第一篇：美國歷屆總統就職演講(中英文對照)

第44任總統奧巴馬發表就職演說

My fellow citizens: 我的同胞們：

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.今天我站在這里，看到眼前面臨的重大任務，深感卑微。我感謝你們對我的信任，也知道先輩們為了這個國家所作的犧牲。我要感謝布什總統為國家做出的貢獻，以及感謝他在兩屆政府過渡期間給與的慷慨協作。

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.迄今為止，已經有44個美國總統宣誓就職。總統的宣誓有時面對的是國家的和平繁榮，但通常面臨的是烏云密布的緊張形勢。在緊張的形勢中，支持美國前進的不僅僅是領導人的能力和遠見，也在于美國人民對國家先驅者理想的信仰，以及對美國立國文件的忠誠。

So it has been.So it must be with this generation of Americans.前輩們如此，我們這一代美國人也要如此。

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.Homes have been lost;jobs shed;businesses shuttered.Our healthcare is too costly;our schools fail too many;and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.現在我們都深知，我們身處危機之中。我們的國家在戰斗，對手是影響深遠的暴力和憎恨；國家的經濟也受到嚴重的削弱，原因雖有一些人的貪婪和不負責任，但更為重要的是我們作為一個整體在一些重大問題上決策失誤，同時也未能做好應對新時代的準備。我們的人民正在失去家園，失去工作，很多企業倒閉。社會的醫療過于昂貴、學校教育讓許多人失望，而且每天都會有新的證據顯示，我們利用能源的方式助長了我們的敵對勢力，同時也威脅著我們的星球。

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our landthey will be met.今天我要說，我們的確面臨著很多嚴峻的挑戰，而且在短期內不大可能輕易解決。但是我們要相信，我們一定會度過難關。

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.今天，我們在這里齊聚一堂，因為我們戰勝恐懼選擇了希望，摒棄了沖突和矛盾而選擇了團結。

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.今天，我們宣布要為無謂的摩擦、不實的承諾和指責畫上句號，我們要打破牽制美國政治發展的若干陳舊教條。

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit;to choose our better history;to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.美國仍是一個年輕的國家，借用《圣經》的話說，放棄幼稚的時代已經到來了。重拾堅韌精神的時代已經到來，我們要為歷史作出更好的選擇，我們要秉承歷史賦予的寶貴權利，秉承那種代代相傳的高貴理念：上帝賦予我們每個人以平等和自由，以及每個人盡全力去追求幸福的機會。

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given.It must be earned.Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less.It has not been the path for the faint-heartedsome celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.在重申我們國家偉大之處的同時，我們深知偉大從來不是上天賜予的，偉大需要努力贏得。（我們的民族一路走來），這旅途之中從未有過捷徑或者妥協，這旅途也不適合膽怯之人、或者愛安逸勝過愛工作之人、或者單單追求名利之人。這條路是勇于承擔風險者之路，是實干家、創造者之路。這其中有一些人名留青史，但是更多的人卻在默默無聞地工作著。正是這些人帶領我們走過了漫長崎嶇的旅行，帶領我們走向富強和自由。

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the west;endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg;Normandy and Khe Sahn.為了我們，先輩們帶著微薄的細軟，橫渡大洋，尋找新生活；為了我們，先輩們忍辱負重，用血汗澆鑄工廠；為了我們，先輩們在荒蕪的西部大地辛勤耕作，定居他鄉；為了我們，先輩們奔赴（獨立戰爭中的）康科德城和葛底斯堡、（二戰中的）諾曼底、（越戰中的）Khe Sahn，他們征戰、死去。

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions;greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.一次又一次，我們的先輩們戰斗著、犧牲著、操勞著，只為了我們可以生活得更好。在他們看來，美國的 強盛與偉大超越了個人雄心，也超越了個人的出身、貧富和派別差異。

This is the journey we continue today.We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year.Our capacity remains undiminished.But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisionsnot only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost.We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.All this we can do.And all this we will do.我目之所及，都有工作有待完成。國家的經濟情況要求我們采取大膽且快速的行動，我們的確是要行動，不僅是要創造就業，更要為（下一輪經濟）增長打下新的基礎。我們將造橋鋪路，為企業鋪設電網和數字線路，將我們聯系在一起。我們將回歸科學，運用科技的奇跡提高醫療質量，降低醫療費用。我們將利用風能、太陽能和土壤驅動車輛，為工廠提供能源。我們將改革中小學以及大專院校，以適應新時代的要求。這一切，我們都能做到，而且我們都將會做到。

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitionsthat the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it worksto spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of dayand that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous.The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach f;on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing hearteven greater cooperation and understanding between nations.We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken;you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.我們繼承了這些遺產。在這些原則的再次領導下，我們有能力應對新的威脅，我們需要付出更多的努力、進行國家間更廣泛的合作以及增進國家間的理解。首先，我們將以負責任的態度，將伊拉克交還給伊拉克人民，同時鞏固阿富汗來之不易的和平。對于老朋友和老對手，我們將繼續努力，不遺余力，削弱核威脅，遏制全球變暖的幽靈。我們不會為我們的生活方式感到報歉，我們會不動搖地捍衛我們的生活方式。對于那些企圖通過恐怖主義或屠殺無辜平民達成目標的人，我們要對他們說：我們的信仰更加堅定，不可動搖，你們不可能拖垮我們，我們定將戰勝你們。

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindusknow that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history;but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.對于穆斯林世界，我們將基于共同的利益和信仰，尋找更好的合作之路。對于那些在世界各個地方挑起沖突或一味批評西方不良影響的領導者：你的人民評判你的依據是你建立了什么，而不是破壞了什么。對于那些依靠腐敗和欺騙并壓制異議而追求權利的人們：你們站在了人類歷史的對立面。如果你們能張開緊握的拳頭，我們也將伸出友誼之手。

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow;to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders;nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect.For the world has changed, and we must change with it.對于那些貧窮的人們，我們保證和你們一起建設繁茂的農場和干凈的水源，滋養那些饑寒交迫的身體和心靈。對于那些與我們一樣相對富裕的國家，我們不能再對外界的苦難漠不關心，更不能繼續大肆索取世界的資源。世界必須改變，我們都必須改變。

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains.They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service;a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.And yet, at this momentit is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.當我們審視前方的道路時，我們會感激那些跨越千山萬水來到這里的人們。今天，他們有話對我們說，也是安息在阿林頓國家公墓里的先烈們時刻提醒我們的。我們尊敬他們不僅因為是他們捍衛了我們的自由，更因為他們正是奉獻精神的化身；他們致力于尋找遠高于自身的生命真諦。而此時，在這個特殊的時代，我們更需讓這種精神長存。

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.因為無論美國政府能做多少，必須做多少，美國國家的立國之本最終還是美國人的決心和信念。于防洪堤壩決堤之時收留陌生受難者的善意，于在經濟不景氣的時候寧愿減少自己工時也不肯看著朋友失業的無私，正是他們支撐我們走過黑暗的時刻。消防隊員沖入滿是濃煙的樓梯搶救生命的勇氣，父母養育孩子的堅持，正是這些決定了我們的命運。

Our challenges may be new.The instruments with which we meet them may be new.But those values upon which our success dependsthese things are old.These things are true.They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.What is demanded then is a return to these truths.What is required of us now is a new era of responsibilitythe knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.我們自信源于對上帝的信仰，上帝號召我們要掌握自己的命運。

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed-why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.這就是我們自由和信仰的意義，這也是為何不同種族、不同信仰、不同性別和年齡的人可以同聚一堂在此歡慶的原因，也是我今天能站在這里莊嚴宣誓的原因，而在50多年前我的父親甚至都不能成為地方餐館的服務生。

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.The capital was abandoned.The enemy was advancing.The snow was stained with blood.At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: 所以，讓我們銘記自己的身份，鐫刻自己的足跡。在美國誕生的時代，那最寒冷的歲月里，一群勇敢的愛國人士圍著篝火在冰封的河邊取暖。首都被占領，敵人在挺進，冬天的雪被鮮血染成了紅色。在美國大革命最受質疑的時刻，我們的國父們這樣說：

“Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].” “我們要讓未來的世界知道……在深冬的嚴寒里，唯有希望和勇氣才能讓我們存活……面對共同的危險時，我們的城市和國家要勇敢地上前去面對。”

America.In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words.With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter;and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.今天的美國也在嚴峻的寒冬中面對共同的挑戰，讓我們記住國父們不朽的語言。帶著希望和勇氣，讓我們再一次勇敢地面對寒流，迎接可能會發生的風暴。我們要讓我們的子孫后代記住，在面臨挑戰的時候，我們沒有屈服，我們沒有逃避也沒有猶豫，我們腳踏實地、心懷信仰，秉承了寶貴的自由權利并將其安全地交到了下一代的手中。2001年美國總統布什就職演說

Inaugural Address of George W.Bush

January 20, 2001

President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens:

The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country.With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation;and I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.We have a place, all of us, in a long story.A story we continue, but whose end we will not see.It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.It is the American story.A story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.Americans are called upon to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws;and though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea.Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along;and even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our own country.The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth;and sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country.We do not accept this, and we will not allow it.Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation;and this is my solemn pledge, “I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.” I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image and we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.America has never been united by blood or birth or soil.We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.Every child must be taught these principles.Every citizen must uphold them;and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility.A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.But the stakes for America are never small.If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led.If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism.If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.We must live up to the calling we share.Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment.It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.This commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.America, at its best, is also courageous.Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good.Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us.We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives;we will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent;we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans;we will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge;and we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors.The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake, America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom.We will defend our allies and our interests;we will show purpose without arrogance;we will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength;and to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.America, at its best, is compassionate.In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.Whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault.Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love.The proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and order in our souls.Where there is suffering, there is duty.Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities, and all of us are diminished when any are hopeless.Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools.Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government.Some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer.Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do.I can pledge our nation to a goal, “When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.”

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience.Though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment.We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments.We find that children and community are the commitments that set us free.Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom.Sometimes in life we are called to do great things.But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love.The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.I will live and lead by these principles, “to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well.” In all of these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.What you do is as important as anything government does.I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort;to defend needed reforms against easy attacks;to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor.I ask you to be citizens.Citizens, not spectators;citizens, not subjects;responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves.When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it.When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson, “We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong.Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?” Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration.The years and changes accumulate, but the themes of this day he would know, “our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.”

We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with His purpose.Yet His purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today;to make our country more just and generous;to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.This work continues.This story goes on.And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.God bless you all, and God bless America.喬治-布什2001年就職演說

謝謝大家！

尊敬的芮恩奎斯特大法官，卡特總統，布什總統，克林頓總統，尊敬的來賓們，我的同胞們，這次權利的和平過渡在歷史上是罕見的，但在美國是平常的。我們以樸素的宣誓莊嚴地維護了古老的傳統，同時開始了新的歷程。

首先，我要感謝克林頓總統為這個國家作出的貢獻，也感謝副總統戈爾在競選過程中的熱情與風度。

站在這里，我很榮幸，也有點受寵若驚。在我之前，許多美國領導人從這里起步；在我之后，也會有許多領導人從這里繼續前進。

在美國悠久的歷史中，我們每個人都有自己的位置；我們還在繼續推動著歷史前進，但是我們不可能看到它的盡頭。這是一部新世界的發展史，是一部后浪推前浪的歷史。這是一部美國由奴隸制社會發展成為崇尚自由的社會的歷史。這是一個強國保護而不是占有世界的歷史，是捍衛而不是征服世界的歷史。這就是美國史。它不是一部十全十美的民族發展史，但它是一部在偉大和永恒理想指導下幾代人團結奮斗的歷史。

這些理想中最偉大的是正在慢慢實現的美國的承諾，這就是：每個人都有自身的價值，每個人都有成功的機會，每個人天生都會有所作為的。美國人民肩負著一種使命，那就是要竭力將這個諾言變成生活中和法律上的現實。雖然我們的國家過去在追求實現這個承諾的途中停滯不前甚至倒退，但我們仍將堅定不移地完成這一使命。

在上個世紀的大部分時間里，美國自由民主的信念猶如洶涌大海中的巖石。現在它更像風中的種子，把自由帶給每個民族。在我們的國家，民主不僅僅是一種信念，而是全人類的希望。民主，我們不會獨占，而會竭力讓大家分享。民主，我們將銘記于心并且不斷傳播。225年過去了，我們仍有很長的路要走。

有很多公民取得了成功，但也有人開始懷疑，懷疑我們自己的國家所許下的諾言，甚至懷疑它的公正。失敗的教育，潛在的偏見和出身的環境限制了一些美國人的雄心。有時，我們的分歧是如此之深，似乎我們雖身處同一個大陸，但不屬于同一個國家。我們不能接受這種分歧，也無法容許它的存在。我們的團結和統一，是每一代領導人和每一個公民的嚴肅使命。在此，我鄭重宣誓：我將竭力建設一個公正、充滿機會的統一國家。我知道這是我們的目標，因為上帝按自己的身形創造了我們，上帝高于一切的力量將引導我們前進。

