尊敬的克林顿总统、各位嘉宾、我的同胞们：这次权利的和平交接在历史上是罕见的，但在美国却很平常。我们以朴素的宣誓庄严地维护了古老的传统，同时开始了新的历程。

　　As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation. And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.

　　首先，我要感谢克林顿总统为这个国家作出的贡献，也感谢副总统戈尔在竞选过程中的热情与结束竞选时的风度。

　　I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.

　　站在这里，我倍感荣幸，也有点受宠若惊。在我之前，许多美国领导人从这里起步；在我之后，也会有许多领导人从这里继续前进。

　　We have a place, all of us, in a long story—a story we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer. It is the American story—a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

　　在美国悠久的历史中，我们每个人都有自己的位置；我们还在继续推动着历史前进，但是无法看到它的尽头。这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部摒弃陋习传承美德的历史，也是一部美国由奴隶制社会发展成为崇尚自由的社会的历史。这是一部强国保护而非占有世界的历史，是一部捍卫而非征服世界的历史。这就是美国史。它不是一部十全十美的民族发展史，但它是一部在伟大和永恒的理想指导下数代人团结奋斗的历史。