《林貝卡》
Rebecca Lin
正文
請點擊欣賞：美國第3任總統傑斐遜1801年首任就職演說（音頻/原文/譯文）
來源：美語世界 野鶴閑雲
Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1801
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
同心同德地團結起來
托馬斯-傑斐遜 第一次就職演講
華盛頓,星期三,1801年3月4日
朋友們、同胞們：
我應召擔任國家的最高行政長官，值此諸位同胞集會之時，我衷心感謝大家寄予我的厚愛，誠摯地說，我意識到這項任務非我能力所及，其責任之重大，本人能力之淺簿，自然使我就任時憂懼交加。一個沃野千裏的新興國家，帶著豐富的工業產品跨海渡洋，同那些自恃強權、不顧公理的國家進行貿易，向著世人無法預見的天命疾奔――當我思考這些重大的目標，當我想到這個可愛的國家，其榮譽、幸福和希望都係於這個問題和今天的盛典，我就不敢再想下去，並麵對這宏圖大業自慚德薄能鮮。確實，若不是在這裏見到許多先生們在場，使我想起無論遇到什麽困難，都可以向憲法規定的另一高級機構尋找智慧、美德和熱忱的源泉，我一定會完全心灰意懶。因此，負有神聖的立法職責的先生們和各位有關人士，我鼓起勇氣期望你們給予指引和支持，使我們能夠在亂世紛爭中同舟共濟，安然航行。
在我們過去的意見交鋒中，大家熱烈討論，各展所長，這種緊張氣氛，有時會使不習慣於自由思想、不習慣於說出或寫下自己想法的人感到不安；但如今，這場爭論既已由全國的民意作出決定，而且根據憲法的規定予以公布，大家當然會服從法律的意誌，妥為安排，為共同的利益齊心協力，大家也會銘記這條神聖的原則；盡管在任何情況下，多數人的意誌是起決定作用的，但這種意誌必須合理才矚公正；少數人享有同等權利，這種權利必須同樣受到法律保護，如果侵犯，便是壓迫。因此，公民們，讓我們同心同德地團結起來。讓我們在社會交往中和睦如初、恢複友愛，如果沒有這些，自由，甚至生活本身都會索然寡味，讓我們再想一想，我們已經將長期以來造成人類流血、受苦的宗教信仰上的不寬容現象逐出國上，如果我們鼓勵某種政治上的不寬容，其專演、邪惡和可能造成的殘酷、血腥迫害均與此相仿，那麽我們必將無所收獲。當舊世界經曆陣痛和騷動，當憤怒的人掙紮著想通過流血、殺戮來尋求失去已人的自由，那波濤般的激情甚至也會衝擊這片遙遠而寧靜的海岸；對此，人們的感觸和憂患不會一樣，因而對安全措施的意見就出現了分歧，這些都不足為奇。但是，各種意見分歧並不都是原則分歧。我們以不同的名字呼喚同一原則的兄弟。我們都是共和黨人，我們都是聯邦黨人，如果我們當中有人想解散這個聯邦，或者想改變它的共和體製，那就讓他們不受幹擾而作為對平安的紀念碑吧，因為有了平安，錯誤的意見就可得到寬容，理性就得以自由地與之抗爭。誠然，我知道，有些正直人士擔心共和製政府無法成為強有力的政府，擔心我們這個政府不夠堅強；但是，在實驗取得成功的高潮中，一個誠實的愛國者，難道會因為一種假設的和幻想的疑懼，就以為這個被世界寄予最大希望的政府可能需要力量才得以自存，因而就放棄這個迄今帶給我們自由和堅定的政府嗎？我相信下會。相反，我相信這是世界上最堅強的政府。我相信唯有在這種政府的治理下，每個人才會響應法律的號召，奔向法律的旗幟下，像對待切身利益那樣，迎擊侵犯公共秩序的舉動：有時我們聽到一種說法：不能讓人們自己管理自己。那麽，能讓他去管理別人嗎？或者•我們在統治人民的君王名單中發現了無使嗎？這個問題讓曆史來回答吧。
因此，讓我們以勇氣和信心，迫求我們自己的聯邦與共和原則，擁戴聯邦與代議製政府。我們受惠於大自然和大洋的阻隔，幸免於地球上四分之一地區發生的那場毀滅性浩動；我們品格高尚，不能容忍他人的墮落； 們天賜良邦，其幅員足以容納子孫萬代；我們充分認識到在發揮個人才幹、以勤勞換取收入、受到同胞的尊敬與信賴上，大家享有平等的權利，但這種尊敬和信賴不是出於門第，而是出於我們的行為和同胞的評判；我們受到仁慈的宗教的啟迪，盡管教派不同，形式各異，但它們都教人以正直、忠誠、節製、恩義和仁愛；我們承認和崇拜全能的上帝，而天意表明，他樂於使這裏的人們得到幸福，今後還將得到更多的幸福――我們有了這些福祉，還需要什麽才能夠使我們成為快樂而興旺的民族呢？公民們，我們還需要一件，那就是賢明而節儉的政府，它會製止人們相互傷害，使他們自由地管理自己的實業和進步活動，它不會侵奪人們的勞動果實。這就是良好政府的集粹，這也是我們達到幸福圓滿之必需。
公民們，我即將履行職責，這些職責包括你們所珍愛的一切，因此，你們應當了解我所認為的政府基本原則是什麽，確定其行政依據的原則又是什麽。我將盡量扼要地加以敘述，隻講一般原則，不講其種種限製。實行人人平等和真正的公平，而不論其宗教或政治上的地位或派別；同所有國家和平相處、商務往來、真誠友好，而下與任何國家結盟，維護備州政府的一切權利，將它們作為我國最有權能的內政機構，和抵禦反共和趨勢的最可靠屏障；維持全國政府在憲製上的全部活力，將其作為國內安定和國際安全的最後依靠；忠實地維護人民的選舉僅――將它作為一種溫和而穩妥的矯正手段，對革命留下的、尚無和平補救辦法的種種弊端予以矯正；絕對同意多數人的決定，因為這是共和製的主要原則，反之，不訴諸輿論而訴諸武力乃是專製的主要原則和直接根源；建立一支訓練有來的民兵，作為平時和戰爭初期的最好依靠，直到正規軍來接替；實行文職權高於軍職權；節約政府開支，減輕勞工負擔；誠實地償還債務，莊嚴地維護政府信譽；鼓勵農業，輔之以商業；傳播信息，以公眾理智力準繩補偏救弊；實行宗教自由；實行出版自由和人身自由，根據人身保護法和公正選出陪審團進行審判來保證人身自由。這些原則構成了明亮的星座，它在我們的前方照閘，指引我們經曆了革命和改革時朗，先皙的智慧和英雄的鮮血都曾為實現這些原則作出過奉獻，這些原則應當是我們的政治信條，公民教育的課本，檢驗我們所信曹的人的工作的試金石，如果我們因一時錯誤或驚恐而背日這些原則，那就讓我們趕緊回頭，重返這唯一通向和平、自由和安全的大道。