對這些將我們團結起來并指引我們向前的原則，我們充滿信心。血緣、出身或地域從未將美國聯合起來。只有理想，才能使我們心系一處，超越自己，放棄個人利益，并逐步領會何謂公民。每個孩子都必須學習這些原則。每個公民都必須堅持這些原則。每個移民，只有接受這些原則，才能使我們的國家不喪失而更具美國特色今天，我們在這里重申一個新的信念，即通過發揚謙恭、勇氣、同情心和個性的精神來實現我們國家的理想。美國在它最鼎盛時也沒忘記遵循謙遜有禮的原則。一個文明的社會需要我們每個人品質優良，尊重他人，為人公平和寬宏大量。

有人認為我們的政治制度是如此的微不足道，因為在和平年代，我們所爭論的話題都是無關緊要的。但是，對我們美國來說，我們所討論的問題從來都不是什么小事。如果我們不領導和平事業，那么和平將無人來領導；如果我們不引導我們的孩子們真心地熱愛知識、發揮個性，他們的天分將得不到發揮，理想 將難以實現。如果我們不采取適當措施，任憑經濟衰退，最大的受害者將是平民百姓。

我們應該時刻聽取時代的呼喚。謙遜有禮不是戰術也不是感情用事。這是我們最堅定的選擇--在批評聲中贏得信任；在混亂中尋求統一。如果遵循這樣的承諾，我們將會享有共同的成就。

美國有強大的國力作后盾，將會勇往直前。

在大蕭條和戰爭時期，我們的人民在困難面前表現得無比英勇，克服我們共同的困難體現了我們共同的優秀品質。現在，我們正面臨著選擇，如果我們作出正確的選擇，祖輩一定會激勵我們；如果我們的選擇是錯誤的，祖輩會譴責我們的。上帝正眷顧著這個國家，我們必須顯示出我們的勇氣，敢于面對問題，而不是將它們遺留給我們的后代。

我們要共同努力，健全美國的學校教育，不能讓無知和冷漠吞噬更多的年輕生命。我們要改革社會醫療和保險制度，在力所能及的范圍內拯救我們的孩子。我們要減低稅收，恢復經濟，酬勞辛勤工作的美國人民。我們要防患于未然，懈怠會帶來麻煩。我們還要阻止武器泛濫，使新的世紀擺脫恐怖的威脅。

反對自由和反對我們國家的人應該明白：美國仍將積極參與國際事務，力求世界力量的均衡，讓自由的力量遍及全球。這是歷史的選擇。我們會保護我們的盟國，捍衛我們的利益。我們將謙遜地向世界人民表示我們的目標。我們將堅決反擊各種侵略和不守信用的行徑。我們要向全世界宣傳孕育了我們偉大民族的價值觀。

正處在鼎盛時期的美國也不缺乏同情心。

當我們靜心思考，我們就會明了根深蒂固的貧窮根本不值得我國作出承諾。無論我們如何看待貧窮的原因，我們都必須承認，孩子敢于冒險不等于在犯錯誤。放縱與濫用都為上帝所不容。這些都是缺乏愛的結果。監獄數量的增長雖然看起來是有必要的，但并不能代替我們心中的希望-人人遵紀守法。

哪里有痛苦，我們的義務就在哪里。對我們來說，需要幫助的美國人不是陌生人，而是我們的公民；不是負擔，而是急需救助的對象。當有人陷入絕望時，我們大家都會因此變得渺小。

對公共安全和大眾健康，對民權和學校教育，政府都應負有極大的責任。然而，同情心不只是政府的職責，更是整個國家的義務。有些需要是如此的迫切，有些傷痕是如此的深刻，只有導師的愛撫、牧師的祈禱才能有所感觸。不論是教堂還是慈善機構、猶太會堂還是清真寺，都賦予了我們的社會它們特有的人性，因此它們理應在我們的建設和法律上受到尊重。

我們國家的許多人都不知道貧窮的痛苦。但我們可以聽到那些感觸頗深的人們的傾訴。我發誓我們的國家要達到一種境界：當我們看見受傷的行人倒在遠行的路上，我們決不會袖手旁觀。

正處于鼎盛期的美國重視并期待每個人擔負起自己的責任。

鼓勵人們勇于承擔責任不是讓人們充當替罪羊，而是對人的良知的呼喚。雖然承擔責任意味著犧牲個人利益，但是你能從中體會到一種更加深刻的成就感。

我們實現人生的完整不單是通過擺在我們面前的選擇，而且是通過我們的實踐來實現。我們知道，通過對整個社會和我們的孩子們盡我們的義務，我們將得到最終自由。

我們的公共利益依賴于我們獨立的個性；依賴于我們的公民義務，家庭紐帶和基本的公正；依賴于我們無數的、默默無聞的體面行動，正是它們指引我們走向自由。

在生活中，有時我們被召喚著去做一些驚天動地的事情。但是，正如我們時代的一位圣人所言，每一天我們都被召喚帶著摯愛去做一些小事情。一個民主制度最重要的任務是由大家每一個人來完成的。

我為人處事的原則包括：堅信自己而不強加于人，為公眾的利益勇往直前，追求正義而不乏同情心，勇擔責任而決不推卸。我要通過這一切，用我們歷史上傳統價值觀來哺育我們的時代。

(同胞們)，你們所做的一切和政府的工作同樣重要。我希望你們不要僅僅追求個人享受而忽略公眾的利益；要捍衛既定的改革措施，使其不會輕易被攻擊；要從身邊小事做起，為我們的國家效力。我希望你們成為真正的公民，而不是旁觀者，更不是臣民。你們應成為有責任心的公民，共同來建設一個互幫互助的社會和有特色的國家。

美國人民慷慨、強大、體面，這并非因為我們信任我們自己，而是因為我們擁有超越我們自己的信念。一旦這種公民精神喪失了，無論何種政府計劃都無法彌補它。一旦這種精神出現了，無論任何錯誤都無法抗衡它。

在《獨立宣言》簽署之后，弗吉尼亞州的政治家約翰?佩齊曾給托馬斯?杰弗遜寫信說：“我們知道，身手敏捷不一定就能贏得比賽，力量強大不一定就能贏得戰爭。難道這一切不都是上帝安排的嗎？”

杰斐遜就任總統的那個年代離我們已經很遠了。時光飛逝，美國發生了翻天覆地的變化。但是有一點他肯定能夠預知，即我們這個時代的主題仍然是：我們國家無畏向前的恢宏故事和它追求尊嚴的純樸夢想。

我們不是這個故事的作者，是杰斐遜作者本人的偉大理想穿越時空，并通過我們每天的努力在變為現實。我們正在通過大家的努力在履行著各自的職責。

帶著永不疲憊、永不氣餒、永不完竭的信念，今天我們重樹這樣的目標：使我們的國家變得更加公正、更加慷慨，去驗證我們每個人和所有人生命的尊嚴。

這項工作必須繼續下去。這個故事必須延續下去。上帝會駕馭我們航行的。

愿上帝保佑大家！愿上帝保佑美國！1993年美國總統克林頓就職演說

January 20, 1993

My fellow citizens :

Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.This ceremony is held in the depth of winter.But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring.A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.When our founders boldly declared America's independence to the world and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America, to endure, would have to change.Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve America's ideals;life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless.Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America.And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and Communism.Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat.Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.Communications and commerce are global;investment is mobile;technology is almost magical;and ambition for a better life is now universal.We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it.But when most people are working harder for less;when others cannot work at all;when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small;when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom;and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps.But we have not done so.Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths.And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people.We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time.Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time.Let us embrace it.Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal.There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift;a new season of American renewal has begun.To renew America, we must be bold.We must do what no generation has had to do before.We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt.And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity.It will not be easy;it will require sacrifice.But it can be done, and done fairly, not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake.We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its children.Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity.We can do no less.Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is.Posterity is the world to come;the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility.We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing, from our government or from each other.Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country.To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation.Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.Americans deserve better, and in this city today, there are people who want to do better.And so I say to all of us here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people.Let us put aside personal advantage so that we can feel the pain and see the promise of America.Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called “bold, persistent experimentation,” a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays.Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.To renew America, we must meet challenges abroad as well at home.There is no longer division between what is foreign and what is domestic;the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world arms race;they affect us all.Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable.Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers.Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges, nor fail to seize the opportunities, of this new world.Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us.When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act;with peaceful diplomacy when ever possible, with force when necessary.The brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else they stand are testament to our resolve.But our greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands.Across the world, we see them embraced, and we rejoice.Our hopes, our hearts, our hands, are with those on every continent who are building democracy and freedom.Their cause is America's cause.The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today.You have raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus.You have cast your votes in historic numbers.And you have changed the face of Congress, the presidency and the political process itself.Yes, you, my fellow Americans have forced the spring.Now, we must do the work the season demands.To that work I now turn, with all the authority of my office.I ask the Congress to join with me.But no president, no Congress, no government, can undertake this mission alone.My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal.I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service;to act on your idealism by helping troubled children, keeping company with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities.There is so much to be done;enough indeed for millions of others who are still young in spirit to give of themselves in service, too.In serving, we recognize a simple but powerful truth, we need each other.And we must care for one another.Today, we do more than celebrate America;we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge.An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other.An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity.An idea infused with the conviction that America's long heroic journey must go forever upward.And so, my fellow Americans, at the edge of the 21st century, let us begin with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done.The scripture says, “And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.”

From this joyful mountaintop of celebration, we hear a call to service in the valley.We have heard the trumpets.We have changed the guard.And now, each in our way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.Thank you, and God bless you all.美國復興的新時代 比爾?克林頓 第一次就職演講

星期三,1993年1月20日

同胞們：

今天，我們慶祝美國復興的奇跡。這個儀式雖在隆冬舉行，然而，我們通過自己的言語和向世界展示的面容、卻促使春回大地--回到了世界上這個最古老的民主國家，并帶來了重新創造美國的遠見和勇氣。

當我國的締造者勇敢地向世界宣布美國獨立，并向上帝表明自 己的目的時，他們知道，美國若要永存，就必須變革。不是為變革而變革，而是為了維護美國的理想--為了生命、自由和追求幸福而變革。盡管我們隨著當今時代 的節拍前進，但我們的使命永恒不變。每一代美國人，部必須為作為一個美國人意味著什么下定義。今天，在冷戰陰影下成長起來的一代人，在世界上負起了新的責 任。這個世界雖然沐浴著自由的陽光，但仍受到舊仇宿怨和新的禍患的威脅。

我們在無與倫比的繁榮中長大，繼承了仍然是世界上最強大的經濟。但由于企業倒閉，工資增長停滯、不平等狀況加劇，人民的分歧加深，我們的經濟已經削弱。

當喬治?華盛頓第一次宣讀我剛才宜讀的誓言時，人們騎馬把 那個信息緩慢地傳遍大地，繼而又來船把它傳過海洋。而現在，這個儀式的情景和聲音即刻向全球幾十億人播放。通信和商務具有全球性，投資具有流動性；技術幾 乎具有魔力；改善生活的理想現在具有普遍性。今天，我們美國人通過同世界各地人民進行和平競爭來謀求生存。各種深遠而強大的力量正在震撼和改造我們的世 界，當今時代的當務之急是我們能否使變革成為我們的朋友，而不是成為我們的敵人。

這個新世界已經使幾百萬能夠參與競爭并且取勝的美國人過上 了富裕的生活。但是，當多數人干得越多反而掙得越少的時候，當有些人根本不可能工作的時候，當保健費用的重負使眾多家庭不堪承受、使大大小小的企業瀕臨破 產的時候，當犯罪活動的恐懼使守法公民不能自由行動的時候，當千百萬貧窮兒童甚至不能想象我們呼喚他們過的那種生活的時候，我們就沒有使變革成為我們的朋 友。我們知道，我們必須面對嚴酷的事實真相，并采取強有力的步驟。但我們沒有這樣做，而是聽之任之，以致損耗了我們的資源，破壞了我們的經濟，動搖了我們 的信心。

我們面臨驚人的挑戰，但我們同樣具有驚人的力量，美國人歷來是不安現狀、不斷追求和充滿希望的民族，今天，我們必須把前人的遠見卓識和堅強意志帶到我們的任務中去。從革命，內戰，大蕭條，直到民權運動，我國人民總是下定決心，從歷次危機中構筑我國歷史的支柱。

托馬斯?杰斐遜認為，為了維護我國的根基，我們需要時常進行激動人心的變革。美國同胞們，我們的時代就是變革的時代，讓我們擁抱這個時代吧！

我們的民主制度不僅要成為舉世稱羨的目標，而且要成為舉國復興的動力。美國沒有任何錯誤的東西不能被正確的東西所糾正。因此，我們今天立下誓言，要結束這個僵持停頓、放任自流的時代，一個復興美國的新時代已經開始。

