1837年 马丁·范布伦总统 就职演讲
1837年3月4日，马丁·范布伦在华盛顿特区正式就任美国第8任总统。
马丁·范布伦出身美国民主党，他出生于1782年，他出生时美国已经成立，因此是第一位以“美利坚合众国公民”身份出生的美国总统。他来自纽约的肯德胡克，他竞选总统时，来自他家乡的老肯德胡克(Old Kinderhook)俱乐部为了表达对他的支持，发明了“OK”一词，意为“一切都好”，该用法至今在英语中仍被广泛使用。他在上一届政府中担任国务卿，处理美国外交事务，在卡尔霍恩与杰克逊总统产生冲突卸任后，接替他成为了美国副总统。
对内方面，范布伦总统在上任仅2个月后，美国就爆发了一场全国性的经济大危机，这场经济大危机在前总统杰克逊废除美国联邦第二银行时就埋下了炸弹，在范布伦总统上任后引爆，范布伦总统果断提出了《独立国库法》，准备重建联邦储蓄机构，但由于国会的争论、政党的斗争以及民主党内部的分裂，这部法案直到1840年才通过；这段时间内，美国工人的收入大幅减少，早就因工作时间过长和待遇过差而积怨已久的美国工人发起了大罢工，美国各行各业均收到影响，范布伦政府最终向工人妥协，于1840年3月通过法律，规定美国最长日工作时间为10小时，美国成为世界上第一个实施10小时工作制的主要国家；他是废奴主义者，但是反对使用强制手段废除奴隶制，因为他害怕此举导致国家分裂，因此他上任时就承诺不干涉南方奴隶制，且在任期内大力打压废奴主义激进派，他声称比起奴隶制本身，废奴主义激进分子才是国家不稳定的根源；他的任期末期，“昭昭天命”思想的雏形已经出现，美国民间支持向西扩张的呼声越来越高。
对外方面，1837年，英属加拿大爆发叛乱，受独立战争和门罗主义的影响，美国人普遍同情加拿大人的遭遇，一艘名为“卡洛林号”的美国民船同加拿大起义军达成协议，帮助起义军运送补给，英国当局获知此事后，派出海军截住了卡洛林号，双方随即爆发冲突，最终卡洛林号被英军烧毁，2名美国人在冲突中死亡，范布伦总统谴责英方的行为侵犯了美国主权，同时宣布美国不会介入加拿大事务；1839年，双方在边界再次爆发冲突，范布伦总统再次强调了美国的中立立场，化解了这一次危机，随后英方承认处理卡洛林号时方法欠妥，侵犯了美国主权，就卡洛林号事件向美国道歉。
1837年6月20日，芳龄18岁的维多利亚女王在英国伦敦威斯敏斯特教堂加冕为英国女王，同时英国基本完成了第一次工业革命，国力迅速提升，力压各国，世界历史步入维多利亚时代。
1840年大选中，由于经济大危机爆发在范布伦任期内，且迟迟未能解决，民众把一切错误归咎于总统，导致范布伦总统支持率一路走低，最终败给了辉格党候选人哈里森。
1841年3月4日，范布伦卸任总统一职，继续活跃于美国政坛。
1844年，范布伦再次参加大选，但由于他反对美国吞并得克萨斯共和国，与美国民间盛行的“昭昭天命”思想冲突，最终未能胜选，不久后，他宣布退休。
范布伦退休后曾到欧洲各国周游，会见过维多利亚女王，多数时间他与友人在家附近钓鱼，他虽是废奴主义者，在美国南北分裂最严重的时期，他依然主张以温和的态度对待南方，但是在内战最终爆发后，他支持林肯总统，主张使用一切手段终结南方各州的奴隶制。
1862年7月24日，马丁·范布伦在肯德胡克因哮喘去世，享年79岁。
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't. —— Martin Van Buren
做好自己的本职工作，这比你没做好还给自己找借口要轻松得多。 —— 马丁·范布伦
Fellow-Citizens:
同胞们：
The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill——to accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast. In imitating their example I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is our happiness to believe are not found on the executive calendar of any country. Among them we recognize the earliest and firmest pillars of the Republic——those by whom our national independence was first declared, him who above all others contributed to establish it on the field of battle, and those whose expanded intellect and patriotism constructed, improved, and perfected the inestimable institutions under which we live. If such men in the position I now occupy felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for this the highest of all marks of their country's confidence, and by a consciousness of their inability adequately to discharge the duties of an office so difficult and exalted, how much more must these considerations affect one who can rely on no such claims for favor or forbearance! Unlike all who have preceded me, the Revolution that gave us existence as one people was achieved at the period of my birth; and whilst I contemplate with grateful reverence that memorable event, I feel that I belong to a later age and that I may not expect my countrymen to weigh my actions with the same kind and partial hand.
