'America is at a moment of reckoning': Hillary blasts 'bigot' Trump for 'dividing' the country; tells Bill 'we're still going strong despite the hard times' and insists the U.S. can be 'greater than ever' 

Hillary Clinton had a message for Donald Trump on Thursday evening as she accepted the Democratic party's nomination for president: Game on.

She mocked his campaign slogan. She blasted his business practices. She even tried to taunt him into attacking her on Twitter - a strategy that appeared to work, with Trump sending out a series of tweets assailing her soon after.

He wants to be commander in chief but 'Donald Trump can't even handle the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign. He loses his cool at the slightest provocation,' she said. 'A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,' she said as the audience cheered loudly. 

Trump has 'taken the Republican Party a long way,' she said, 'from "Morning in America" to "Midnight in America."'

'He wants us to fear the future and fear each other,' she said, declaring that the country is at a 'moment of reckoning.

The former first lady who lost out on the Democratic nomination eight years ago had to deliver a speech that would redefine her 20-year political career and reserve her place in history as the first woman president. 

She held little back, touching on even the most embarrassing and personal aspects of her public profile, including the 'hard times' that tested she and her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, who infamously cheated on her with an intern Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office. 

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Hillary Clinton said at tonight's Democratic National Convention and that the upcoming election is a 'moment of reckoning'

Hillary Clinton gasps at the sight of the balloon drop - as Bill Clinton enjoyed the spectacle too - that filled the cavernous stadium with red, white and blue 

The Clintons walked hip-to-hip after Hillary Clinton spoke for 55 minutes attacking Donald Trump and tried presenting a more positive and inclusive view 

Clinton also attempted to extend an olive branch to Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders' supporters, telling them, 'I've heard you...your cause is our cause.' She was most certainly hearing them, but the losing candidate's delegates weren't hearing her.  

They took turns heckling Clinton throughout the entirety of her 55-minute speech in spite of a pointed reference to a free tuition plan she modeled off the senator's. 

'Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all!' she said, her second reference to him in the speech.

In the thank you section of the remarks she also mentioned him. 'Bernie, your campaign inspired millions of Americans, particularly the young people who threw their hearts and souls into our primary. You put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong. '

To his supporters she said, 'Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion. That is the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America. We wrote it together. Now let’s go out and make it happen together.'

In the national address that rivaled one of her husband's legendarily long orations, Clinton a millionaire, went after Trump, a billionaire, as an elitist who is out of step with and takes advantage of hard working Americans. 

'In Atlantic City, 60 miles from here, you'll find contractors and small businesses who lost everything because Donald Trump refused to pay his bills,' she said from a Philadelphia sports arena. 'People who did the work and needed the money, and didn't get it – not because he couldn't pay them, but because he wouldn't pay them.'

'He just stiffed them,' she said  

Hitting him where she knew it would hurt most, she said, 'That sales pitch he's making to be your president? Put your faith in him – and you'll win big? That's the same sales pitch he made to all those small businesses.'

Then he 'walked away,'' she said, 'and left working people holding the bag.'

'What part of America first leads him to make Trump ties in China, not Colorado. Trump suits in Mexico, not Michigan. Trump furniture in Turkey, not Ohio. Trump picture frames in India, not Wisconsin,' she said. 'Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. He could start by actually making things in America again.' 

HILLARY'S ANGELS: Former President Bill Clinton, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Kaine's wife Ann Holton take their seats for Chelsea Clinton's speech

BILL v. the BILLIONAIRE: The former president spoke on his wife's behalf on Tuesday night, boosting her in the race against Donald Trump

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton squeezes her daughter Chelsea during the balloon drop at tonight's Democratic National Convention 

THANKS MOM: Like Ivanka Trump before her, Chelsea Clinton (right) introduced her mother Hillary Clinton (left) at tonight's Democratic National Convention and hugs her after her speech 

After Hillary Clinton's remarks she squeezed her husband, ex-president Bill Clinton onstage, after not shying away from talking about the problems they've had in their marriage 

Hillary Clinton enjoyed the balloon drop after her speech when red, white and blue balloons dropped from the ceiling of the sports arena where the Philadelphia Flyers usually play 

Hillary Clinton waves to Democratic supporters at the conclusion of the four-day Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as balloons drop on her head 

THE PARTY'S HERE: Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton reacted to the balloon drop with joy as they squeezed and kicked the round orbs

Among the balloons and ticker tape, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine laugh as they celebrate the end of the convention

Democrats in attendance at tonight's historic speech waved giant HILLARY signs as Hillary Clinton gave her speech 

She slapped him around on national security, as well. He says he knows more about ISIS than American generals, she said, reading off an old Trump quote, 'No, Donald, you don't.' 