我們要復興美國，就必須鼓足勇氣。我們必須做前人無需做的 事情。我們必須更多地投資于人民，投資于他們的工作和未來，與此同時，我們必須減少巨額債務。而且，我們必須在一個需要為每個機會而競爭的世界上做到這一 切。這樣做并不容易：這樣做要求作出犧牲。但是，這是做得到的，而且能做得公平合理。我們不是為犧牲而犧牲，我們必須像家庭供養子女那樣供養自己的國家。

我國的締造者是用子孫后代的眼光來審視自己的。我們也必須 這樣做。凡是注意過孩子蒙?o人睡的人，都知道后代意味著什么，后代就是將要到來的世界--我們為之堅持自己的理想，我們向之借用這個星球，我們對之負有 神圣的責任。我們必須做美國最拿手的事情：為所有的人提供更多的機會，要所有的人負起更多的責任。

現在是破除只求向政府和別人免費索取的惡習的時候了。讓我們大家不僅為自己和家庭，而且為社區和國家擔負起更多的責任吧。

我們要復興美國，就必須恢復我們民主制度的活力。這個美麗的首都，就像文明的曙光出現以來的每一個首都一樣，常常是爾虞我詐、明爭暗斗之地。大腕人物爭權奪勢，沒完沒了地為官員的更替升降而煩神，卻忘記了那些用辛勤和汗水把我們送到這里來，并養活了我們的人。

美國人理應得到更好的回報。在這個城市里，今天有人想把事 情辦得更好一些。因此，我要時所有在場的人說：讓我們下定決心改革政治，使權力和特權的喧囂不再壓倒人民的呼聲。讓我們撇開個人利益。這樣我們就能覺察美 國的病痛，并看到官的希望。讓我們下定決心，使政府成為富蘭克林?羅斯福所說的進行“大膽而持久試驗”的地方，成為一個面向未來而不是留戀過去的政府。讓 我們把這個首都歸還給它所屬于的人民。

我們要復興美國，就必須迎接國內外的種種挑戰。國外和國內事務之間已不再有明確的界限--世界經濟，世界環境，世界艾滋病危機，世界軍備競賽，這一切都在影響著我們大家。

我們在國內進行重建的同時，面對這個新世界的挑戰不會退縮不前，也下會坐失良機。我們將同盟友一起努力進行變革，以免被變革所吞沒。當我們的重要利益受到挑戰，或者，當國際社會的意志和良知受到蔑視，我們將采取行動--可能時就采用和平外交手段，必要時就使用武力。

今天，在波斯灣、索馬里和任何其他地方為國效力的勇敢的美國人，都證明了我們的決心。

但是，我們最偉大的力量是我們思想的威力。這些思想在許多國家仍然處于萌芽階段。看到這些思想在世界各地被接受，我們感到歡欣鼓舞。我們的希望，我們的心，與每一個大陸正在建立民主和自由的人們是連在一起的。他們的事業也是美國的事業。

美國人民喚來了我們今天所慶祝的變革。你們毫不含糊地齊聲疾呼。你們以前所未有的人數參加了投票。你們使國會、總統職務和政治進程本身全都面目一新。是的，是你們，我的美國同胞們，促使春回大地。

現在，我們必須做這個季節需要做的工作。現在，我就運用我的全部職權轉向這項工作。我請求國會同我一道做這項工作。任何總統、任何國會、任何政府都不能單獨完成這一使命。同胞們，在我國復興的過程中，你們也必須發揮作用。

我向新一代美國年輕人挑戰，要求你們投入這一奉獻的季節--按照你們的理想主義行動起來，使不幸的兒童得到幫助，使貧困的人們得到關懷，使四分五裂的社區恢復聯系。要做的事情很多--確實夠多的，以至幾百萬在精神上仍然年輕的人也可作出奉獻。

在奉獻過程中，我們認識到相互需要這一簡單而又強大的真 理。我們必須相互關心.今天，我們不僅是在贊頌美國，我們再一次把自己奉獻給美國的理想：這個理想在革命中誕生，在兩個世紀的挑戰中更新；這個理想經受了 認識的考驗，大家認識到，若不是命運的安排，幸運者或不幸者有可能互換位置；這個理想由于一種信念而變得崇高，即我國能夠從紛繁的多佯性中實現最深刻的統 一性，這個理想洋溢著一種信：美國漫長而英勇的旅程必將永遠繼續。同胞們，在我惻即將跨入21世紀之際，讓我們以旺盛的精力和滿腔的希望，以堅定的信心和 嚴明的紀律開始工作，直到把工作完成。《圣經》說：“我們行善，不可喪志，若不灰心，到了時候，就要收成。”

在這個歡樂的山巔，我們聽見山谷里傳來了要我們作出奉獻的召喚。我們聽到了號角聲。我們已經換崗。現在，我們必須以各自的方式，在上帝的幫助下響應這一召喚。

謝謝大家。上帝保佑大家。

1981年美國總統里根就職演說

First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1981

Senator Hatfield, Mr.Chief Justice, Mr.President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion;and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence.The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are.In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.Mr.President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition.By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.The business of our nation goes forward.These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions.We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history.It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike.It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity.Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending.For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time.Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.And let there be no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning today.The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades.They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away.They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.We hear much of special interest groups.Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected.It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines.It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers.They are, in short, “We the people,” this breed called Americans.Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination.Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work.Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs.All must share in the productive work of this “new beginning” and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy.With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.So, as we begin, let us take inventory.We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around.And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people.It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people.All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States;the States created the Federal Government.Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government.It is, rather, to make it work-work with us, not over us;to stand by our side, not ride on our back.Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it;foster productivity, not stifle it.If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth.The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government.It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.We are not, as some would have us believe, loomed to an inevitable decline.I do not believe in a fate that will all on us no matter what we do.I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal.Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength.And let us renew;our faith and our hope.We have every right to dream heroic dreams.Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look.You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates.Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond.You meet heroes across a counter--and they are on both sides of that counter.There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity.They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education.Their patriotism is quiet but deep.Their values sustain our national life.I have used the words “they” and “their” in speaking of these heroes.I could say “you” and “your” because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land.Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup.How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic “yes.” To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity.Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government.Progress may be slow--measured in inches and feet, not miles--but we will progress.Is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden.And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr.Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of....On you depend the fortunes of America.You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn.Act worthy of yourselves.”

Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world.We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment.We will match loyalty with loyalty.We will strive for mutually beneficial relations.We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty is not for sale.As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people.We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it;we will not surrender for it--now or ever.Our forbearance should never be misunderstood.Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act.We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful.We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol.Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history.At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country.A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly.He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood.Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson.The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial.Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David.They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier.Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.We are told that on his body was found a diary.On the flyleaf under the heading, “My Pledge,” he had written these words: “America must win this war.Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”

The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make.It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds;to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.God bless you, and thank you.羅納德-里根 第一次就職演說

第40任總統(1981年-1989年)

議員海特菲爾德先生、法官先生、總統先生、副總統布什、蒙代爾先生、議員貝克先生、發言人奧尼爾先生、尊敬的摩麥先生，以及廣大支持我的美國同胞們：今天對于我們中間的一些人來說，是一個非常莊嚴隆重的時刻。當然，對于這個國家的歷史來說，卻是一件普通的事情。按照憲法要求，政府權利正在有序地移交，我們已經如此“例行公事”了兩個世紀，很少有人覺得這有什么特別的。但在世界上更多人看來，這個我們已經習以為常的四年一次的儀式，卻實在是一個奇跡。

總統先生，我希望我們的同胞們都能知道你為了這個傳承而付出的努力。通過移交程序中的通力合作，你向觀察者展示了這么一個事實：我們是發誓要團結起來維護這樣一個政治體制的團體，這樣的體制保證了我們能夠得到比其他政體更為廣泛的個人自由。同時我也要感謝你和你的伙伴們的幫助，因為你們堅持了這樣的傳承，而這恰恰是我們共和國的根基。

我們國家的事業在繼續前進。合眾國正面臨巨大的經濟困難。我們遭遇到我國歷史上歷時最長、最嚴重之一的通貨膨脹，它擾亂著我們的經濟決策，打擊著節儉的風氣，壓迫著正在掙扎謀生的青年人和收入固定的中年人，威脅著要摧毀我國千百萬人民的生計。

停滯的工業使工人失業、蒙受痛苦并失去了個人尊嚴。即使那些有工作的人，也因稅收制度的緣故而得不到公正的勞動報酬，因為這種稅收制度使我們無法在事業上取得成就，使我們無法保持充分的生產力。

盡管我們的納稅負擔相當沉重，但還是跟不上公共開支的增長。數十年來，我們的赤字額屢屢上升，我們為圖目前暫時的方便，把自己的前途和子孫的前途抵押出去了。這一趨勢如果長此以往，必然引起社會、文化、政治和經濟等方面的大動蕩。

作為個人，你們和我可以靠借貸過一種人不敷出的生活，然而只能維持一段有限的時期，我們怎么可以認為，作為一個國家整體，我們就不應受到同樣的約束呢？為了保住明天，我們今天就必須行動起來。大家都要明白無誤地懂得--我們從今天起就要采取行動。

我們深受其害的經濟弊病，幾十年來一直襲擊著我們。這些弊病不會在幾天、幾星期或幾個月內消失，但它們終將消失。它們之所以終將消失，是因為我們作為現在的美國人，一如既往地有能力去完成需要完成的事情，以保存這個最后而又最偉大的自由堡壘。

在當前這場危機中，政府的管理不能解決我們面臨的問題。政府的管理就是問題所在。

我們時常誤以為，社會已經越來越復雜，已經不可能憑借自治方式加以管理，而一個由杰出人物組成的政府要比民享、民治、民有的政府高明。可是，假如我們之中誰也管理不了自己，那么，我們之中誰還能去管理他人呢。

我們大家--不論政府官員還是平民百姓--必須共同肩負起這個責任，我們謀求的解決辦法必須是公平的，不要使任何一個群體付出較高的代價。

我們聽到許多關于特殊利益集團的談論，然而。我們必須關心一個被忽視了大久的特殊利益集團。這個集團沒有區域之分，沒有人種之分，沒有民族之分，沒有 政黨之分，這個集團由許許多多的男人與女人組成，他們生產糧食，巡邏街頭，管理廠礦，教育兒童，照料家務和治療疾病。他們是專業人員、實業家、店主、職 員、出租汽車司機和貨車駕駛員，總而言之，他們就是“我們人民”--這個稱之為美國人的民族。

本屆政府的日標是必須建立一種健全的、生氣勃勃的和不斷發展的經濟，為全體美國人民提供一種不因偏執或歧視而造成障礙的均等機會，讓美國重新工作起 來，意味著讓全體美國人重新工作起來。制止通貨膨脹，意味著讓全體美國人從失控的生活費用所造成的恐懼中解脫出來。人人都應分擔“新開端”的富有成效的工 作，人人都應分享經濟復蘇的碩果。我國制度和力量的核心是理想主義和公正態度，有了這些，我們就能建立起強大、繁榮、國內穩定并同全世界和平相處的美國。

因此，在我們開始之際，讓我們看看實際情況。我們是一個擁有政府的國家--而不是一個擁有國家的政府。這一點使我們在世界合國中獨樹一幟，我們的政府 除了人民授予的權力，沒有任何別的權力。目前，政府權力的膨脹已顯示出超過被統治者同意的跡象，制止并扭轉這種狀況的時候到了。

我打算壓縮聯邦機構的規模和權力，并要求大家承認聯邦政府被授予的權力同各州或人民保留的權利這兩者之間的區別。我們大家都需要提醒：不是聯邦政府創 立了各州，而是各州創立了聯邦政府。因此，請不要誤會，我的意思不是要取消政府，而是要它發揮作用--同我們一起合作，而不是凌駕于我們之上；同我們并肩 而立，而不是騎在我們的背上。政府能夠而且必須提供機會，而不是扼殺機會，它能夠而且必須促進生產力，而不是抑制生產力。

如果我們要探究這么多年來我們為什么能取得這么大成就，并獲得了世界上任何一個民族未曾獲得的繁榮昌盛，其原因是在這片土地上，我們使人類的能力和個 人的才智得到了前所未有的發揮。在這里，個人所享有并得以確保的自由和尊嚴超過了世界上任何其他地方。為這種自由所付出的代價有時相當高昂，但我們從來沒 有不愿意付出這代價。

我們目前的困難，與政府機構因為不必要的過度膨脹而干預、侵擾我們的生活同步增加，這決不是偶然的巧合。我們是一個泱泱大國，不能自囿于小小的夢想，現在正是認識到這一點的時候。我們并非注定走向衰落，盡管有些人想讓我們相信這一點。我不相信，無論我們做些什么，我們都將命該如此，但我相信，如果我們 什么也不做，我們將的確命該如此。