根据所有前总统的行为，我也有责任欣然公布我未来执政的原则，并阐述我对肩此重任作何感受，以此作为我就任后庄严采取的首个行动。我会追随伟人的脚步，以伟人为榜样，我们很荣幸能有他们为国奉献，其他国家的行政历史上从来没有出现过如此卓越之人。这些人包括我们共和国最初，也是最坚定的中流砥柱——那些宣布了我国独立的开国元勋们，那位领导我们在战场上建国的大陆军司令，还有那些推动我国教育普及、爱国主义建设，改进完善我国制度机构的人。如果这些人处于我现在的职位上，感受到国家对他们的感激和高度信任，同时担心自己能力不足以胜任如此艰巨的职务，那么这一切对于我这么一个无法借助人民爱戴和宽容的人来说，是何等的压力啊！我和之前的所有总统都不同，在我出生之前，独立战争就已经打响，使得我们可以作为美利坚民族存在；当我满怀感激敬意回顾这段难以忘怀的历史时，我也意识到了自己属于后一个时代，因此同胞们在审视我的行为时，我不会像前几位总统那样享有开国元勋的偏袒。
So sensibly, fellow-citizens, do these circumstances press themselves upon me that I should not dare to enter upon my path of duty did I not look for the generous aid of those who will be associated with me in the various and coordinate branches of the Government; did I not repose with unwavering reliance on the patriotism, the intelligence, and the kindness of a people who never yet deserted a public servant honestly laboring their cause; and, above all, did I not permit myself humbly to hope for the sustaining support of an ever-watchful and beneficent Providence.
因此，同胞们，很显然，如果我不寻求政府各下属部门内各位友人的慷慨协助；如果我对我们民族的爱国热情、聪明才智、心地善良有所质疑；如果我担心人民会抛弃为他们勤恳服务的人民公仆；还有最重要的，如果我不虚心祈求注视万物、播撒慈爱的上帝的保佑，我是无论如何都不敢妄图总统一职的。
To the confidence and consolation derived from these sources it would be ungrateful not to add those which spring from our present fortunate condition. Though not altogether exempt from embarrassments that disturb our tranquillity at home and threaten it abroad, yet in all the attributes of a great, happy, and flourishing people we stand without a parallel in the world. Abroad we enjoy the respect and, with scarcely an exception, the friendship of every nation; at home, while our Government quietly but efficiently performs the sole legitimate end of political institutions——in doing the greatest good to the greatest number—— we present an aggregate of human prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found.
除了以上方面给予了我信心和慰藉，还有我国当前欣欣向荣的局面。虽然我国国内外的平静仍时不时遭到侵扰威胁，但是我们作为一个伟大、幸福、繁荣昌盛的民族，在全世界无与伦比。出国在外，我们几乎无一例外地享有所有国家的尊重和友好；回到国内，联邦政府默默且高效地执行者我国政治制度指定的唯一目标——实现最广大人民的利益最大化——我国国内展现出的生活繁荣之状，在任何其他国家都是看不到的。
How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy! All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess. Position and climate and the bounteous resources that nature has scattered with so liberal a hand——even the diffused intelligence and elevated character of our people——will avail us nothing if we fail sacredly to uphold those political institutions that were wisely and deliberately formed with reference to every circumstance that could preserve or might endanger the blessings we enjoy. The thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for our country as they found it. Looking upon it with the eyes of statesmen and patriots, they saw all the sources of rapid and wonderful prosperity; but they saw also that various habits, opinions and institutions peculiar to the various portions of so vast a region were deeply fixed.