 ''Now we are clear-eyed about what our country is up against, but we are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have,' she said.

In a direct attack on Trump's core proposition - that he'll build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, she said, 'We will not build a wall. Instead, we will build an economy where everyone who wants a good job can get one.

'And we’ll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy. We will not ban a religion. We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight and defeat terrorism.' 

Clinton said, 'Now America is once again at a moment of reckoning. Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our founders, there are no guarantees. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we will all work together so we can all rise together. Our country’s motto is e pluribus unum: out of many, we are one. Will we stay true to that motto?'

'Don’t let anyone tell you that our country is weak. We’re not. Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes. We do. And most of all, don’t believe anyone who says, "I alone can fix it," she said, taking another jab at Trump.

The businessman's statement 'should set off alarm bells for all of us.

'Really?' she asked dryly. 'I alone can fix it? Isn’t he forgetting troops on the front lines, police officers and firefighters who run toward danger, doctors and nurses who care for us? Teachers who change lives, entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem, mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe? 

The line was a hit, and the crowd cheered over her and she shouted out the words. 'He’s forgetting every last one of us. Americans don’t say, "I  alone fix can it." We say, "We’ll fix it together." '

Turning to guns, a divisive issue between the parties, Clinton bashed Trump again before calling for Americans to meet in the middle.  

'And if we're serious about keeping our country safe, we also can't afford to have a President who's in the pocket of the gun lobby,' she said 'I'm not here to repeal the 2nd Amendment.' 

'I'm not here to take away your guns,' Clinton proclaimed. 

'I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place,' she stated.  

Hillary is pictured taking to the stage in Philadelphia. She mocked Trump's campaign slogan. She blasted his business practices. She even tried to taunt him into attacking her on Twitter

Speaking about Trump Clinton said: 'A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons'

Clinton added: 'Trump has 'taken the Republican Party a long way,' she said, 'from "Morning in America" to "Midnight in America"

Clinton did touch on even the most embarrassing and personal aspects of her public profile, including the 'hard times' that tested her and her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, who infamously cheated on her with an intern in the Oval Office

Clinton also attempted to extend an olive branch to Bernie Sanders' supporters, telling them, 'I've heard you... your cause is our cause'

Chelsea Clinton and former President Bill Clinton applaud as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia

 Clinton's speech lasted 55 minutes. She is pictured above waving to the crowd

She recalled how Trump's Republican rivals had underestimated him and said, 'For the past year, many people made the mistake of laughing off Donald Trump's comments – excusing him as an entertainer just putting on a show,' she said. 

'They thought he couldn't possibly mean all the horrible things he says – like when he called women “pigs,"' she reminded her audience. 'Or said that an American judge couldn't be fair because of his Mexican heritage.' 

'Or when he mocks and mimics a reporter with a disability, or insults prisoners of war like John McCain –a true hero and patriot who deserves our respect,' Clinton listed. 

She said that she didn't even believe Trump's bombastic sentiments at first. 

'But here's the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump.' 

'This is it,' she said. 

'And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn't get: that America is great – because America is good,' she added. 

Clinton went through some of her policies that differentiating herself from the Republicans, from believing in climate change to comprehension immigration reform. 

'Now, you didn't hear any of this from Donald Trump at his convention,' she said. 

'He spoke for 70-odd minutes – and I do mean odd,' Clinton zinged. 'And he offered zero solutions. But we already know he doesn't believe these things,' she added. 

Trump responded with a statement from his campaign written by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser, calling Clinton's speech 'an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric. She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life.' 

The candidate further ripped into her on Twitter. 'No one has worse judgement than Hillary Clinton - corruption and devastation follows her wherever she goes,' he said.  