為此，讓我們以掌握的一切創造力來開創一個國家復興的時代吧。讓我們重新拿出決心、勇氣和力量，讓我們重新建立起我們的信念和希望吧。我們完全有權去做英雄夢。

有人告訴我們在他的身上發現一本日記。扉頁上寫著這樣的標題：“我的誓言”。他寫下了這樣的話語：“美國必須贏得這場戰爭。為此，我會奮斗，我會拯救，我會犧牲，我會忍受，我會并將盡我最大的努力英勇奮戰，就好比所有的戰爭問題都將由我一個人來肩負。” 1977年美國總統卡特就職演說

Inaugural Address by Jimmy Carter(January 20, 1977)

For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation.As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”

Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition from the ancient prophet Micah: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”(Micah 6:8)

This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all.A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation.I have no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both spirituality and of human liberty.It is that unique self-definition which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a special obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed, seem invariably to be in our own best interests.You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are.Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust.Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.The American dream endures.We must once again have full faith in our country and in one another.I believe America can be better.We can be even stronger than before.Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government we have no future.We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united.In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory.We cannot afford to drift.We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of life for any person.Our Government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate.We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we are now struggling to enhance equality of opportunity.Our commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved;the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.We have learned that “more” is not necessarily “better,” that even our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems.We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future.So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home.And we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others.We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength.The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit.Peoples more numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding their place in the sun--not just for the benefit of their own physical condition, but for basic human rights.The passion for freedom is on the rise.Tapping this new spirit, there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is truly humane.We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so sufficient that it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight our wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are the enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our idealism with weakness.Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere.Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights.We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people.The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries.We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's armaments to those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety.And we will move this year a step toward ultimate goal--the elimination of all nuclear weapons from this Earth.We urge all other people to join us, for success can mean life instead of death.Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence.And I join in the hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:

that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy, and justice;that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;

that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;

that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of our society;

that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;

and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government once again.I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.1974年美國總統福特就職演說

Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States after the resignation of President Nixon.President Ford's Inaugural Address:

[Oath of Office administered by Chief Justice Warren E.Burger]

Mr.Chief Justice, my dear friends, my fellow Americans:

The oath that I have taken is the same oath that was taken by George Washington and by every President under the Constitution.But I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances never before experienced by Americans.This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.Therefore, I feel it is my first duty to make an unprecedented compact with my countrymen.Not an inaugural address, not a fireside chat, not a campaign speech--just a little straight talk among friends.And I intend it to be the first of many.I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers.And I hope that such prayers will also be the first of many.If you have not chosen me by secret ballot, neither have I gained office by any secret promises.I have not campaigned either for the Presidency or the Vice Presidency.I have not subscribed to any partisan platform.I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman--my dear wife--as I begin this very difficult job.I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends.They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name.It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people.Thomas Jefferson said the people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.And down the years, Abraham Lincoln renewed this American article of faith asking, “Is there any better way or equal hope in the world?”

I intend, on Monday next, to request of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate the privilege of appearing before the Congress to share with my former colleagues and with you, the American people, my views on the priority business of the Nation and to solicit your views and their views.And may I say to the Speaker and the others, if I could meet with you right after these remarks, I would appreciate it.Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs.We cannot stand still or slip backwards.We must go forward now together.31

To the peoples and the governments of all friendly nations, and I hope that could encompass the whole world, I pledge an uninterrupted and sincere search for peace.America will remain strong and united, but its strength will remain dedicated to the safety and sanity of the entire family of man, as well as to our own precious freedom.I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself.That bond, though stained, is unbroken at home and abroad.In all my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end.My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.Our Constitution works.Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men.Here, the people rule.But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.In the beginning, I asked you to pray for me.Before closing, I ask again your prayers, for Richard Nixon and for his family.May our former President, who brought peace to millions, find it for himself.May God bless and comfort his wonderful wife and daughters, whose love and loyalty will forever be a shining legacy to all who bear the lonely burdens of the White House.I can only guess at those burdens, although I have witnessed at close hand the tragedies that befell three Presidents and the lesser trials of others.With all the strength and all the good sense I have gained from life, with all the confidence of my family, my friends, and my dedicated staff impart to me, and with the good will of countless Americans I have encountered in recent visits to 40 States, I now solemnly reaffirm my promise I made to you last December 6: To uphold the Constitution;to do what is right as God gives me to see the right;and to do the very best I can for America.God helping me, I will not let you down.Thank you.32 1969年美國總統尼克松就職演說

First Inaugural Address of Richard Milhous Nixon

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969

Senator Dirksen, Mr.Chief Justice, Mr.Vice President, President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow citizens of the world community:

I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment.In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique.But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape decades or centuries.This can be such a moment.Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, the hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be realized.The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons on earth.For the first time, because the people of the world want peace, and the leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on the side of peace.Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a nation.Within the lifetime of most people now living, mankind will celebrate that great new year which comes only once in a thousand years--the beginning of the third millennium.What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.This honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world at last out of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for mankind.This is our summons to greatness.I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.33

The second third of this century has been a time of proud achievement.We have made enormous strides in science and industry and agriculture.We have shared our wealth more broadly than ever.We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its continued growth.We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its promise real for black as well as for white.We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today.I know America's youth.I believe in them.We can be proud that they are better educated, more committed, more passionately driven by conscience than any generation in our history.No people has ever been so close to the achievement of a just and abundant society, or so possessed of the will to achieve it.Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope.Standing in this same place a third of a century ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and gripped in fear.He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles: “They concern, thank God, only material things.”

Our crisis today is the reverse.We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit;reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into raucous discord on earth.We are caught in war, wanting peace.We are torn by division, wanting unity.We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment.We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.When we listen to “the better angels of our nature,” we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things--such as goodness, decency, love, kindness.Greatness comes in simple trappings.The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.To lower our voices would be a simple thing.In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words;from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver;from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds;from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.34

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another--until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.For its part, government will listen.We will strive to listen in new ways--to the voices of quiet anguish, the voices that speak without words, the voices of the heart--to the injured voices, the anxious voices, the voices that have despaired of being heard.Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.Those left behind, we will help to catch up.For all of our people, we will set as our goal the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives secure.As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build on what has gone before--not turning away from the old, but turning toward the new.In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws, spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our previous history.In pursuing our goals of full employment, better housing, excellence in education;in rebuilding our cities and improving our rural areas;in protecting our environment and enhancing the quality of life--in all these and more, we will and must press urgently forward.We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can be transferred from the destruction of war abroad to the urgent needs of our people at home.The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist the legions of the concerned and the committed.What has to be done, has to be done by government and people together or it will not be done at all.The lesson of past agony is that without the people we can do nothing;with the people we can do everything.To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the energies of our people--enlisted not only in grand enterprises, but more importantly in those small, splendid efforts that make headlines in the neighborhood newspaper instead of the national journal.With these, we can build a great cathedral of the spirit--each of us raising it one stone at a time, as he reaches out to his neighbor, helping, caring, doing.35

I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease.I do not call for a life of grim sacrifice.I ask you to join in a high adventure--one as rich as humanity itself, and as exciting as the times we live in.The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of his own destiny.Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is truly whole.The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents;we achieve nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.As we measure what can be done, we shall promise only what we know we can produce, but as we chart our goals we shall be lifted by our dreams.No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not.To go forward at all is to go forward together.This means black and white together, as one nation, not two.The laws have caught up with our conscience.What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go forward together with all mankind.Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown, make it welcome;where peace is fragile, make it strong;where peace is temporary, make it permanent.After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation.Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of communication will be open.We seek an open world--open to ideas, open to the exchange of goods and people--a world in which no people, great or small, will live in angry isolation.We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to make no one our enemy.Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a peaceful competition--not in conquering territory or extending dominion, but in enriching the life of man.As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds together--not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared.With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift up the poor and the hungry.But to all those who would be tempted by weakness, let us leave no doubt that we will be as strong as we need to be for as long as we need to be.36

Over the past twenty years, since I first came to this Capital as a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of the nations of the world.I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great forces, the hatreds, the fears that divide the world.I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged diplomacy.I also know the people of the world.I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the pain of a man wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who has lost her son.I know these have no ideology, no race.I know America.I know the heart of America is good.I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my country, the deep concern we have for those who suffer, and those who sorrow.I have taken an oath today in the presence of God and my countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.To that oath I now add this sacred commitment: I shall consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon, to the cause of peace among nations.Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:

The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but the peace that comes “with healing in its wings”;with compassion for those who have suffered;with understanding for those who have opposed us;with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth to choose their own destiny.Only a few short weeks ago, we shared the glory of man's first sight of the world as God sees it, as a single sphere reflecting light in the darkness.As the Apollo astronauts flew over the moon's gray surface on Christmas Eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of earth--and in that voice so clear across the lunar distance, we heard them invoke God's blessing on its goodness.In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald MacLeish to write:

“To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold--brothers who know now they are truly brothers.”

In that moment of surpassing technological triumph, men turned their thoughts toward home and humanity--seeing in that far perspective that man's destiny on earth is not divisible;telling us that however far we reach into the cosmos, our destiny lies not in the stars but on Earth itself, in our own

hands, in our own hearts.We have endured a long night of the American spirit.But as our eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse the remaining dark.Let us gather the light.Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity.So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness--and, “riders on the earth together,” let us go forward, firm in our faith, steadfast in our purpose, cautious of the dangers;but sustained by our confidence in the will of God and the promise of man.38 理查德-尼克松 第一次就職演講 我們都是地球的乘客

星期一,1969年1月20日

歷史的每一個時刻轉瞬即逝，它既珍貴又獨特。可是，其中某些顯然是揭開序幕的時刻，此時，一代先河得以開創，它決定了未來數十年或幾個世紀的航向。

現在可能就是這樣一個時刻。

現在，各方力量正在匯聚起來，使我們第一次可以期望人類的許多夙愿最終能夠實現。

不斷加快的變革速度，使我們能在我們這一代期望過去花了幾百年才出現的種種進步。

由于開辟了大空的天地，我們在地球上也發現了新的天地。

由于世界人民希望和平，而世界各國領袖害怕戰爭，因此，目前形勢第一次變得有利于和平。

從現在起，再過8年，美國將慶祝建國200周年。在現在大多數人的有生之年，人類將慶祝千載難逢的、輝煌無比的新年——第三個百年盛世的開端。

我們的國家將變成怎樣的國家，我們將生活在怎樣的世界上，我們要不要按照我們的希望鑄造未來，這些都將由我們根據自己的行動和選擇來決定。

歷史所能賜予我們的最大榮譽，莫過于和平締造者這一稱號。這一榮譽現在正在召喚美國——這是領導世界最終脫離**的幽谷，走向自文明開端以來人類一直夢寐以求的和平高壇的一個機會。

我們若獲成功，下幾代人在談及現在在世的我們時會說，正是我們掌握了時機，正是我們協力相助，使普天之下國泰民安。

這是要我們創立宏偉大業的召喚。

我相信，美國人民準備響應這一召喚。

經過一段對抗時期，我們正進入一個談判時代。

讓所有國家都知道，在本屆政府任期內，交流通道是敞開的。

我們謀求一個開放的世界——對各種思想開放，對物資和人員的交流開放，在這個世界中，任何民族，不論大小，都不會生活在怏怏不樂的孤立之中。

我們不能指望每個人都成為我們的朋友，可是我們能設法使任何人都不與我們為敵。

我們邀請那些很可能是我們對手的人進行一場和平競賽——不是要征服領土或擴展版圖，而是要豐富人類的生活。

在探索宇宙空間的時候，讓我們一起走向新的世界——不是走向被征服的新世界，而是共同進行一次新的探險。

讓我們同那些愿意加入這一行列的人共同合作，減少軍備負擔，加固和平大廈，提高貧窮挨餓的人們的生活水平。

但是，對所有那些見軟就欺的人來說，讓我們不容置疑地表明，我們需要多么強大就會多強大：需要強大多久，就會強大多久。

自從我作為新當選的國會議員首次來到國會大廈之后的20多年來，我已經出訪過世界上大多數國家。

我結識了世界各國的領導人，了解到使世界陷于四分五裂的各種強大勢力，各種深仇大恨，各種恐懼心理。

我知道，和于不會單憑愿望就能到來——這需要日復一日，甚至年復一年地進行耐心而持久的外交努力，除此別無他法。

我也了解世界各國人民。

我見到過無家可歸的兒童在忍饑挨餓，戰爭中掛彩負傷的男人在痛苦呻吟，失去孩子的母親在無限悲傷。我知道，這些并沒有意識形態和種族之分。

我了解美國。我了解美國的心是善良的。

我從心底里，從我國人民的心底里，向那些蒙受不幸和痛苦的人們表達我們的深切關懷。

今天，我在上帝和我國同胞面前宣誓，擁護和捍衛合眾國憲法。除了這一誓言，我現在還要補充一項神圣的義務：我將把自己的職責、精力以及我所能使喚的一切智慧，一并奉獻給各國之間的和平事業。