各位公民，我即將擔當起你們委派給我的職務。根據我擔任許多較低職務的經驗，我已經意識到這是最艱巨的職務，圇此，我能夠預期，當一個並非盡善盡奏的人從這個職位卸任時，很少能像就任時那樣深手眾望。我不敢奢皇大家如同信任我們第一位最偉大的革命元勳那樣對我高度信任，因為他的卓著勳勞使他最有資格受到全國的愛戳，使他在忠實的史書中占有汲輝煌的一頁，我隻要求大家給我相當的信任，使人足以堅定地、有效地依法管理大家的事務。由於判斷有誤，我會常常犯錯誤。即使我是正確的，那些不是站在統籌全局的立場上看問題的人，也會常常認為我是錯誤的，我請求你們寬容我自己犯的鍺誤，而這些錯誤決不是故意犯的，我請求你們支持我反對別人的錯誤，而這些人如果通盤考慮，也是決不會犯的。從投票結果來看，大家對我的過去甚為嘉許，這是我莫大的安慰；今後我所渴望的是，力求賜予我好評的各位能保持這種好評，在我職權範圍內為其他各位效勞以博得他們的好評，並為所有同胞們的幸福和自由而盡力。
現在，我仰承各位的好意，恭順地就任此職，一旦你們覺得需要作出你們有權作出的更好的選擇，我便準備辭去此職。願主宰夭地萬物命運的上帝引導我們的機構臻於完善，並為大家的和平與昌盛，賜給它一個值得讚許的結果。
Thomas Jefferson
3rd President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809
Vice President Aaron Burr (1801–1805),
George Clinton (1805–1809)
Preceded by John Adams
Succeeded by James Madison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and—for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States—one of the most influential Founding Fathers. Jefferson envisioned America as the force behind a great "Empire of Liberty" that would promote republicanism and counter the imperialism of the British Empire.
Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), as well as escalating tensions with both Britain and France that led to war with Britain in 1812, after he left office.
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). He was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the cofounder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for 25 years. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793), and second Vice President (1797–1801).
A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, political leader, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. When President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." To date, Jefferson is the only president to serve two full terms in office without vetoing a single bill of Congress. Jefferson has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest of U.S. presidents.
來源: [ 美語世界 ] 野鶴閑雲 於 10-03-26 21:48:05
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