'Our way of life is under threat by Radical Islam and Hillary Clinton cannot even bring herself to say the words,' another tweet read.

Clinton gestures at the crowd at the end of her speech in which she slapped Donald Trump around on national security. 'He says he knows more about ISIS than American generals', she said, reading off an old Trump quote, 'No, Donald, you don't'

Protests against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party's establishment raged on outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia

Protesters staged a sit-in outside the Democratic National Convention. Scores of Bernie Sanders supporters feel cheated by the party after leaked emails showed senior officials were biased against Clinton's closest challenger

Demonstrators gather near to the Wells Fargo Center on day four of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pop star Katy Perry sang her hit song 'Roar' before the Democratic National Convention crowd before Chelsea Clinton and then Hillary Clinton came onstage 

Performing with a star-spangled microphone, Katy Perry performed as delegates danced in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia

UNDER SEIGE: Trump had just finished speaking at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when Hillary took the stage. He said he wasn't sure if he'd watch her speech though -  'I really don't wanna go home and watch that crap'

For all her Trump-bashing, Clinton also spent a great deal of her remarks retelling her personal story, confronting touchy subjects such as her complicated relationship with husband Bill and her struggle to convince a majority of Americans that she's not as cold and calculating as Republicans would lead them to believe.

Of their relationship she said: '​It's lasted through good times that filled us with joy, and hard times that tested us.'

She added: 'And I've even gotten a few words in along the way.'

'On Tuesday night, I was so happy to see that my Explainer-in-Chief is still on the job,' she said, picking up a nickname President Obama once used for her husband.

Clinton said, 'We heard the man from Hope, Bill Clinton. And the man of hope, Barack Obama.'

'And Michelle Obama reminded us that our children are watching, and the president we elect is going to be their president, too.' 

She later said, 'Now, sometimes the people at this podium are new to the national stage. As you know, I’m not one of those people. I’ve been your first lady, served eight years as a senator from the great state of New York. Then I represented all of you as Secretary of State. 

'But my job titles only tell you what I’ve done. They don’t tell you why. The truth is, through all these years of public service, the service part has always come easier to me than the public part,' she said. 'I get it that some people just don’t know what to make of me.'

She proceeded to talk about her mother Dorothy and her father Hugh and her work for the Children's Defense Fund.

'Tonight, we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president. Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come,' she said. 'I’m happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. I’m happy for boys and men – because when any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone. After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.'

Hillary Clinton looks touched for a moment as she arrives onstage to her crowd of Democratic supporters to accept the party's nomination, something she fell short of eight years ago 

YEAH! Kaine joined Clinton's ticket as her running mate last Friday night. They had their first rally in Miami on Saturday

NERVOUS? Bill Clinton sits with son-in Marc Mezvinsky in his wife's box as they await their wives' speeches

At his event on Thursday night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump said he wasn't sure if he'd watch Clinton's speech, even though he left the event 20 minutes before she took the stage. 

Blasting her as 'crooked Hillary Clinton,' he said, 'Tonight I'll go home, I guess, and watch. I guess,' he said. 'Are we gonna watch tonight? I don't know. I don't know.'

Chants of 'Lock her up! Lock her up!' broke out, and Trump joked that he might keep speaking and cut into her coverage instead. 'I really don't wanna go home and watch that crap,' he said. 

He proceeded to tweet about her remarks, indicating that he watched at least part of his general election opponent's late-night address that drew on her 1996 book, It Takes a Village.

Clinton's general election theme "Stronger Together' builds on the book, her campaign claimed Thursday. An aide said it was to demonstrate her 'consistency' on the issues over the course of her career in politics.

Clinton has been in the public eye for 20 years, yet has had to spend a significant amount of time selling her accomplishments.

'She's a work horse and not a show horse, and sometimes people don't understand all the good she's done for a lot of people,' her campaign manager Robby Mook said today at a Washington Post event.

Some of the speakers on stage knew Clinton well, Mook said. Others had never met her at all. She had a huge impact on their lives.

Tonight the campaign said was seeking to show voters who Clinton is and what she's accomplished, as well as the choice they have in the election. 

Mook acknowledged that Clinton, a former first lady, senator, presidential candidate and cabinet member, has already said a lot of what she's going to say tonight.