讓強者和弱者都能聽到這一信息：

我們企求贏得的和平不是戰勝任何一個民族，而是“和平天使”帶來的為治愈創傷的和平：是對遭受苦難者予以同情的和平；是對那些反對過我們的人予以諒解的和平；是地球上各族人民都有選擇自己命運的機會的和平。

就在幾星期以前，人類如同上帝凝望這個世界一樣，第一次端視了這個世界，一個在冥冥黑暗中輝映發光的獨特的星球。我們分享了這一榮光。

阿波羅號上的字航員在圣誕節前夕飛越月球灰色的表面時，向我們說起地球的美麗——從穿過月距而傳來的如此清晰的聲音中，我們聽到他們在祈禱上帝賜福人間。

在那一時刻，他們從月球上發出的意愿，激勵著詩人阿奇博爾德?麥克利什寫下了這樣的篇章：

“在永恒的寧靜中，那渺小、斑斕、美麗的地球在浮動。要真正地觀望地球，就得把我們自己都看作是地球的乘客，看作是一群兄弟，他們共處于漫漫的、寒冷的字宙中。仰賴著光明的摯愛——這群兄弟懂得，而今他們是真正的兄弟。”

在那個比技術勝利更有意義的時刻，人們把思緒轉向了家鄉和人類——他們從那個遙遠的視角中發現，地球上人類的命運是不能分開的；他們告訴我們，不管我們在宇宙中走得多遠，我們的命運不是在別的星球上，而是在地球上，在我們自己手中，在我們的心頭。

我們已經度過了一個反映美國精神的漫漫長夜。可是，當我們瞥見黎明前的第一縷曙光，切莫詛咒那尚未消散的黑暗。讓我們迎接光明吧。

我們的命運所賜予的不是絕望的苦酒，而是機會的美餐。因此，讓我們不是充滿恐懼，而是滿懷喜悅地去抓住這個機會吧——“地球的乘客們”，讓我們以堅定的信念，朝著穩定的目標，在提防著危險中前進吧！我們對上帝的意志和人類的希望充滿了信心，這將使我們持之以恒。

1961年美國總統肯尼迪就職演說

Inaugural Address of John F.Kennedy

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1961

Vice President Johnson, Mr.Speaker, Mr.Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change.For I have sworn I before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears l prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.The world is very different now.For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.This much we pledge--and more.To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends.United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures.Divided, there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny.We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view.But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.42

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty.But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers.Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.We dare not tempt them with weakness.For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.Let us never negotiate out of fear.But let us never fear to negotiate.Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to “undo the heavy burdens...and to let the oppressed go free.”

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.43

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days.Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.But let us begin.In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty.The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need;not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.I do not shank from this responsibility--I welcome it.I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation.The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.44 火炬已經傳給新一代美國人

約翰-肯尼迪 就職演講

星期五,1961年1月20日

首席法官先生、艾森豪威爾總統、尼克松副總統、杜魯門總統、尊敬的牧師、各位公民：

今天我們慶祝的不是政黨的勝利，而是自由的勝利。這象征著一個結束，也象征著一個開端，表示了一種更新，也表示了一種變革。因為我已在你們和全能的上帝面前，宣讀了我們的先輩在170多年前擬定的莊嚴誓言。現在的世界已大不相同了，人類的巨手掌握著既能消滅人間的各種貧困，又能毀滅人間的各種生活的力量。但我們的先輩為之奮斗的那些革命信念，在世界各地仍然有著爭論。這個信念就是：人的權利井非來自國家的慷慨，而是來自上帝恩賜。

今天，我們不敢忘記我們是第一次革命的繼承者。讓我們的朋友和敵人同樣聽見我此時此地的講話：火炬已經傳給新一代美國人。這一代人在本世紀誕生，在戰爭中受過鍛煉，在艱難困苦的和平時期受過陶冶，他們為我國悠久的傳統感到自豪——他們不愿目睹或聽任我國一向保證的、今天仍在國內外作出保證的人權漸趨毀滅。

讓每個國家都知道——不論它希望我們繁榮還是希望我們衰落——為確保自由的存在和自由的勝利，我們將付出任何代價，承受任何負擔，應付任何艱難，支持任何朋友，反抗任何敵人。

這些就是我們的保證——而且還有更多的保證。

對那些和我們有著共同文化和精神淵源的老盟友，我們保證待以誠實朋友那樣的忠誠。我們如果團結一致，就能在許多合作事業中無在而下勝；我們如果分歧對立，就會一事無成——因為我們不敢在爭吵下休、四分五裂時迎接強大的挑戰。

對那些我們歡迎其加入到自由行列中來的新國家，我們格守我們的誓言：決不讓一種更為殘酷的暴政來取代一種消失的殖民統治。我們并不總是指望他們會支持我們的觀點。但我們始終希望看到他們堅強地維護自己的自由——而且要記住，在歷史上，凡愚蠢地騎在虎背上謀求權力的人，都是以葬身虎口而告終。

對世界各地身居茅舍和鄉村，為擺脫普遍貪困而斗爭的人們，我們保證盡量大努力幫助他們自立，不管需要花多長時間——之所以這樣做，并不是因為共產黨可能正在這樣做，也不是因為我們需要他們的選票，而是因為這樣做是正確的，自由社會如果不能幫助眾多的窮人，也就無法保全少數富人。

對我國南面的姐妹共和國，我們提出一項特殊的保證——在爭取進步的新同盟中，把我們善意的話變為善意的行動，幫助自由的人們和自由的政府擺脫貧困的枷鎖。但是，這種充滿希望的和平革命決不可以成為敵對國家的犧牲品。我們要讓所有鄰國都知道，我們將和他們在一起，反對在美洲任何地區進行侵略和顛覆活動。讓所有其他國家都知道，本半球的人仍然想做自己家園的主人。

聯合國是主權國家的世界性議事機構，是我們在戰爭手段大大超過和平手段的時代里最后的、最美好的希望所在。因此，我們重申予以支持；防止它僅僅成為謾罵的場所；加強它對新生國家和弱小國家的保護；擴大它的行使法令的管束范圍。

最后，對那些想與我們作時的國家，我們提出一個要求而不是一項保證：在科學釋放出可怕的破壞力

量，把全人類卷人到預謀的或意外的自我毀滅的深淵之前，讓我們雙方重新開始尋求和平。

我們不敢以怯弱來引誘他們。因為只有當我們毫無疑問地擁有足夠的軍備，我們才能毫無疑問地確信永遠下會使用這些軍備。

但是，這兩個強大的國家集團都無法從目前所走的道路中得到安慰——發展現代武器所需的費用使雙方負擔過重，致命的原子武器的不斷擴散理所當然使雙方憂心忡忡，但是，雙方卻在爭著改變那制止人類發動最后戰爭的不移定的恐怖均勢。因此，讓我們雙方重新開始——雙方都要牢記。禮貌并不意味著怯弱，誠意永遠有侍于驗證。讓我們決不要由于畏懼而談判。但我們決不能畏懼談判。

讓雙方都來探討使我們團結起來的問題，而不要操勞那些使我們分裂的問題。

讓雙方首次為軍備檢查和軍備控制制訂認真而又明確的提案，把毀滅他國的絕對力量置于所有國家的絕對控制之下。

讓雙方尋求利用科學的奇跡，而不是乞靈于科學造成的恐怖。讓我們一起探索星球，征服沙漠，根除疾患，開發深梅，并鼓勵藝術和商業的發展。

讓雙方團結起來，在全世界各個角落傾聽以賽亞的訓令——“解下軛上的索，使被欺壓的得自由。”

如果合作的灘頭陣地的逼退猜忌的叢林，那么就讓雙方共同作一次新的努力：不是建立一種新的均勢，而是創造一個新的法治世界，在這個世界中，強者公正，弱者安全，和平將得到維護。

所有這一切下可能在第一個一百天內完成，也不可能在第一個一千天或者在本屆政府任期內完成，甚至也許不可能在我們居住在這個星球上的有生之年內完成。但是，讓我們開始吧。

公民們，我們方針的最終成敗與其說掌握在我手中，不如說掌握在你們手中。自從合眾國建立以來，每一代美國人都曾受到召喚去證明他們對國家的忠誠。響應召喚而獻身的美國青年的墳墓遍及全球。

現在，號角已再次吹響——不是召喚我們拿起武器，雖然我們需要武器，不是召喚我們去作戰，雖然我們嚴陣以待。它召喚我們為迎接黎明而肩負起漫長斗爭的重任，年復一年，“從希望中得到歡樂，在苦難中保持堅韌”，去反對人類共同的敵人——專制、貧困、疾病和戰爭本身。

為反對這些敵人，確保人類更為豐裕的生活，我們能夠組成一個包括東西南北各方的全球大聯盟嗎？你們愿意參加這一歷史性的努力嗎？

在漫長的世界歷史中，只有少數幾代人在自由處于最危急的時刻被賦予保衛自由的責任。我不會推卸這一責任，我歡迎這一責任。我不相信我們中間有人想同其他人或其他時代的人交換位置。我們為這一努力所奉獻的精力、信念和忠誠，將照亮我們的國家和所有力國效勞的人，而這火焰發出的光芒定能照亮全世界。

因此，美國同胞們，不要問國家能力你們做些什么，而要問你們能為國家做些什么。

全世界的公民們，不要間美國將為你們做些什么，而要問我們共同能為人類的自中做些什么。

最后，不論你們是美國公民還是其他國家的公民，你們應該要求我們現出我們同樣要求于你們地高度力量和犧牲。問心無愧是我們唯一可靠的獎賞，歷史是我們行動的最終裁判，讓我們走向前去，引導我們所珍愛的國家。我們祈求上帝的福佑和幫助，但我們知道，確切的說，上帝在塵世的工作必定是我們自己的工作。

1949年美國總統杜魯門就職演說

Inaugural Address of Harry S.Truman

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1949

Mr.Vice President, Mr.Chief Justice, and fellow citizens, I accept with humility the honor which the American people have conferred upon me.I accept it with a deep resolve to do all that I can for the welfare of this Nation and for the peace of the world.In performing the duties of my office, I need the help and prayers of every one of you.I ask for your encouragement and your support.The tasks we face are difficult, and we can accomplish them only if we work together.Each period of our national history has had its special challenges.Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in the past.Today marks the beginning not only of a new administration, but of a period that will be eventful, perhaps decisive, for us and for the world.It may be our lot to experience, and in large measure to bring about, a major turning point in the long history of the human race.The first half of this century has been marked by unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the two most frightful wars in history.The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony.The peoples of the earth face the future with grave uncertainty, composed almost equally of great hopes and great fears.In this time of doubt, they look to the United States as never before for good will, strength, and wise leadership.It is fitting, therefore, that we take this occasion to proclaim to the world the essential principles of the faith by which we live, and to declare our aims to all peoples.The American people stand firm in the faith which has inspired this Nation from the beginning.We believe that all men have a right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in the common good.We believe that all men have the right to freedom of thought and expression.We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God.From this faith we will not be moved.The American people desire, and are determined to work for, a world in which all nations and all peoples are free to govern themselves as they see fit, and to achieve a decent and satisfying life.Above all else, our people desire, and are determined to work for, peace on earth--a just and lasting peace--based on genuine agreement freely arrived at by equals.In the pursuit of these aims, the United States and other like-minded nations find themselves directly opposed by a regime with contrary aims and a totally different concept of life.47