因此，所有公民在自己的能力范围内，无论该范围是大是小，都有责任维护我国的繁荣状态，这一责任义不容辞！如果我们因现有的优势而自鸣得意，我们就忘记了历史的教训。我们的政治制度是在考虑了各种有可能危机我们幸福的情况之后而集思广益、精心制定的，如果我们自己不注意保护这一制度，那么我国的优异地理位置、宜人气候和自然慷慨给予我国的海量资源，甚至我们人民的聪明才智和高尚品质，都无法拯救我们。建国之时，我国的立宪者们悉心制定为国制定法律。他们以政客的智慧和爱国者的热情审视这个国家，看到了我国具有迅速崛起、兴旺发达的潜力；但他们也看到了，我国辽阔疆土上的各地区的不同的习性、思想和制度也已根深蒂固。
Distinct sovereignties were in actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to the welfare and happiness of all. Between many of them there was, at least to some extent, a real diversity of interests, liable to be exaggerated through sinister designs; they differed in size, in population, in wealth, and in actual and prospective resources and power; they varied in the character of their industry and staple productions, and [in some] existed domestic institutions which, unwisely disturbed, might endanger the harmony of the whole. Most carefully were all these circumstances weighed, and the foundations of the new Government laid upon principles of reciprocal concession and equitable compromise. The jealousies which the smaller States might entertain of the power of the rest were allayed by a rule of representation confessedly unequal at the time, and designed forever to remain so. A natural fear that the broad scope of general legislation might bear upon and unwisely control particular interests was counteracted by limits strictly drawn around the action of the Federal authority, and to the people and the States was left unimpaired their sovereign power over the innumerable subjects embraced in the internal government of a just republic, excepting such only as necessarily appertain to the concerns of the whole confederacy or its intercourse as a united community with the other nations of the world.
各州的差异是客观存在的，正因此联邦才需要顾及所有州的幸福利益。但有些州在一定程度上正企图恶意夸大自身与其他州的利益冲突；各州在领土面积、人口、财富，现今发展状态和未来发展前景都不尽相同；各州的产业性质和主要产品也不同，因此如果不妥当加以干涉，[部分]州的州政府部门可能会危害整个联邦的安危。在仔细权衡了各州情况后，本届新政府决定将互惠让步、公平妥协的原则作为执政基础。早在建国之初，我国就规定两院的代表数量不同，并永不改变该制度，以减少较小的州对大州产生的不满。联邦立法机关管辖范围较广，因此自然有人担心联邦会压迫、危害自己的利益，不过针对联邦政府的行动也制定了种种限制，予以抵消，人民和各州只是团结在一个正义共和国的政府领导下，只要该事务不涉及联邦整体的利益，不影响到联邦整体与世界其他国家的关系，那么该事务的处理权完全交由你们自己。
This provident forecast has been verified by time. Half a century, teeming with extraordinary events, and elsewhere producing astonishing results, has passed along, but on our institutions it has left no injurious mark. From a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of just principles. The privileges, civil and religious, of the humblest individual are still sacredly protected at home, and while the valor and fortitude of our people have removed far from us the slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not yet induced us in a single instance to forget what is right. Our commerce has been extended to the remotest nations; the value and even nature of our productions have been greatly changed; a wide difference has arisen in the relative wealth and resources of every portion of our country; yet the spirit of mutual regard and of faithful adherence to existing compacts has continued to prevail in our councils and never long been absent from our conduct. We have learned by experience a fruitful lesson——that an implicit and undeviating adherence to the principles on which we set out can carry us prosperously onward through all the conflicts of circumstances and vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years.
