Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
A National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation
In his first official act since taking the oath of
office, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation,
calling on Americans to serve one another and our common
purpose on this National Day of Renewal and
Reconciliation.
NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the
land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my
shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the
American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome
God.
We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation
is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty.
Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of
adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we
know that there is a purpose for everything under
heaven.
On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are
heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and
that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a
glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a
people to carry it forward once more.
So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us
remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching
from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living
heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet
swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as
surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do
hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of
Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our
citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of
remaking this Nation for our new century.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
