to serve His purpose.

*****

Jimmy Carter Inaugural Address Thursday, January 20, 1977

FOR myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he
has done to heal our land.

In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner
and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss
Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to changing times and still
hold to unchanging principles."

Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first
President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the
Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition
from the ancient prophet Micah:

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God." (Micah 6:8)

This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication
within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may
sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.

Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest
for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders
of this Nation still awaits its consummation. I have no new dream to set
forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.

Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both
spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-definition
which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a
special obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed,
seem invariably to be in our own best interests.

You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to be
worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create together a
new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate for
my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.

Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray
together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the
right.

The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in our
country--and in one another. I believe America can be better. We can be
even stronger than before.

Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic
principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own
government we have no future. We recall in special times