时间已经证明了开国元勋们的远见。半个世纪过去了，这段时间中我国发生了许多不平凡的事情，世界各地也有天翻地覆的变化，但这一切都未危及我国的制度。我们从一个小邦联成长为一个人口众多、实力强劲的民族；随着我国实力增长，平等思想也在不断发展。即使是我国最底层的公民，其公民权和宗教权也同样受到神圣不可侵犯，虽然我国人民坚强勇敢，早已不惧外国势力，但我国人民也从未偏离正确道路。我国的商贸范围已经涵盖了最遥远的国家；我国产品的价值和性质都有巨大改变；我国各地的财富和自然资源都相对存在较大差异；不过我们通过契约达成的互相尊重、忠实守约的精神仍在我国议会中占主导思想，且从未远去。我们从历史中吸取到了有益的教训——只要我们坚守自己立下的原则不动摇，我们就可以在时过境迁中顺利度过各种挑战。
The success that has thus attended our great experiment is in itself a sufficient cause for gratitude, on account of the happiness it has actually conferred and the example it has unanswerably given. But to me, my fellow-citizens, looking forward to the far-distant future with ardent prayers and confiding hopes, this retrospect presents a ground for still deeper delight. It impresses on my mind a firm belief that the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon ourselves; that if we maintain the principles on which they were established they are destined to confer their benefits on countless generations yet to come, and that America will present to every friend of mankind the cheering proof that a popular government, wisely formed, is wanting in no element of endurance or strength. Fifty years ago its rapid failure was boldly predicted. Latent and uncontrollable causes of dissolution were supposed to exist even by the wise and good, and not only did unfriendly or speculative theorists anticipate for us the fate of past republics, but the fears of many an honest patriot overbalanced his sanguine hopes. Look back on these forebodings, not hastily but reluctantly made, and see how in every instance they have completely failed.
我们伟大政治尝试取得了成功，成功本身就足以值得我们感激，毕竟它的确给我们带来了幸福，也不言而喻给我们立下典范。但是，同胞们，于我而言，每当我虔诚祈祷、满怀希望地看向遥远的未来时，此次成功的回忆都会让我充满乐观。这使我产生了一个信念，那就是我们的制度能否永存取决于我们自己；只要我们坚守立国之本，势必能将此福利延续千秋万代，美国将向全人类友邦证明，一个智者组建的民选政府能强大无比，永世长存。50年前，有人斗胆预测美国会迅速败亡。即便是贤能才人也认为联邦解体的潜在风险难以掌控，不仅一些不看好我们的政治理论家预言美国将遭受同古共和国一样的厄运，就连许多正直爱国者的乐观期望也被恐惧取而代之。现在回看这些预测，它们就算不是过于草率，也十分牵强附会，这些预测从所有方面来说都彻底失败了。
An imperfect experience during the struggles of the Revolution was supposed to warrant the belief that the people would not bear the taxation requisite to discharge an immense public debt already incurred and to pay the necessary expenses of the Government. The cost of two wars has been paid, not only without a murmur; but with unequaled alacrity. No one is now left to doubt that every burden will be cheerfully borne that may be necessary to sustain our civil institutions or guard our honor or welfare. Indeed, all experience has shown that the willingness of the people to contribute to these ends in cases of emergency has uniformly outrun the confidence of their representatives.
有人根据独立战争时期我国一段不美好的往事，因而坚信美国人民不会愿意为政府必要开支和国债而纳税。两场战争的开销都已偿清，证明我国人民不仅没有怨言；而且热情高涨。现在没有人会再怀疑我国人民愿意承担起捍卫民政、荣誉和幸福之责任的决心了。事实上，一切历史都表明，人民在危急关头所一致表现出捍卫祖国的决心甚至超过他们的代表。
In the early stages of the new Government, when all felt the imposing influence as they recognized the unequaled services of the first President, it was a common sentiment that the great weight of his character could alone bind the discordant materials of our Government together and save us from the violence of contending factions. Since his death nearly forty years are gone. Party exasperation has been often carried to its highest point; the virtue and fortitude of the people have sometimes been greatly tried; yet our system, purified and enhanced in value by all it has encountered, still preserves its spirit of free and fearless discussion, blended with unimpaired fraternal feeling.
联邦政府成立之初，所有人都受到我国首任总统的卓越服务贡献深刻影响，大家公认只有华盛顿总统的高贵品质才能将我国团结在一起，并保护我们不受党派斗争的伤害。如今华盛顿总统与世长辞已近40年。党派冲突几近不可调和；人民的美德和坚强受到巨大考验；但是我们的制度在经历这一切后，反而得到了改善增强，且依旧保留着自由大胆讨论的精神，我们的兄弟之情牢不可破。
The capacity of the people for self-government, and their willingness, from a high sense of duty and without those exhibitions of coercive power so generally employed in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints and exactions of municipal law, have also been favorably exemplified in the history of the American States.