That regime adheres to a false philosophy which purports to offer freedom, security, and greater opportunity to mankind.Misled by this philosophy, many peoples have sacrificed their liberties only to learn to their sorrow that deceit and mockery, poverty and tyranny, are their reward.That false philosophy is communism.Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters.Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the state.It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think.Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities.Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence.Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change.Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing classes that war is inevitable.Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly and maintain lasting peace.These differences between communism and democracy do not concern the United States alone.People everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity, and the right to believe in and worship God.I state these differences, not to draw issues of belief as such, but because the actions resulting from the Communist philosophy are a threat to the efforts of free nations to bring about world recovery and lasting peace.Since the end of hostilities, the United States has invested its substance and its energy in a great constructive effort to restore peace, stability, and freedom to the world.We have sought no territory and we have imposed our will on none.We have asked for no privileges we would not extend to others.We have constantly and vigorously supported the United Nations and related agencies as a means of applying democratic principles to international relations.We have consistently advocated and relied

upon peaceful settlement of disputes among nations.We have made every effort to secure agreement on effective international control of our most powerful weapon, and we have worked steadily for the limitation and control of all armaments.We have encouraged, by precept and example, the expansion of world trade on a sound and fair basis.Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history.The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world.Our efforts have brought new hope to all mankind.We have beaten back despair and defeatism.We have saved a number of countries from losing their liberty.Hundreds of millions of people all over the world now agree with us, that we need not have war--that we can have peace.The initiative is ours.We are moving on with other nations to build an even stronger structure of international order and justice.We shall have as our partners countries which, no longer solely concerned with the problem of national survival, are now working to improve the standards of living of all their people.We are ready to undertake new projects to strengthen the free world.In the coming years, our program for peace and freedom will emphasize four major courses of action.First, we will continue to give unfaltering support to the United Nations and related agencies, and we will continue to search for ways to strengthen their authority and increase their effectiveness.We believe that the United Nations will be strengthened by the new nations which are being formed in lands now advancing toward self-government under democratic principles.Second, we will continue our programs for world economic recovery.This means, first of all, that we must keep our full weight behind the European recovery program.We are confident of the success of this major venture in world recovery.We believe that our partners in this effort will achieve the status of self-supporting nations once again.In addition, we must carry out our plans for reducing the barriers to world trade and increasing its volume.Economic recovery and peace itself depend on increased world trade.Third, we will strengthen freedom-loving nations against the dangers of aggression.We are now working out with a number of countries a joint agreement designed to strengthen the security of the North Atlantic area.Such an agreement would take the form of a collective defense

arrangement within the terms of the United Nations Charter.We have already established such a defense pact for the Western Hemisphere by the treaty of Rio de Janeiro.The primary purpose of these agreements is to provide unmistakable proof of the joint determination of the free countries to resist armed attack from any quarter.Each country participating in these arrangements must contribute all it can to the common defense.If we can make it sufficiently clear, in advance, that any armed attack affecting our national security would be met with overwhelming force, the armed attack might never occur.I hope soon to send to the Senate a treaty respecting the North Atlantic security plan.In addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace and security.Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery.Their food is inadequate.They are victims of disease.Their economic life is primitive and stagnant.Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas.For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people.The United States is pre-eminent among nations in the development of industrial and scientific techniques.The material resources which we can afford to use for the assistance of other peoples are limited.But our imponderable resources in technical knowledge are constantly growing and are inexhaustible.I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life.And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development.Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through their own efforts, to produce more food, more clothing, more materials for housing, and more mechanical power to lighten their burdens.We invite other countries to pool their technological resources in this undertaking.Their contributions will be warmly welcomed.This should be a cooperative enterprise in which all nations work together through the United Nations and its specialized agencies wherever practicable.It must be a worldwide effort for the achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom.With the cooperation of business, private capital, agriculture, and labor in this country, this program

第二篇：歷屆美國總統就職演講--中英文對照

歷屆美國總統就職演講譯文 喬治·華盛頓

第一次就職演講 紐約

星期四,1789年4月30日

美國人民的實驗

參議院和眾議院的同胞們：

在人生沉浮中，沒有一件事能比本月14日收到根據你們的命令送達的通知更使我焦慮不安，一方面，國家召喚我出任此職，對于她的召喚，我永遠只能肅然敬從；而隱退是我以摯愛心憎、滿腔希望和堅定的決心選擇的暮年歸宿，由于愛好和習慣，且時光流逝，健康漸衰，時感體力不濟，愈覺隱退之必要和可貴。另一方面，國家召喚我擔負的責任如此重大和艱巨，足以使國內最有才智和經驗的人度德量力，而我天資愚飩，又無民政管理的實踐，理應倍覺自己能力之不足，因而必然感到難以肩此重任。懷著這種矛盾心情，我唯一敢斷言的是，通過正確估計可能產生影響的各種情況來克盡厥職，乃是我忠貞不渝的努力目標。我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在執行這項任務時因陶醉于往事，或因由衷感激公民們對我的高度信賴，因而受到過多影響，以致在處理從未經歷過的大事時，忽視了自己的無能和消極，我的錯誤將會由于使我誤人歧途的各種動機而減輕，而大家在評判錯誤的后果時；也會適當包涵產生這些動機的偏見。

既然這就是我在遵奉公眾召喚就任現職時的感想，那么，在此宣誓就職之際，如不熱忱地祈求全能的上帝就極其失當，因為上帝統治著宇宙，主宰著各國政府，它的神助能彌補人類的任何不足，愿上帝賜福，侃佑一個為美國人民的自由和幸福而組成的政府，保佑它為這些基本目的而作出奉獻，保佑政府的各項行政措施在我負責之下都能成功地發揮作用。我相信，在向公眾利益和私人利益的偉大締造者獻上這份崇敬時，這些活也同樣表達了各位和廣大公民的心意。沒有人能比美國人更堅定不移地承認和崇拜掌管人間事務的上帝。他們在邁向獨立國家的進程中，似乎每走一步都有某種天佑的跡象；他們在剛剛完成的聯邦政府體制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔誠的感恩而得到某種回報，如果不是謙卑地期待著過去有所預示的賜福的到來，那么，通過眾多截然不同的集團的平靜思考和自愿贊同來完成改革，這種方式是不能與大多數政府的組建方式同日而語的。在目前轉折關頭，我產生這些想法確實是深有所感而不能自已，我相信大家會和我懷有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一個新生的自由政府別無他法能一開始就事事順利。根據設立行政部門的條款，總統有責任“將他認為必要而妥善的措施提請國會審議”。但在目前與各位見面的這個場合，恕我不進一步討論這個問題，而只提一下偉大的憲法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它規定了各位的權限，指出了各位應該注意的目標。在這樣的場合，更恰當、也更能反映我內心激情的做法是不提出具體措施，而是稱頌將要規劃和采納這些措施的當選者的才能、正直和愛國心。我從這些高貴品格中看到了最可靠的保證：其一，任何地方偏見或地方感情，任何意見分歧或黨派敵視，都不能使我們偏離全局觀點和公平觀點，即必須維護這個由不同地區和利益所組成的大聯合；因此，其二，我國的政策將會以純潔而堅定的個人道德原則為基礎，而自由政府將會以那贏得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特點而顯示其優越性。我對國家的一片熱愛之心激勵著我滿懷喜悅地展望這幅遠景，因為根據自然界的構成和發展趨勢，在美德與幸福之間，責任與利益之間，恪守誠實寬厚的政策與獲得社會繁榮幸福的碩果之間，有著密不可分的統一；因為我們應該同樣相信，上帝親自規定了水恒的秩序和權利法則，它決不可能對無視這些法則的國家慈祥地加以贊許；因為人們理所當然地、滿懷深情地、也許是最后一次把維護神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命運，系于美國人所遵命進行的實驗上。

我已將有感于這一聚會場合的想法奉告各位，現在我就要向大家告辭；但在此以前，我要再一次以謙卑的心情祈求仁慈的上帝給予幫助。因為承蒙上帝的恩賜，美國人有了深思熟慮的機會，以及為確保聯邦的安全和促進幸福，用前所未有的一致意見來決定政府體制的意向；因而，同樣明顯的是，上帝將保佑我們擴大眼界，心平氣和地進行協商，并采取明智的措施，而這些都是本屆政府取得成功所必不可少的依靠。

George Washington First Inaugural Address In the City of New York Thursday, April 30, 1789

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who(inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration)ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either.No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given.It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them.In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness;between duty and advantage;between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity;since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained;and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good;for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives.It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible.When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation.From this resolution I have in no instance departed;and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave;but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.約翰·亞當斯

就職演講 費城

星期六,1797年3月4日

美國的政體與喬治·華盛頓

確實，還有其他什么形式的政體，值得我們如此尊敬和熱愛呢？

古代有一種很不嚴密的觀念認為，人類聚集而形成城市和國家，是最令具有卓越見識的人感到愉悅的目標，但無可置疑的是，在善良的人們看來，任何國家所顯示的情景，都比不上這里和另一議院所經常見到的集會更令人喜悅，更高尚莊嚴，或者說更令人敬畏；政府的行政權和國會各個機構的立法權，是由同胞們定期選出的公民來行使的，其目的是為公眾利益而制定和執行法律。難道官袍和鉆石能為此增添實質性的東西嗎？難道它們不就是一些裝飾品嗎？難道因運而生或通過遠古制反而繼承的權力，會比誠實而卓識的人民按自己的意愿和判斷而產生的權力更可親可敬嗎？因為這樣的政府唯一代表的是人民。它的各個合法機構，無論表現為何種形式，反映的都是人民的權利和尊嚴，并且只為人民謀利益。像我們這樣的政府，不論其將存在多久，都是對知識和美德在全人類傳播的充分證明。難道還有比這更令人喜悅的目標或構想能奉獻給人類觀念嗎？如果說民族自豪感歷來無可非議和情有可原，那么，這種自豪感必定不是來自權勢和財富，不是來自豪華和榮耀，而是來自堅信民族的純真、識見和仁愛。

當我們沉浸在這些愉快的想法時，如果任何片面或無關緊要的因素影響到自由、公平、高尚和獨立的選舉，使選舉失去了純潔性，使我們忽視自由所面臨的危險，我們就會自欺欺人。如果選舉需由一人一票的多數票來決定勝負，而一個政黨可以通過欺騙和腐蝕來達到目的，那么這個政府就有可能是政黨為自身目的而作出的選擇，而下是國家為全國利益而作出的選擇；如果其他國家有可能通過奉承或脅迫，欺詐或暴力，通過恐怖、陰謀或收買等伎倆控制了這次選舉，那么這個政府就可能不是美國人民作出的選擇，而是其他國家作出的選擇。那樣，就可能是外國統治我們，而不是我們——人民——來管理自已，那樣，公正的人士就會認識到，選擇較之命運或機遇就未必更有優越性而下值得夸耀了。

這就是使人感到親切和興趣的政治體制（及其可能暴露的某些弊端）。8年來，美國人民在一位公民的領導下展現了這種政治體制，引起了各國賢達的贊賞或掛慮。這位公民為人謹慎、公正、節制、堅韌，長期以來，他以一系列偉大的行動，領導著一個為共同的美德所鼓舞、強烈的愛國心所激勵的和熱愛自由的民族，走向獨立、和平、富強和空前鱉榮。他值得同胞們感恩戴德，他博得了世界各國的最高贊揚，他必將名垂千古。他自愿選擇了隱退，愿他在隱退后長壽，愉快地回憶他供職時的情景，并享受人類對他的感激，享受他所作出的奉獻給他本人和全世界帶來的與日俱增的幸福果實，享受這個國家的未來命運決定的、正在逐年展開的光明前景。他的名字仍將是一道防線，他的長壽仍將是一座堡壘，抵御著一切危害國家安定的、公開的或暗藏的敵人。他的這一舉動已得到國會兩院、各州立法機構和全國人民的一致贊揚，并將成為繼任者效法的榜樣。

John Adams Inaugural Address In the City of Philadelphia Saturday, March 4, 1797

When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country.Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society.The Confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail and precision in history, and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered.But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable.Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequencesuniversal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threatening some great national calamity.In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity.Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations issued in the present happy Constitution of Government.Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country.Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested.In its general principles and great outlines it was conformable to such a system of government as I had ever most esteemed, and in some States, my own native State in particular, had contributed to establish.Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public and in private.It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the Executive and Senate were not more permanent.Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see and feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress and the State legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain.Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution.The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends, and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation I have acquired an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?

