De Blasio, a Democrat, spoke Thursday at Cooper Union. It's the same site where Abraham Lincoln delivered a famed 1860 speech.
The mayor's address contained little in the way of new proposals.
But it attempted to place his administration's agenda within the framework of the city's liberal history while re-energizing his grassroots base.
De Blasio boasted of his push to provide universal pre-kindergarten for city children. He also noted his decisions to reform police conduct and expand sick days legislation.
He also pledged that his next months in office would focus on creating affordable housing and revamping the city's Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.