我国人民有优秀的自治能力和强大的意志力，这一切都出自他们自身高度的责任感，而不是像其他国家人民那样被迫屈服于淫威，我国人民自愿向必要的限制做出让步，遵从国内法律的要求，这一点已经从美国历史中得到了印证。
Occasionally, it is true, the ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the regular progress of the judicial tribunals or seeking to reach cases not denounced as criminal by the existing law, has displayed itself in a manner calculated to give pain to the friends of free government and to encourage the hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. These occurrences, however, have been far less frequent in our country than in any other of equal population on the globe, and with the diffusion of intelligence it may well be hoped that they will constantly diminish in frequency and violence. The generous patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass of our fellow-citizens will assuredly in time produce this result; for as every assumption of illegal power not only wounds the majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liberties of the people, the latter have the most direct and permanent interest in preserving the landmarks of social order and maintaining on all occasions the inviolability of those constitutional and legal provisions which they themselves have made.
偶尔有时，人民热情确实会影响到司法法庭的正常审判，要求为现行法律下不构成犯罪的行为立案，这不免让自由政府的支持者感到寒心，也让自由政府的反对者幸灾乐祸。但是这些事情在我国发生的概率，远低于全球任何和我国人口相等的其他国家，而且随着我国教育普及，未来此类事件的频率和烈度非常有望不断降低。我国广大同胞热爱祖国，具备常识，一定很快就能产生令人满意的效果；因为每一次非法权力的使用都会有损法律的威严，同时也为政府剥夺人民自由埋下隐患，自由永远是人民的直接利益，因此人民会维护社会秩序，无论何时都会捍卫自己制定的宪法和法规，确保其神圣不可侵犯。
In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for those hostile emergencies which no country can always avoid their friends found a fruitful source of apprehension, their enemies of hope. While they foresaw less promptness of action than in governments differently formed, they overlooked the far more important consideration that with us war could never be the result of individual or irresponsible will, but must be a measure of redress for injuries sustained voluntarily resorted to by those who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who would consequently feel an individual interest in the contest, and whose energy would be commensurate with the difficulties to be encountered. Actual events have proved their error; the last war, far from impairing, gave new confidence to our Government, and amid recent apprehensions of a similar conflict we saw that the energies of our country would not be wanting in ample season to vindicate its rights. We may not possess, as we should not desire to possess, the extended and ever-ready military organization of other nations; we may occasionally suffer in the outset for the want of it; but among ourselves all doubt upon this great point has ceased, while a salutary experience will prevent a contrary opinion from inviting aggression from abroad.
有人预测，我国制度无法应对不可避免的紧急战争，这种说法让我国制度的拥护者忧心忡忡，让其反对者满怀希望。但他们的预测能力很明显赶不上我们政府形式的变化，他们忽略了一个很重要的因素，那就是如果我们开始了一场战争，原因绝对不在个人，也不是因为失职，而仅是对我国受到侵害的一种补救手段，在战争中，有些人会做出必要的牺牲，也有人在深深感受到自己正在捍卫自身利益，我国人民的力量足以面对未来的一切困难。事实也证明了这些人的错误，上场战争非但没有让政府失去民心，反而加强了人民对政府的信任，在近期处理类似冲突时，我们也能看到我国在富甲一方的同时，也丝毫不缺乏维护自身权利的国力。我国即没有，也不打算像其他国家那样扩充常备军；虽然战争初期我们可能因为缺少常备军而吃亏；但是我国内部毫不质疑削减军队是正确之举，根据经验，反而扩军才会引起外国敌视。
Certain danger was foretold from the extension of our territory, the multiplication of States, and the increase of population. Our system was supposed to be adapted only to boundaries comparatively narrow. These have been widened beyond conjecture; the members of our Confederacy are already doubled, and the numbers of our people are incredibly augmented. The alleged causes of danger have long surpassed anticipation, but none of the consequences have followed. The power and influence of the Republic have arisen to a height obvious to all mankind; respect for its authority was not more apparent at its ancient than it is at its present limits; new and inexhaustible sources of general prosperity have been opened; the effects of distance have been averted by the inventive genius of our people, developed and fostered by the spirit of our institutions; and the enlarged variety and amount of interests, productions, and pursuits have strengthened the chain of mutual dependence and formed a circle of mutual benefits too apparent ever to be overlooked.
