'You made me a better president': Obama tells Americans in thank you letter

Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama has praised the American people for making him 'a better president' and 'a better man'.

"Before I leave my note for our 45th president, I wanted to say one final thank you for the honor of serving as your 44th. Because all that I've learned in my time in office, I've learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man, Obama said in a thank you letter to the American people on Thursday.

On his last day in office before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Obama described the American people as 'the source of goodness, resilience, from which he has pulled strength.

Urging the people to devote them to the joyous work of citizenship regardless of party, Obama promised that he will remain with them at every step of the way.

"I've taken heart from the hope of young graduates and our newest military officers. I've seen our scientists help a paralyzed man regain his sense of touch, and wounded warriors once given up for dead walk again. I've seen Americans whose lives have been saved because they finally have access to medical care, and families whose lives have been changed because their marriages are recognized as equal to our own. I've seen the youngest of children remind us through their actions and through their generosity of our obligations to care for refugees, or work for peace and, above all, to look out for each other," he wrote.

Obama asked the people to remember that when the arc of progress seems slow, America is not the project of any one person.

"The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'We.' 'We the People.' 'We shall overcome," Obama wrote.