rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us， they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us， they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West； endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us， they fought and died， in places like Concord and Gettysburg； Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions； greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous， powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive， our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat， of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions that time has surely passed. Starting today， we must pick ourselves up， dust ourselves off， and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look， there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action， bold and swift， and we will act not only to create new jobs， but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges， the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will r