有人预测，我国扩张疆土，并入新州，人口增加会引起危机。他们认为我国的制度只适合小国寡民。但情况的发展远超过人民预期；联邦的州数量增加了一倍，我国人口在迅速增长。这些所谓会导致危机的因素发展也早已超越人们预期，然而没有任何危机发生。共和国的国力和影响力已经达到世人无法忽视的高度；世人对共和国政府的尊重也不亚于古时；其为我们全体的繁荣打开无尽的源泉；得益于我国的制度，人民富于创新的天才思维帮助我们克服了距离的影响；我们的利益发展，产量提高，追求远大，这一切使得我们相互依赖，紧密相连，形成了一个不可忽视的互惠圈。
In justly balancing the powers of the Federal and State authorities difficulties nearly insurmountable arose at the outset and subsequent collisions were deemed inevitable. Amid these it was scarcely believed possible that a scheme of government so complex in construction could remain uninjured. From time to time embarrassments have certainly occurred; but how just is the confidence of future safety imparted by the knowledge that each in succession has been happily removed! Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied. While the Federal Government has successfully performed its appropriate functions in relation to foreign affairs and concerns evidently national, that of every State has remarkably improved in protecting and developing local interests and individual welfare; and if the vibrations of authority have occasionally tended too much toward one or the other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate operation of the entire system has been to strengthen all the existing institutions and to elevate our whole country in prosperity and renown.
在合理平衡联邦政府和州政府的权力时，我们在一开始就遭遇了近乎无法克服的困难，后来人们认为这不可避免地会引发冲突。这种情况下，几乎没有人相信我们如此复杂的一个政府还能保持不变，坚守初心。诚然，我们多次陷入窘境；但是我们一次又一次克服了所有困难，这怎能让我们不对国家未来的安宁充满信心！不要片面地把视线放在暂时的弊端上，这是所有人类制度在实践中都免不了的，若放眼我们取得的整体成果，每一位爱国者都会感到心满意足。联邦政府成功在外交事务和全国问题上履行了自己的职能，各州政府也出色地完成了保护并发展本州利益和个人幸福的职能；虽然权力有时向两边反复倾倒，但制度整体的运作毫无疑问会强化政府现有的各部门，并推动我国繁荣，提高国家威望。
The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this subject, and they treated it with a forbearance so evidently wise that in spite of every sinister foreboding it never until the present period disturbed the tranquillity of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the patriotism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken that an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflection that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of excited passions this generous and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded; and standing as I now do before my countrymen, in this high place of honor and of trust, I can not refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving before my election the deep interest this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it, and now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least they will be my standard of conduct in the path before me. I then declared that if the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified "I must go into the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists."
最后，也许也是最重大的问题，有人认为我国政治动乱危机的根源是国内的奴隶制。我们的先辈们深知这一话题的敏感性，因此采取了妥协对待，这一做法无比明智，虽然有种种不祥之兆，但是截止至今，该做法并未扰乱我国安宁。这便足以证明先辈们的正义和爱国；毫无疑问，只要坚持妥协，我们就可以避免奴隶制给我们造成的任何窘境，同理也适用于其他可能引起危机的因素。近期发生的事情，难道还不足以让大家认识到，哪怕稍微偏离妥协精神，都会危害到各地，乃至全人类的利益吗？有时大家的情绪过于高昂，都忽视了这一慷慨友好的精神；正如我现在在同胞们面前一样，即使位居万众瞩目之职，也只能尽可能地呼吁大家听取总统的建议。在我就职总统之前，我就意识到民众十分关注奴隶制问题，所以我认为表达我对该问题的看法是我的庄严责任，现在，一切可能引发误解的因素都已消失，我希望大家能够坦诚地权衡、理解我的观点。起码这些观点将成为我未来的执政原则。如果我的同胞们对我的当选感到高兴的话，我宣布“我就职总统后，会同哥伦比亚特区的顽固强硬派作斗争，反对国会任何违背蓄奴州意愿废除奴隶制的尝试，同样坚决不允许对现有的奴隶制进行任何干涉，多么微小的干涉都不允许。”
I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fullness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved and are confided in by a majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they most immediately affect. It now only remains to add that no bill conflicting with these views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the Republic, and that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable, and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed, and that in this as in every other instance the apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the destruction of our Government are again destined to be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred, terrifying instances of local violence have been witnessed, and a reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation; but neither masses of the people nor sections of the country have been swerved from their devotion to the bond of union and the principles it has made sacred. It will be ever thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically return, but with each the object will be better understood. That predominating affection for our political system which prevails throughout our territorial limits, that calm and enlightened judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast body, will always be at hand to resist and control every effort, foreign or domestic, which aims or would lead to overthrow our institutions.
