Barack Obama, the charismatic Illinois senator who embarked on an unprecedented journey to win the White House more than a year ago, clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday and will become the first black candidate in American history to lead a national party on a campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Obama, the son of a white mother and a Kenyan father who was not given a chance of winning the election against Sen. Hillary Clinton, assembled not only a phenomenally successful campaign during a brutal primary contest, but he was also the architect of a remarkable multi-cultural grassroots movement founded on hope and change that has forever altered the course of American politics.

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," Obama told a cheering crowd in St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of the Republican National Convention in August. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States."

"I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth," Obama said.

Obama sealed his nomination, according to the Associated Press tally, based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and support from party superdelegates. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at the convention in Denver this summer, and Obama had 2,151 by the AP count. Clinton, who fell short of the needed delegates, did not concede the race Tuesday night and didn't acknowledge Obama's historic achievement.

Tuesday’s historic day began with a flurry of superdelegates expressing their support for Obama, some of whom shifted their support from Clinton while others declared for Obama after being uncommited. The night ended in much the same way, with Obama having gained 59.5 superdelegate endorsements since morning.

"I believe the nomination of Senator Obama is our party's best chance for victory in November, and our nation's best hope for much needed change," South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest ranking African-American in Congress, said in a statement. "Senator Obama brings a new vision for our future and new voters to our cause. He has created levels of energy and excitement that I have not witnessed since the 1960's."

Supporters who lined up to endorse Obama Tuesday included former president Jimmy Carter, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Rep. Maxine Waters, who supported Clinton and once called Obama "a young boy."

Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and a superdelegate, said on CNN that Tuesday marked an "historic march" and "a proud moment" in our nation’s history with Obama becoming the first African American Democratic presidential nominee. "This is a moment that people will cherish for the rest of our lives," she said.

Michelle Bernard, president of the Independent Women’s Voice, said Obama has achieved something extraordinary.

"Barack Obama is now the Democratic party's presumtive nominee. He has achieved something in American presidential politics that many Americans, both black and white, never thought possible," Bernard told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"As has been said my many, slavery was our great nation's original sin," she said. Yet out of the darkness in which our nation was conceived, Jim Crow, lynchings, and the race based murders of civil rights leaders like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, we have seen African Americans of both the Democratic and Republican parties elected as local and state officials and Members of Congress and appointed as cabinet secretaries."

"However, for many, the possibility of an African-American president was just a dream," Bernard added. "In 2008, the American public has unequivocally demonstrated that in America, anything is possible. As a nation, we continue to move towards Martin Luther King's dream that our children will not 'be judged on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.'"

Meanwhile, Clinton, who lost her historic bid for the White House, told supporters in a speech that she would consult party leaders in coming days on how to move forward, but that, "I will be making no decisions tonight."

In a speech to supporters in New York, Clinton said it had been "an honor to contest these primaries with him."

"I am so proud we stayed the course together," she said to cheers. "I am committed to uniting our party so we move forward stronger and more ready than ever to take back the White House this November."

But she emphasized that she had won more votes in primaries and caucuses than Obama, and she refused to say she was ending her campaign.

Peter C. Groff, a Colorado state senator, publisher of Blackpolicy.org, and the founder and executive director of the University of Denver Center for African American Policy, said Obama's speech Tuesday night was "commanding, gutsy, in your face -- in such a way that solidified his presumptive status."

"There was a nod to healing the party with his graceful acknowledgment of Clinton, despite her very strident remarks this evening," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "She completely missed an opportunity for a graceful exit, and an opportunity to truly unify the party and allow Obama to have all of its operations at his disposal. In the long run, this could severely damage her legacy, particularly if she decides to run again in the next four to eight years."

In a joint statement, Cheeks Kilpatrick and her son said: "We are proud to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president of the United States. Sen. Obama has developed a strong campaign focused on issues and values important to the American people."

Former congressional leader Harold Ford of Tennessee said on MSNBC that Obama has an extraordinary "story to tell" and must touch on "real American values" to embrace all voters in his quest to beat Republican Sen. John McCain in November.

Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.

Tuesday ended with the back and forth banter between the campaigns with Clinton saying she would be "open" to the notion of a vice presidential running mate to Obama -- even though the Obama campaign had not offered Clinton the position.

Clinton's comments raised anew the prospect of what many Democrats have called a "dream ticket" that would put a black man and a woman on the same ballot, but Obama's aides were noncommittal.

"We're not in the presidential phase here. We're going to close out the nominating fight, and then we'll consider that," David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist, told reporters aboard the candidate's plane en route to Minnesota.

As the night went on, some aides to Obama, sources said, were angry that Clinton would talk about the vice president position before Obama had secured the nomination. Some Democratic insiders viewed the Clinton’s remarks as an attempt to strong arm her way into the ticket.

Some Obama aides also felt that Clinton should have let Obama savor his moment Tuesday night, save her speech for later in the week and talk of a vice president spot at a more appropriate time.

There are reports that Obama and Clinton could meet face-to-face as early as Wednesday. But there is reportedly bad blood between the Obama and Clinton campaigns, and it will take a lot of work to sort through the drama, sources said.

One Democratic leader and superdelegate told BlackAmericaWeb.com that he has received more than 1,000 e-mails since Saturday, many of them angry notes from Clinton supporters who are threatening to either vote for Republican Sen. John McCain in November, or to sit out the election and not support Obama unless Clinton is Obama’s running mate.

Meanwhile in Montana, black voters were enthusiastic about Obama.

The Rev. Mercedes T. Hamilton said she wanted to avoid long lines, so when election officials made the big push to encourage early voting, she voted by mail more than a week ago.

Hamilton, pastor of the Union Bethel AME Church in Great Falls, Montana, said she didn't know how many blacks actually voted in that state's primary on Tuesday.

"You don't see many blacks around here at all," said Hamilton who leads a small congregation. "This is a military town, and I see a lot of apathy. That concerns me," she said.

"I don't try to tell my congregation who to vote for, but I encourage them to participate in the process," Hamilton told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

On Tuesday, the night and the process belonged to Obama. Clyburn said Obama had re-written the rules of electoral engagement.

"What is especially exciting about Senator Obama's candidacy is its attraction to young and independent voters," Clyburn said. "Our party cannot hope to continue our recent successes if we don't continue to attract new voters. Senator Obama has demonstrated the ability to draw a new map for Democrats by putting traditionally red states like Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, and swing states like New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa in play."

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Sherrel Wheeler Stewart contributed to this story.