How Hillary Clinton defined her historic moment

As Hillary Clinton playfully batted away an avalanche of balloons Thursday night, she appeared proud, happy and reconciled to her historic moment.

She had accepted the Democratic nomination with “humility, determination and boundless confidence in America’s promise,” taking her place as the first woman to lead a major presidential ticket on a night pulsating with emotion.

“When there are no ceilings,” she declared, “the sky’s the limit.”

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea.

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Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992.

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In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.

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During the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton jokes with her husband's running mate, Al Gore, and Gore's wife, Tipper, aboard a campaign bus.

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Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993.

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The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993.

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Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997.

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The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

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Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999.

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Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year.

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Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

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Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001.

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Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003.

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Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007.

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Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama.

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Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state.

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Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010.

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The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010.

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In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

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Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails.

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Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012.

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Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014.

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Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015.

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Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America."

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015.

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Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April.

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After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you."

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van.

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Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

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After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president.

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Her speech lacked the poetic sweep of the President Barack Obama’s address Wednesday, but it was in keeping with someone who presents herself as a practical, dogged, policy-oriented striver who gets knocked down and then gets straight back up.

The choice she defined for the nation in 2016 is stark: a “moment of reckoning.”

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state set her sights on the White House and blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump, portraying him as a small man who got rich by stifling workers, who peddles fear and who lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

She quickly reached out to disappointed Bernie Sanders voters at the end of a convention dedicated to healing the deep rift from their contentious primary race. With the Vermont senator watching from the arena, Clinton told his supporters: “I’ve heard you. Your cause is our cause.”

Chelsea Clinton embraces role in her mother’s campaign

President Barack Obama congratulated Clinton at the conclusion of her speech.

“Great speech,” he tweeted. “She’s tested. She’s ready. She never quits. That’s why Hillary should be our next @POTUS. (She’ll get the Twitter handle, too)”

In the audience, Clinton supporters were moved to tears, including 16-year-old Victoria Sanchez.

“This is more than I ever could have imagined,” she said. “I know that I have just lived history and I can follow in her footsteps. This changes my entire life.”

After a lifetime in a polarizing political spotlight that has left her with plenty of enemies and dented approval ratings, Clinton set out to prove to voters that she could be trusted.

Dedicated fighter

She avoided any show of contrition for controversies like the one over the private email server she used for official business while secretary of state that has again provoked questions about her honesty and integrity among many voters.

Instead, she presented herself as a dedicated and indefatigable fighter for children, the disabled, blue-collar workers, women and the poor, while promising a backbone of steel as she vowed to take out ISIS.

Throughout a speech punctuated by roars of applause and watched by a misty-eyed former President Bill Clinton, she repeatedly returned to attack Trump – who laid out a much darker vision of America’s future at his own convention last week.

“Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes,” Clinton said. “Most of all, don’t believe anyone who says: ‘I alone can fix it,’ ” a reference to a part of Trump’s acceptance speech last week.

Teddy Roosevelt is in the arena at the DNC

“Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart,” she said. “Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together.”

Turning to national security, Clinton warned that a president has to make decisions about war and peace, life and death.

“Ask yourself: Do you really think Donald Trump has the temperament to be commander in chief? Donald Trump can’t even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.”

She added: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

Trump hit back – with a series of tweets.

“No one has worse judgement than Hillary Clinton - corruption and devastation follows her wherever she goes,” he wrote. “Hillary’s wars in the Middle East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across the world.”

Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser, blasted Clinton’s speech as an “insulting collection of cliches and recycled rhetoric.”

“She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life,” he said.

Persuading Americans

But Clinton is working to persuade Americans that she understands their frustration and economic anxiety at a time when many of them still do not trust her. Her prime-time televised address is especially crucial because she has not so far generated the kind of passion among her supporters that Trump has garnered from his backers by channeling anger about the direction of the country.

She spoke of her wholesome middle class upbringing and said her family were builders of the American dream and not people “with their name on big buildings” – another dig at Trump.

Clinton took pains to reach out to white blue-collar workers, many of whom have been left behind by economic globalization and technological change and have been attracted by Trump’s anti-elite message.

“Right now, an awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the work they do,” she said, and admitted that politicians had not done a good enough job of showing they understand.

One of the major themes of the Democratic convention has been an attempt to reintroduce one of the most famous women in the world to the American people. And she admitted that if many Americans knew little of the woman behind the image, it may be her fault.

“The truth is, through all these years of public service, the ‘service’ part has always come easier to me than the ‘public’ part,” Clinton said.

Clinton also indicated she understood the need to reassure Americans shaken by a violent summer at home and an epidemic of terror attacks in Europe and the US. While Clinton and Obama have argued that ISIS is on the run, the economy is on the upswing, and Americans are safer than they have been in years, they are struggling to counter the dark image that Trump has painted of a nation in decline, chaos and disorder that resonates with many voters.

National security threats

Amid charges by Republicans that the optimistic mood of the Democratic convention has ignored the threat from ISIS and terrorism, Clinton was specific about the global national security threats that loom – though she didn’t use the term Islamic terrorism as the GOP repeatedly has called for.

“Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face,” Clinton said. “From Baghdad to Kabul, to Nice to Paris and Brussels. From San Bernardino to Orlando, we’re dealing with determined enemies who must be defeated. No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance – looking for steady leadership.”

Following a spate of killings by police of African-American youths and massacres of police officers, Clinton laid out a firm stance on gun control, vowing that America should not have a president in the “pocket” of the gun lobby.

“I’m not here to take away your guns,” she said. “I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”

Ahead of her speech, retired four star General John Allen, the former head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, delivered a powerful address in which he told delegates that Clinton would be “exactly the Commander-in-Chief America needs.”

‘America will continue to lead’

“With her as our Commander-in-Chief, America will continue to lead this volatile world. We will oppose and resist tyranny and we will defeat evil. America will defeat ISIS and protect the homeland,” said Allen, who was surrounded on stage by 37 military veterans.

Clinton delivered her speech at the end of a largely successful convention, which helped mend the party after her divisive primary against Sanders. The mood on the convention floor Thursday was festive and upbeat — in contrast to the discontent that festered on the opening night Monday when die-hard Sanders fans loudly make their disappointment known.

Samantha Herring of Walton County, Florida, was a Sanders supporter but has decided this week to work hard to elect Clinton.

“Is it hard? Yes. I loved Bernie, but that’s why I have to vote for Hillary,” said Herring, who made signs reading “He has my heart, but she has my vote.”

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report