我此前就已向同胞们充分坦率地表述了我做出这一决定的原因。选举的结果让我相信，大多数美国人民，包括直接受到奴隶制影响的部分人，都赞成、相信我的观点。我现在只需再次强调一下，任何违背了此观点的法案都不会得到我的法律授权。我采纳这些观点，是因为我相信它们符合共和国伟大先辈们的妥协精神，后来的事情也证明这些观点兼顾人道、爱国、合理、荣誉、正义。如果有人想利用奴隶制问题动摇我国制度，那过去发生的事已经足以证明他们失败了，无论那些邪恶的懦夫试图用什么办法摧毁联邦政府，他们的计划都注定会再次落空。事实上，多地的人群情绪出现失控，这些地区的暴力事件也随处可见，他们这种鲁莽不计后果的行为已经引起了众怒；但是无论是广大人民群众还是国家各部门，都没有偏离初心，始终致力于维系联邦统一，捍卫我国的神圣原则。
What can be more gratifying than such a retrospect as this? We look back on obstacles avoided and dangers overcome,on expectations more than realized and prosperity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the hostile, the fears of the timid, and the doubts of the anxious actual experience has given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually dispel every unfavorable foreboding and our Constitution surmount every adverse circumstance dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Present excitement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past can remain to be overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to entertain an abiding confidence in the stability of our institutions and an entire conviction that if administered in the true form, character, and spirit in which they were established they are abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich blessings already derived from them, to make our beloved land for a thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a perfect equality of political rights.
回顾往事，还有什么比这件事更让我们感到欣慰的吗？我们回看化解的障碍和克服的危机，回看远超我们预期的未来和不可撼动的繁荣。对于敌对分子的幻想、懦夫的恐惧和不安者的质疑，事实已经给出了最终答案。我们看到，时间慢慢化解了我们的一切不安预感，起初让我们感到恐惧，我们无法控制的种种逆境，如今都已经被宪法克服。虽然当下难以控制的民情会扩大我国正面临的危机，但哲学告诉我们，我们过去已经克服了最艰难的危机，未来不足为惧。因此我们应始终对我国制度的长久抱有信心(因为我们完全有理由如此)，并坚信只要我们坚持其最初的政治模式、本质和精神，我们和我们的子孙后代一定都能像现在这样得到丰厚的回报，让我们千秋万代热爱的土地成为一片幸福泉涌、政治权利平等的天选之地。
For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those who framed it. Looking back to it as a sacred instrument carefully and not easily framed; remembering that it was throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as limited to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people and the States all power not explicitly parted with, I shall endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend it by anxiously referring to its provision for direction in every action. To matters of domestic concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal Government and to such as relate to our intercourse with foreign nations I shall zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I shall never pass.
因此，我宣布我本人就职总统的执政原则严格遵守制宪者们为宪法所制定的的框架、内容和精神。我们再看宪法，宪法不仅是来之不易的神圣文献；还是我们妥协让步的成果；其是全国范围的通用法；也是人民和国家明确不可分割的权力，我会尽全力维护宪法，保护宪法，捍卫宪法，每一项行政举措都确保符合宪法法规。
To enter on this occasion into a further or more minute exposition of my views on the various questions of domestic policy would be as obtrusive as it is probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great precision, my opinions on all the most prominent of these subjects. Those opinions I shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability.
在现在这一场合，我如若进一步细致地谈论我国国内的政策，就稍显突兀了，不是大家希望看到的。在同胞们将票投给我之前，我就已经谈论过涉及我国最主要的问题的个人看法。我将尽全力解决这些问题。
Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible as to constitute a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights of experience and the known opinions of my constituents. We sedulously cultivate the friendship of all nations as the conditions most compatible with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our objects and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We have no disposition and we disclaim all right to meddle in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest other countries, regarding them in their actual state as social communities, and preserving a strict neutrality in all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people and our exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed aggression; and in the consciousness of our own just conduct we feel a security that we shall never be called upon to exert our determination never to permit an invasion of our rights without punishment or redress.
