of the people has been heard and the will of

the people has been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious.

Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed

ground, where just a few days ago violence sought to shake the Capitol’s very

foundation, we come together as one nation under God, indivisible, to carry out

the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.

As we look ahead

in our uniquely American way, restless, bold, optimistic and set our sights on

the nation we know we can be and we must be. I thank my predecessors of both

parties for their presence here today. I thank them from the bottom of my heart

and I know–

And I know the resilience

of our Constitution and the strength, the strength of our nation, as does

President Carter who I spoke with last night who cannot be with us today but

whom we salute for his lifetime of service.

I’ve just taken

a sacred oath each of those patriots have taken. The oath first sworn by George

Washington. But the American story depends not in any one of us, not on some of

us, but on all of us. On we, the people who seek a more perfect union. This is

a great nation. We are good people. And over the centuries, through storm and

strife, in peace and in war, we’ve come so far, but we still have far to go.

We’ll press

forward with speed and urgency for we have much to do in this winter of peril

and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal,

much to build, and much to gain.

Few people in

our nation’s history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging

or difficult than the time we are in now. Once in a century virus that silently

stalks the country has taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all

of World War II.

Millions of jobs

have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed. A cry for racial

justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all

will be deferred no longer.

The cry for survival comes

from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more

clear. And now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic

terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome

these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires

so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a

democracy. Unity. Unity.

In another

January, on New Year’s Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation

Proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said, and quote, “If my

name ever goes down into history, it will be for this act and my whole soul is

in it.”

My whole soul is

in it.

Today on this

January day, my whole soul is in this. Bringing America together. Uniting our

people. Uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight

the foes we face: anger, resentment, and hatred, extremism, lawlessness,

violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness.

With unity, we

can do great things, important things. We can right wrongs. We can put people

to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can

overcome the deadly virus. We can reward–reward work and rebuild the middle

class and make healthcare secure for all. We can deliver racial justice, and we

can make America once again the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking

of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces

that divide us are deep, and they are real, but I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are

all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization

have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.

Through Civil

War, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and

setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough

of us, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward, and we can

do that now.

History, faith,

and reason show the way, the way of unity. We can see each other not as

adversaries but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without

unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury, no progress, only

exhausting outrage; no nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic

moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward. And we must meet

this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I

guarantee you we will not fail. We have never ever ever ever failed in America

when we have acted together, and so today at this time in this place, let’s

start off fresh all of us. Let’s begin to listen to one another again, hear one

another, see one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn’t have to

be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t

have to be a cause for total war, and we must reject the culture in which facts

themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow

Americans, we have to be different than this. America has to be better than

this, and I believe America is so much better than this. Just look around here

we stand in the shadow of the Capitol dome as was mentioned earlier completed

amid the Civil War when the Union itself was literally hanging in the balance.

Yet we endured,

we prevailed. Here we stand, looking out on the great mall where Dr. King spoke

of his dream. Here we stand where 108 years ago, at another inaugural,

thousands of protesters tried to block brave women marching for the right to

vote, and today we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history

elected to national office, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Don’t tell me

things can’t change. Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington Cemetery

where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace,

and here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence

to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive

us from this sacred ground. It did not happen; it will never happen, not today,

not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.

To all of those

who supported our campaign, I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us. To

all of those who did not support us, let me say this hear me out as we move

forward, take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree, so be it,

that’s democracy, that’s America. The right to dissent peaceably within the

guardrails of our Republic is perhaps this nation’s greatest strength. Yet hear

me clearly disagreement must not lead to disunion, and I pledge this to you I

will be a president for all Americans, all Americans.

And I promise

you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries

ago, St. Augustine, a saint in my church, wrote that a people was a multitude

defined by the common objects of their love defined by the common objects of

their love. What are the common objects we as Americans love that define us as

Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect,

honor, and yes, the truth.

In recent weeks

and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies,

lies told for power and for profit, and each of us has a duty and a

responsibility as citizens, as Americans and especially as leaders, leaders who

have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation, to defend the

truth and defeat the lies.

Look, I

understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and

trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand like my dad

they lay at bed staring at the night — staring at the ceiling wondering can I

keep my healthcare, can I pay my mortgage? Thinking about their families, about

what comes next. I promise you I get it, but the answer is not to turn inward,

to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like —

look like you or worship the way you do or don’t get their news from the same

source as you do.

We must end this

uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban or rural versus

urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead

of hardening our hearts if we show a little tolerance and humility and if we

are willing to stand in the other person’s shoes as my mom would say just for a

moment stand in their shoes because here’s the thing about life, there’s no

accounting for what fate will deal you.

Some days when

you need a hand, there are other days when we are called to lend a hand. That

is how it has to be, and that is what we do for one another, and if we are this

way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future,

and we can still disagree.

My fellow

Americans in the work ahead of us, we are going to need each other. We need all

of our strength to preserve–to persevere through this dark winter. We are

entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. We must

set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation, one nation.

And I promise

you that this as the Bible said weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh

in the morning. We will get through this together, together.

Look, folks, all

of my colleagues I have served with in the House and the Senate up here, we all

understand the world is watching, watching all of us today, so here is my

message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we’ve come out

stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once

again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges but today’s and tomorrow’s

challenges.

And we’ll lead

not merely by the example of our power, by the power of our example.

We’ll be a

strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

Look, you all

know we’ve been through so much in this nation. And in my first act as

president, I’d like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer,

remember all those who we lost this past year to the pandemic, those 400,000

fellow Americans, moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends,

neighbors, and coworkers.

We will honor

them by becoming the people in the nation we know we can and should be. So, I

ask you let’s say a silent prayer for those who’ve lost their lives and those

left behind and for our country.

Amen.

Folks, this is a

time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and on truth, a raging

virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis,

America’s role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us

in profound ways, but the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this

nation with a — one of the gravest responsibilities we had.

Now we’re going

to be tested. Are we going to step up, all of us? It’s time for boldness for

there is so much to do. And this is certain. I promise you we will be judged,

you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.

We will rise to

the occasion is the question. Will we master this rare and difficult hour? Will

we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world to our children?

I believe we

must. I’m sure you do as well. I believe we will. And when we do, we’ll write

the next great chapter in the history of the United States of America, the

American story, a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot

to me. It’s called American Anthem. There’s one verse that stands out at least

for me, and it goes like this.

“The work and

prayers of century have brought us to this day. What shall be our legacy? What

will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through

America, America, I gave my best to you.”

Let’s add — lets

us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our great nation. If

we do this, then when our days are through our children and our children’s

children will say of us they gave their best. They did their duty. They healed

a broken land.

My fellow

Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath. Before God and all

of you, I give you my word I will always level with you. I will defend the

Constitution. I’ll defend our democracy. I’ll defend America. And I will give

all, all of you, keep everything you–I do in your service, thinking not of

power but of possibilities, not of personal interest but the public good. And

together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear; of unity, not

division; of light, not darkness; a story of decency and dignity, love and

healing, greatness and goodness.

May this be the

story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages

yet to come that we answered the call of history. We met the moment. Democracy

and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch but thrived, that America

secured liberty at home and stood once again is a beacon to the world. That is

what we owe our forbearers, one another, and generation to follow.

So, with purpose

and result, we turn to those tasks of our time, sustained by faith, driven by

conviction, devoted to one another in the country we love with all our hearts.

May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

Thank you,

America.