DENVER -- Sen. Barack Obama made history Thursday night by accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States.

During his speech in Denver, Obama thanked his supporters and his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. He also used his hour-long speech to highlight his call for change.

"This election is our chance to keep -- in the 21st century -- the American promise alive,” said the senator from Illinois. “Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight."

Obama is the first African-American to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party. Some 84,000 people packed into Denver’s Invesco Field to hear the acceptance speech.

Obama accepted his party's nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. He alluded to the historic parallel — and its promise — toward the end of his 44-minute speech.

"What the people heard ... people of every creed and color, from every walk of life — is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one," Obama said.

He will now head to the Midwest where Obama and running mate Joe Biden will start a bus tour that will send them through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, state's that Obama did poorly in during the primaries.