我国的外交政策清晰且无争议，已经成为了我国的行政惯例，我几乎没有修改它的权力，除非我想违背历史经验和我选民们的意愿。我国致力于同所有国家建立友谊，因为这符合我国政府的利益与原则。我们不接受结盟，因为此举会危机和平。我们希望用平等的条款建立商业关系，我们愿意以合理等价物换取利益。我们努力以开放、真诚的态度进行对外交流，即时宣布我们的国家目标，寻求建立互坦诚相待的关系，以促进个体和各国交往。我们没有意向，没无权干涉他国争端，无论是国际争端还是内部争端，我们都无意介入伤害他国，我们将各国视为社会共同体，会在他们的争端中恪守中立。我深知我国人民英勇无畏，我国资源用之不竭，因此我们不愿打仗，但也不惧怕任何蓄意入侵；我相信，只要我们知道自己的行为光明正义，我国公民就会不怕牺牲、不求回报地维护国家权利，也使得我相信，没有国家敢挑战我们，我们永远不必这么做。
In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to make the solemn promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that I will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with me a settled purpose to maintain the institutions of my country, which I trust will atone for the errors I commit.
那么，现在我站在聚集于此的同胞们面前，庄严宣誓我未来将实现的诺言，我发誓我会全身心投入职务，我会将捍卫我国制度作为我的既定目标，我相信此举可以弥补我犯下的错误。
In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success. But united as I have been in his counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which his countrymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely of his confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be found to attend upon my path. For him I but express with my own the wishes of all, that he may yet long live to enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent life; and for myself, conscious of but one desire, faithfully to serve my country, I throw myself without fear on its justice and its kindness. Beyond that I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His providence to bless our beloved country with honors and with length of days. May her ways be ways of pleasantness and all her paths be peace!
前任总统能力杰出，两度得到人民信任，他出色地如实完成了自己的使命，如今这一使命传递到我之手，我深知自己能力逊色，不可能同样出色地完成如此艰巨任务。但我与他共事多年，每天都能看到他对国家福祉做出无与伦比的卓越贡献，我欣赏他的许多见解，这些见解同样得到了同胞们的热切支持，这在很大程度上增强了我的信心，我希望未来我的执政之路也可以得到人民同样的认可。我个人代表大家向他献上我们的祝愿，祝愿他长命百岁，幸福安康，安享晚年；对于我自己，我只有一个愿望，那就是忠实地为国服务，为我国的正义和善良而无所畏惧地奉献自己。除去以上，我仅希望上帝能继续仁慈地保佑我们，上帝凌驾于我们所有人之上，我虔诚谦卑地祈求上帝的庇佑。愿上帝赐福于我们深爱的国家，让她沐以荣誉，经久不衰。愿祖国的道尽是欢乐，愿她的路皆是安康。(译者注：因为该句引自《圣经》，所以直接摘取了《圣经》现版本的翻译)
声明：本人仅按照原文翻译内容，演讲内容不代表本人观点。此专栏仅供历史和英语交流学习使用，任何读者皆可引用本人的译本。
希望来学习英语的观众明白：我觉得这些专栏的主要精华在于英语原文，而并非我的译本，我的译本很大程度上只是供来学习历史的观众使用的。本人的英语水平一般，翻译得并不会多么精彩，只能在你看不懂时来帮助你了解这些演讲内容最基本的意思，而且翻译时难免会出现差错，切勿直接完全以我的译本为标准。如发现有翻译错误或者歧义内容，欢迎指正。
希望来学习历史的观众明白：任何历史人物都有一定的局限性，随着时代发展，很多观点看法可能已经不再适用今天的世界，西方的观点也不一定适用于我们。通过了解这些演讲，仅可给我们提供一个更全面了解过去和世界的渠道。我们可以从优秀的历史、当代人物身上学到很多，但是请保持独立思考，理性看待演讲内容，切勿全信或将其奉为真理。
