WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is promising to uphold the Constitution in a public swearing in ceremony that signals the beginning of his second term in office.
Placing his hand on two Bibles -- one used by President Abraham Lincoln at his first Inauguration and one used by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Obama took a public oath of office on Monday, after he was sworn in during a private ceremony on Sunday. The Constitution requires presidential terms to begin on Jan. 20.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered Obama's private swearing in on Sunday and the public ceremony Monday. He also swore Obama in during his first inauguration in 2009.
In his address, President Obama said that "while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by his people here on Earth."
Delivering his second inaugural address, the president said that the inalienable rights set out in the Declaration of Independence may be self-evident - but "they've never been self-executed."
The president says we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.
Obama spoke shortly after taking the public oath of office for his second term Monday. He addressed hundreds of thousands on the National Mall and millions more watching worldwide.