There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the general good.Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds? Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are represented.It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear.The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people.And what object or consideration more pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, and benevolence.In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations.It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves;and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance.Such is the amiable and interesting system of government(and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed)which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of all nations for eight years under the administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to year.His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his country's peace.This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress and by the voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak with diffidence;but as something may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that if a preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth;if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious determination to support it until it shall be altered by the judgments and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it;if a respectful attention to the constitutions of the individual States and a constant caution and delicacy toward the State governments;if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the States in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions on unessential points or their personal attachments;if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denominations;if a love of science and letters and a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments;if a love of equal laws, of justice, and humanity in the interior administration;if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers for necessity, convenience, and defense;if a spirit of equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them;if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress and applauded by the legislatures of the States and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress;if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a residence of seven years chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor and interest of both nations;if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people of America and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause and remove every colorable pretense of complaint;if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been committed on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation, and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts before the Legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor and interest of the Government and its constituents demand;if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world;if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all and never been deceived;if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not obscured but exalted by experience and age;and, with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degree to comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the two Houses shall not be without effect.With this great example before me, with the sense and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest, of the same American people pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy, and my mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.托馬斯·杰斐遜

第一次就職演講 華盛頓

星期三,1801年3月4日

同心同德地團結起來

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。一個沃野千里的新興國家，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、幸福和希望都系于這個問題和今天的盛典，我就不敢再想下去，并面對這宏圖大業自慚德薄能鮮。確實，若不是在這里見到許多先生們在場，使我想起無論遇到什么困難，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，負有神圣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，有時會使不習慣于自由思想、不習慣于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志，妥為安排，為共同的利益齊心協力，大家也會銘記這條神圣的原則；盡管在任何情況下，多數人的意志是起決定作用的，但這種意志必須合理才矚公正；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、恢復友愛，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，那么我們必將無所收獲。當舊世界經歷陣痛和騷動，當憤怒的人掙扎著想通過流血、殺戮來尋求失去已人的自由，那波濤般的激情甚至也會沖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，各種意見分歧并不都是原則分歧。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制，那就讓他們不受干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制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。那么，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？這個問題讓歷史來回答吧。

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，擁戴聯邦與代議制政府。我們受惠于大自然和大洋的阻隔，幸免于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干、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于門第，而是出于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、節制、恩義和仁愛；我們承認和崇拜全能的上帝，而天意表明，他樂于使這里的人們得到幸福，今后還將得到更多的幸福——我們有了這些福祉，還需要什么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，它會制止人們相互傷害，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么，確定其行政依據的原則又是什么。我將盡量扼要地加以敘述，只講一般原則，不講其種種限制。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，和抵御反共和趨勢的最可靠屏障；維持全國政府在憲制上的全部活力，將其作為國內安定和國際安全的最后依靠；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，因為這是共和制的主要原則，反之，不訴諸輿論而訴諸武力乃是專制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；實行文職權高于軍職權；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，指引我們經歷了革命和改革時朗，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，當一個并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勛那樣對我高度信任，因為他的卓著勛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，我只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。由于判斷有誤，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；今后我所渴望的是，力求賜予我好評的各位能保持這種好評，在我職權范圍內為其他各位效勞以博得他們的好評，并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。愿主宰夭地萬物命運的上帝引導我們的機構臻于完善，并為大家的和平與昌盛，賜給它一個值得贊許的結果。

Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address In the Washington, D.C.Wednesday, 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.詹姆斯·麥迪遜 第二次就職演講

星期四,1813年3月4日

關于一八一二年戰爭

美國一直沒有宣戰，直到出現了以下情況——直到這場加于美國的戰爭在實際上，盡管不是在名義上已進行了根久；直到再也沒有爭辯和規勸的余地；直到美國被明確地告知，無理挑釁不會中止；直到這最后的呼吁不可再拖延，不然國家的精神就要崩潰，國家和政府機構的信心就要喪失，那樣，就得永遠忍受屈辱，否則就得付出更高昂的代價和經過更嚴酷的斗爭，才能恢復我國作為獨立國家的地位和尊嚴。

戰爭問題關系到我國在公海上的主權，關系到一個重要的公民階層的安全，而這個階層所從事的職業，對于其他公民階層具有重要的價值。如果不為此而斗爭，就是放棄我國在公海上與其他國家的同等地位，就是侵犯每一個社會成風所擁有的、保護自己的神圣權利。我不必強調指出，巡航官對我國水手為所欲為，迫使他們離開自己的船只而登上異國船只的不法行徑，也不必渲染其中免不了的暴行。我國歷屆政府的記錄中都留有證據，凡是同情心尚未泯滅的人們，都會在心中記住這部分美國人所蒙受的苦難。由于這場戰爭從根本上說是正義的，從目標上說是必要的和高尚的，所以，我們可以自豪而滿意地表明，把這場戰爭繼續下去，并沒有侵犯公正或道義原則，并沒有違背文明國家的慣例，也沒有觸犯禮儀或人道法則。我們是以嚴格尊重所有上述義務的態度，和空間高昂的自由精神來進行這場戰爭的。

James Madison Second Inaugural Address Thursday, March 4, 1813

About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed by a second call to the station in which my country heretofore placed me, I find in the presence of this respectable assembly an opportunity of publicly repeating my profound sense of so distinguished a confidence and of the responsibility united with it.The impressions on me are strengthened by such an evidence that my faithful endeavors to discharge my arduous duties have been favorably estimated, and by a consideration of the momentous period at which the trust has been renewed.From the weight and magnitude now belonging to it I should be compelled to shrink if I had less reliance on the support of an enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction that the war with a powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in our situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful termination.May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we reflect on the characters by which this war is distinguished?

It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had been long made on them, in reality though not in name;until arguments and postulations had been exhausted;until a positive declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued;nor until this last appeal could no longer be delayed without breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence in itself and in its political institutions, and either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or regaining by more costly sacrifices and more severe struggles our lost rank and respect among independent powers.On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the high seas and the security of an important class of citizens, whose occupations give the proper value to those of every other class.Not to contend for such a stake is to surrender our equality with other powers on the element common to all and to violate the sacred title which every member of the society has to its protection.I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of every cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable from it.The proofs are in the records of each successive Administration of our Government, and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the American people have found their way to every bosom not dead to the sympathies of human nature.As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed.The war has been waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed.How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the enemy!

They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the United States not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and threatened to punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without restraint to the United States, incorporated by naturalization into our political family, and fighting under the authority of their adopted country in open and honorable war for the maintenance of its rights and safety.Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which is in the practice of naturalizing by thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting but compelling them to fight its battles against their native country.They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet and the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose the savages armed with these cruel instruments;have allured them into their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to finish the work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless captives.And, what was never before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their chief captives awaiting massacre from their savage associates.And now we find them, in further contempt of the modes of honorable warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated Republic.Happily, like others, these will recoil on the authors;but they mark the degenerate counsels from which they emanate, and if they did not belong to a sense of unexampled inconsistencies might excite the greater wonder as proceeding from a Government which founded the very war in which it has been so long engaged on a charge against the disorganizing and insurrectional policy of its adversary.To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress.The sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprised of the reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed.Still more precise advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding every reliance not placed on the military resources of the nation.These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable issue.Our nation is in number more than half that of the British Isles.It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an intelligent people.Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts, and the comforts of life.A general prosperity is visible in the public countenance.The means employed by the British cabinet to undermine it have recoiled on themselves;have given to our national faculties a more rapid development, and, draining or diverting the precious metals from British circulation and British vaults, have poured them into those of the United States.It is a propitious consideration that an unavoidable war should have found this seasonable facility for the contributions required to support it.When the public voice called for war, all knew, and still know, that without them it could not be carried on through the period which it might last, and the patriotism, the good sense, and the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are pledges for the cheerfulness with which they will bear each his share of the common burden.To render the war short and its success sure, animated and systematic exertions alone are necessary, and the success of our arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of another resort to them.Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element.If the reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is wanting to correspondent triumphs there also but the discipline and habits which are in daily progress.詹姆斯·門羅

第一次就職演講

星期二,1817年3月4日

沖突不和不屬于我們的制度

同胞們滿懷信心地召喚我出任這一重要職務，令我十分感動，不然我就是一個缺乏感情的人。這表明同胞們甚為矗許我的公職行為，我對此感到心滿意足，而唯有竭盡全力做了值得夸獎的工作的人，才能有這種威受。我能正確估計到這一職務的重要性以及承擔這一義務的性質和范圍，所以我對于正確地履行同我們這一偉大同由民族的崇高利益密切相連的義務的感受也隨之而增加。由于意識到自己的不足，所以在開始履行這些義務時，我無法不對將來的結累裴示極大的憂慮。對應盡的責任我決不會裹足不前，我頗有信心地認為。只要我盡力促進公共福利，入門就始終會恰當地評價我的動機，而且會以公正和愛護的眼光來看待我的行為，就像我在其他職位上已經經歷過的那樣。

歷任杰出總統在開始履行職責前有一個慣例，即明確闡述各自執政的指導原則。在仿效這些令人尊敬的榜樣時,我自然把注意力集中于目前給合眾國帶來高度幸褔的那些主要原因。這些原因將能充分說明我們職責的性質，并且闡明我們將來必須推行的政策。

從獨立革命至今幾乎已過去40個春秋，而憲法的制定也已有鵬載。在此時期，我們的政府一直被強調為自治政府。其結果如何呢？無論我們將目光轉向何處，不論是涉及到國外問題還是國內問題，我們都有足夠的理由慶幸我們擁有優越的制度。在充滿艱辛和非凡事件的歲月里，我們的合眾國還是取得了空前的繁榮，公民們個個幸福歡樂，國家昌盛發達。

……

使我特別感到滿意的是，我是在合眾國探受和平之惠時開始履行這些職責的。合眾國的繁榮和幸福最需要和平。我衷心希望維持和平，依靠政府的努力、以公正的原則與各國交往，不提任何不合理的要求，并對各國履行應盡的義務。

我同樣感到滿意的是，我看到我們合眾國越來越和諧一致。沖突不和不同于我們的制度，聯邦之所以受到擁護，是因為我們的政府制定了自由和仁慈的原則，從而使每個人都受到了恩惠，同時還因為它有其他突出的優點。美國人民已共同克服了巨大的危險，成功地經受了嚴重的考驗。他們組成了具有共同利益的大家庭。經驗已經在一些對同家至關重即明確闡述各自執政的指導原則。在仿效這些令人尊敬的榜樣時,我自然把注意力集中于目前給合眾國帶來高度幸褔的那些主要原因。這些原因將能充分說明我們職責的性質，并且闡明我們將來必須推行的政策。

從獨立革命至今幾乎已過去40個春秋，而憲法的制定也已有鵬載。在此時期，我們的政府一直被強調為自治政府。其結果如何呢？無論我們將目光轉向何處，不論是涉及到國外問題還是國內問題，我們都有足夠的理由慶幸我們擁有優越的制度。在充滿艱辛和非凡事件的歲月里，我們的合眾國還是取得了空前的繁榮，公民們個個幸福歡樂，國家昌盛發達。

……

使我特別感到滿意的是，我是在合眾國探受和平之惠時開始履行這些職責的。合眾國的繁榮和幸福最需要和平。我衷心希望維持和平，依靠政府的努力、以公正的原則與各國交往，不提任何不合理的要求，并對各國履行應盡的義務。

我同樣感到滿意的是，我看到我們合眾國越來越和諧一致。沖突不和不同于我們的制度，聯邦之所以受到擁護，是因為我們的政府制定了自由和仁慈的原則，從而使每個人都受到了恩惠，同時還因為它有其他突出的優點。美國人民已共同克服了巨大的危險，成功地經受了嚴重的考驗。他們組成了具有共同利益的大家庭。經驗已經在一些對同家至關重要的問題上使我們獲得教益，由于對國家的各種利益須作正確的考慮和忠誠的關切，所以進展是很緩慢的。我將持之以恒并努力追求的目標是：按照我們的共和政府的原則，以充分發揮其作用的方式來促進和諧，并在所有其他方面促進我們聯邦的最大利益。

從來沒有一個政府能像我國政府那樣從一開始就諸事如意，并獲得如此徹底的成功。翻閱一下其他國家的歷史，無論是古代的國家還是現代的國家，都無法找到一個發展如此迅速，規模如此巨大，而人民又是如此富裕和幸福的實例。當我們思考還有哪些尚待完成的任務時，每個公民必然由衷地感到喜悅，因為他會想到：我們的政府已經如此接近于完善：我們在這方回已無需作出重大改善，偉大的目標在于維護我們政府擁有的基本原則和特征，這將通過保持人民的美德和啟發人民的心靈來實現；偉大的目標還在于采取不可缺少的措施，來維護我們的獨立、權利和自由，并確保我國不受外來的威脅。如果我們能保持目前我們已經獲得進展的事業，并堅持不懈地走我們已經走過的路，那么在仁慈上帝的保佑下，我們便能達到似乎正在等待著我們的崇高目標。

在我之前，已有幾位杰出人物擔任過這一崇高的職務，而且我與其中一些人很早就結成了最緊密的聯系。他們所提供的執政典范，將永遠使后繼者獲得高度的教益。從這些典范中，我將盡力獲取所有的長處，至于我的前任總統，由于他所進行的工作已經成為我們巨大而成功的實驗的極為重要的一部分，大家必然會體諒我要向他表示熱烈的祝愿：原它在退休后能永享國家對他的感激之情，這種感情是對他的杰出才能和最為忠誠而卓越的服務的最好報答。依靠政府其他各部門的幫助，我開始擔任同胞們通過選舉而交給我的職務。我虔誠地向全能的上帝祈禱，他已經如此明顯地展示了對我們的護佑，愿他繼續仁慈的護佑我們。