But in a fragmented media cycle, 'we've gotta say something a lot of times for it to cut through,' he stated.

Former and maybe even future first daughter Chelsea Clinton portrayed her mother as a doting grandmother and a spectacular mother 

Chelsea Clinton reminded the audience of her mother's bruising 1994 health care fight when the Democratic nominee was first lady. But afterward, Chelsea said, her mother picked up and tried again 

Her mother then walked onto the stage, prompting Chelsea to throw her arms wide ready for a hug 

The senior Clinton aide suggested the candidate would make a direct appeal to voters who say she's inauthentic. 

'Look, she has said many times, she needs to earn the voters’ trust,' he said. 'And what you’ve seen for the last few days at this convention are people speaking about how they know they can trust Hillary because she’s always delivered for them.' 

He said at the Washington Post event that he doesn't particularly believe Gallup polling that shows she's as disliked as Trump because the organization incorrectly predicted the outcome of the 2012 election.

Nevertheless, he said, 'This has been a challenge for her, and I think you're probably gonna hear her touch on that a little bit tonight and acknowledge that some people are skeptical and that;s why its all the more imp that they have a richer understanding of those core values, those core motivation and her lifetime of work.

'We're trying to do some really important work during a really important speech to lean into the challenge,' he said.

Mook said there's been 'an unprecedented level of incoming attacks on her' since she decided to run for president. Republicans praised her of secretary of state and now they're hauling her before congressional committees.

'All that stuff's gonna have an effect. But I think tonight people are gonna see a different Hillary Clinton than they've heard about from Republicans,' he stated.

Wednesday evening Obama served as a character witness for his former secretary of state. 

An FBI investigation into the security of the secret server she kept in her basement and ran all of her emails through found she was 'extremely careless' with sensitive, government information.

The president said that for four years he had a front row seat to the way she operates and he trusts her 'judgement.' If he does, the implication was that Americans should, too.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton's VP pick, brought up the issue in his speech and said, 'Last week in Cleveland, we heard a lot about trust. So umm, let's talk about trust. I want to tell you why I trust Hillary Clinton.'

Clinton is 'consistent,' he said. 'She has battled to put kids and families first since she was a teenager – in good times and bad, in victory and defeat, in and out of office, through hell or high water.'

'Folks, Hillary has a passion for kids and families,' he said. 'Donald Trump has a passion too: It's himself,' Kaine accused.

Wednesday evening Obama served as a character witness for his former secretary of state. The president said that for four years he had a front row seat to the way she operates and he trusts her 'judgement.' If he does, the implication was that Americans should, too

Driving home the point he said, 'Hey remember Karla, the little girl we heard from on Monday who feared her parents would be deported? She trusts Hillary to keep them together.'

'And remember the Mothers of the Movement last night?' he said, referring to a group of women whose children were killed in shooting incidents. 'They said trust Hillary to keep other mothers' sons and daughters safe.' 

Previewing Clinton's speech Mook told CBS, 'People are hurting right now. There is no question of that. And Donald Trump is making a lot of really big promises, and some people find those attractive.'

The campaign's goal for the convention was to 'make sure that people know the facts,' he said. 'That this is someone who at every turn of his life has made more money, become more famous at the expense of working people, and folks need to understand that.'

Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton delivered his speech on Tuesday night. It focused on what he called a 'lifetime of memories' together that spanned from the first time they met to the present.

'She's been around a long time, she sure has, and she's sure been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better,' he said. 

Continuing, he said, 'I can tell you this. If you were sitting where I'm sitting and you heard what I have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation, on every lone walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything. 

'She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is.'

Tonight Bill joined her on stage after he speech and the couple shared a long embrace. As 120,000 balloons dropped from the ceiling, marking the end of the political convention, and fireworks shot out from the stage, the Clintons goofed around, kicking and hitting the round orbs as they came down all around them.

They were joined on stage by Chelsea, their only daughter, her husband Marc Mezvinsky, as well as Kaine and his family. Chelsea had earlier introduced her mother. 

Clinton spoke last, ending the four-day conference. She and Kaine will stay in town an additional day to hold a celebratory rally at Temple University - their second appearance on the trail together - before taking off on a two-day bus tour across Pennsylvania and Ohio.