James Monroe First Inaugural Address Tuesday, March 4, 1817

I should be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by the strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their confidence in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume.As the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public service, I derive from it a gratification which those who are conscious of having done all that they could to merit it can alone feel.My sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the trust and of the nature and extent of its duties, with the proper discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are intimately connected.Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result.From a just responsibility I will never shrink, calculating with confidence that in my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives will always be duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that candor and indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.In commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been the practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain the principles which would govern them in their respective Administrations.In following their venerated example my attention is naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the United States.They will best explain the nature of our duties and shed much light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost forty years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution twenty-eight.Through this whole term the Government has been what may emphatically be called self-government.And what has been the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence of our institutions.During a period fraught with difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events the United States have flourished beyond example.Their citizens individually have been happy and the nation prosperous.Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign nations and between the States;new States have been admitted into our Union;our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty, and with great advantage to the original States;the States, respectively protected by the National Government under a mild, parental system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best proofs of wholesome laws well administered.And if we look to the condition of individuals what a proud spectacle does it exhibit!On whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our Union? Who has been deprived of any right of person or property? Who restrained from offering his vows in the mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of his being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed in their fullest extent;and I add with peculiar satisfaction that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on anyone for the crime of high treason.Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these beneficent duties might doubt it in trials which put to the test its strength and efficiency as a member of the great community of nations.Here too experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its favor.Just as this Constitution was put into action several of the principal States of Europe had become much agitated and some of them seriously convulsed.Destructive wars ensued, which have of late only been terminated.In the course of these conflicts the United States received great injury from several of the parties.It was their interest to stand aloof from the contest, to demand justice from the party committing the injury, and to cultivate by a fair and honorable conduct the friendship of all.War became at length inevitable, and the result has shown that our Government is equal to that, the greatest of trials, under the most unfavorable circumstances.Of the virtue of the people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and the militia I need not speak.Such, then, is the happy Government under which we livea Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is formed;a Government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen may by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized by the Constitution;which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at variance one portion of the community with another;a Government which protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to protect the nation against injustice from foreign powers.Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cherish our Union and to cling to the Government which supports it.Fortunate as we are in our political institutions, we have not been less so in other circumstances on which our prosperity and happiness essentially depend.Situated within the temperate zone, and extending through many degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the varieties of climate, and every production incident to that portion of the globe.Penetrating internally to the Great Lakes and beyond the sources of the great rivers which communicate through our whole interior, no country was ever happier with respect to its domain.Blessed, too, with a fertile soil, our produce has always been very abundant, leaving, even in years the least favorable, a surplus for the wants of our fellow-men in other countries.Such is our peculiar felicity that there is not a part of our Union that is not particularly interested in preserving it.The great agricultural interest of the nation prospers under its protection.Local interests are not less fostered by it.Our fellow-citizens of the North engaged in navigation find great encouragement in being made the favored carriers of the vast productions of the other portions of the United States, while the inhabitants of these are amply recompensed, in their turn, by the nursery for seamen and naval force thus formed and reared up for the support of our common rights.Our manufactures find a generous encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic industry, and the surplus of our produce a steady and profitable market by local wants in less-favored parts at home.Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it is the interest of every citizen to maintain it.What are the dangers which menace us? If any exist they ought to be ascertained and guarded against.In explaining my sentiments on this subject it may be asked, What raised us to the present happy state? How did we accomplish the Revolution? How remedy the defects of the first instrument of our Union, by infusing into the National Government sufficient power for national purposes, without impairing the just rights of the States or affecting those of individuals? How sustain and pass with glory through the late war? The Government has been in the hands of the people.To the people, therefore, and to the faithful and able depositaries of their trust is the credit due.Had the people of the United States been educated in different principles, had they been less intelligent, less independent, or less virtuous, can it be believed that we should have maintained the same steady and consistent career or been blessed with the same success? While, then, the constituent body retains its present sound and healthful state everything will be safe.They will choose competent and faithful representatives for every department.It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty.Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found.The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.Let us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force.Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of attention.Experiencing the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved in war, and it may in that event be the object of the adverse party to overset our Government, to break our Union, and demolish us as a nation.Our distance from Europe and the just, moderate, and pacific policy of our Government may form some security against these dangers, but they ought to be anticipated and guarded against.Many of our citizens are engaged in commerce and navigation, and all of them are in a certain degree dependent on their prosperous state.Many are engaged in the fisheries.These interests are exposed to invasion in the wars between other powers, and we should disregard the faithful admonition of experience if we did not expect it.We must support our rights or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties.A people who fail to do it can scarcely be said to hold a place among independent nations.National honor is national property of the highest value.The sentiment in the mind of every citizen is national strength.It ought therefore to be cherished.To secure us against these dangers our coast and inland frontiers should be fortified, our Army and Navy, regulated upon just principles as to the force of each, be kept in perfect order, and our militia be placed on the best practicable footing.To put our extensive coast in such a state of defense as to secure our cities and interior from invasion will be attended with expense, but the work when finished will be permanent, and it is fair to presume that a single campaign of invasion by a naval force superior to our own, aided by a few thousand land troops, would expose us to greater expense, without taking into the estimate the loss of property and distress of our citizens, than would be sufficient for this great work.Our land and naval forces should be moderate, but adequate to the necessary purposesthe former to garrison and preserve our fortifications and to meet the first invasions of a foreign foe, and, while constituting the elements of a greater force, to preserve the science as well as all the necessary implements of war in a state to be brought into activity in the event of war;the latter, retained within the limits proper in a state of peace, might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the United States with dignity in the wars of other powers and in saving the property of their citizens from spoliation.In time of war, with the enlargement of which the great naval resources of the country render it susceptible, and which should be duly fostered in time of peace, it would contribute essentially, both as an auxiliary of defense and as a powerful engine of annoyance, to diminish the calamities of war and to bring the war to a speedy and honorable termination.But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety of these States and of everything dear to a free people must depend in an eminent degree on the militia.Invasions may be made too formidable to be resisted by any land and naval force which it would comport either with the principles of our Government or the circumstances of the United States to maintain.In such cases recourse must be had to the great body of the people, and in a manner to produce the best effect.It is of the highest importance, therefore, that they be so organized and trained as to be prepared for any emergency.The arrangement should be such as to put at the command of the Government the ardent patriotism and youthful vigor of the country.If formed on equal and just principles, it can not be oppressive.It is the crisis which makes the pressure, and not the laws which provide a remedy for it.This arrangement should be formed, too, in time of peace, to be the better prepared for war.With such an organization of such a people the United States have nothing to dread from foreign invasion.At its approach an overwhelming force of gallant men might always be put in motion.Other interests of high importance will claim attention, among which the improvement of our country by roads and canals, proceeding always with a constitutional sanction, holds a distinguished place.By thus facilitating the intercourse between the States we shall add much to the convenience and comfort of our fellow-citizens, much to the ornament of the country, and, what is of greater importance, we shall shorten distances, and, by making each part more accessible to and dependent on the other, we shall bind the Union more closely together.Nature has done so much for us by intersecting the country with so many great rivers, bays, and lakes, approaching from distant points so near to each other, that the inducement to complete the work seems to be peculiarly strong.A more interesting spectacle was perhaps never seen than is exhibited within the limits of the United Statesa territory so vast and advantageously situated, containing objects so grand, so useful, so happily connected in all their parts!

Our manufacturers will likewise require the systematic and fostering care of the Government.Possessing as we do all the raw materials, the fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend in the degree we have done on supplies from other countries.While we are thus dependent the sudden event of war, unsought and unexpected, can not fail to plunge us into the most serious difficulties.It is important, too, that the capital which nourishes our manufacturers should be domestic, as its influence in that case instead of exhausting, as it may do in foreign hands, would be felt advantageously on agriculture and every other branch of industry.Equally important is it to provide at home a market for our raw materials, as by extending the competition it will enhance the price and protect the cultivator against the casualties incident to foreign markets.With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations and to act with kindness and liberality in all our transactions.Equally proper is it to persevere in our efforts to extend to them the advantages of civilization.The great amount of our revenue and the flourishing state of the Treasury are a full proof of the competency of the national resources for any emergency, as they are of the willingness of our fellow-citizens to bear the burdens which the public necessities require.The vast amount of vacant lands, the value of which daily augments, forms an additional resource of great extent and duration.These resources, besides accomplishing every other necessary purpose, put it completely in the power of the United States to discharge the national debt at an early period.Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind;it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it with the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for the faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is raised.The Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse.It is its duty to see that the disbursement has been honestly made.To meet the requisite responsibility every facility should be afforded to the Executive to enable it to bring the public agents intrusted with the public money strictly and promptly to account.Nothing should be presumed against them;but if, with the requisite facilities, the public money is suffered to lie long and uselessly in their hands, they will not be the only defaulters, nor will the demoralizing effect be confined to them.It will evince a relaxation and want of tone in the Administration which will be felt by the whole community.I shall do all I can to secure economy and fidelity in this important branch of the Administration, and I doubt not that the Legislature will perform its duty with equal zeal.A thorough examination should be regularly made, and I will promote it.It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the discharge of these duties at a time when the United States are blessed with peace.It is a state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness.It will be my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the Executive, on just principles with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of any and rendering to each what is its due.Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmony of opinion which pervades our Union.Discord does not belong to our system.Union is recommended as well by the free and benign principles of our Government, extending its blessings to every individual, as by the other eminent advantages attending it.The American people have encountered together great dangers and sustained severe trials with success.They constitute one great family with a common interest.Experience has enlightened us on some questions of essential importance to the country.The progress has been slow, dictated by a just reflection and a faithful regard to every interest connected with it.To promote this harmony in accord with the principles of our republican Government and in a manner to give them the most complete effect, and to advance in all other respects the best interests of our Union, will be the object of my constant and zealous exertions.Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so complete.If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy.In contemplating what we have still to perform, the heart of every citizen must expand with joy when he reflects how near our Government has approached to perfection;that in respect to it we have no essential improvement to make;that the great object is to preserve it in the essential principles and features which characterize it, and that is to be done by preserving the virtue and enlightening the minds of the people;and as a security against foreign dangers to adopt such arrangements as are indispensable to the support of our independence, our rights and liberties.If we persevere in the career in which we have advanced so far and in the path already traced, we can not fail, under the favor of a gracious Providence, to attain the high destiny which seems to await us.In the Administrations of the illustrious men who have preceded me in this high station, with some of whom I have been connected by the closest ties from early life, examples are presented which will always be found highly instructive and useful to their successors.From these I shall endeavor to derive all the advantages which they may afford.Of my immediate predecessor, under whom so important a portion of this great and successful experiment has been made, I shall be pardoned for expressing my earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retirement the affections of a grateful country, the best reward of exalted talents and the most faithful and meritorious service.Relying on the aid to be derived from the other departments of the Government, I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.安德魯·杰克遜

第二次就職演講

星期一,1833年3月4日 論國內外政策

公民們：

美國人民通過自愿選舉所表達的意志，要求我站在你們面前通過這一莊重的儀式，作為我連任合眾國總統職務的準備。你們對我在一個不無困難的時期執政的情況表示認可，對我良好的愿望再次表示信賴，對此我實在我不出適當的言詞來表達我的感激。我將繼續盡我微薄之力管理政府，維護你們的自由，促進你們的幸福，以此來表達我的感激之憎。

在過會4年里發生了這么多事件，這必然引起——有時是在最微妙和最痛苦的情況下——我對許多必須由中央政府執行的原則和政策的看法，因此，我必須在此列提到與某些原則和政策有關的一些主要問題。

在目前的這部憲法制定后不久，我國政府所采取的、并為歷屆政府普遍奉行的外交政策，獲得了幾乎全面成功的榮譽，并提高了我們在世界各國中的聲望。對所有的人一視同仁，不向任何人的邪惡屈服，乃是我當政期間的指導方針。其結果非常成功，我們不僅和世界各國和睦相處，也很少有引起爭端的緣由，至于尚未調整的也只是一些元足輕重的問題。

在這屆政府執行的國內政策上有兩個目標特別值得人民及其代表的注意，這兩個目標一直是，并仍將繼續是我日益關注的問題。這就是維護幾個州的權利和維護聯邦的完整。

這兩大目標必然是相關的，只有在這些州的適當范圍內開明地行使各自的權力并符合憲法所表達的公眾的意志，才能達到這些目標。要達到這個目偽，所有的人都有責任樂意地和富有愛國心地服從憲法所規定的法律，從而提高并增強人民親自為他們的政府所規定的幾個州和合眾國的那些法律的信心。

我任公職的經驗和對生活的略微高超的觀察證實了我長久以來所形成的觀點：廢除我們的州政府或者取消它們對地方事務的控制，必然會直接導致單命或無政府狀態，最終則導致專制和軍事控制。因此，如果中央政府侵害了各州的部分權利，也就損害了自身的部分權力，并減損了部分的創造能力。如果向胞們切實銘記這些考慮，便會發現我準備行使我的憲法權力，以阻止那些直接或間接侵犯州權、或企圖加強中央政府政治權力的各種措施。但是，具有同等而且確實是無可估量重要性的是這些州的聯合，以及所有各州都大力支持中央政府行使其公正的權為，以此來維護其聯合的神圣職責。你們曾被理智地告誡過：“你們要習慣于像對待護佑你們政治上的安全與繁榮的守護神那樣想到它或談論它，要小心翼翼、無微不至地保護它；要駁斥一切拋棄它的想法，即使對它抱有絲毫懷疑亦不允許；要義正詞嚴地反對剛回頭的、一切可能使我國的任何部分與其他部分疏遠并削弱連接全國各地的神圣紐帶的種種企圖”。沒有聯合，我們的獨立和自由就永遠不會取得，沒有聯合，獨立和自由也決得不到維護，如果我國分裂為24個獨立的地區，或者即使數量上少一些，我們的國內貿易將為無數的限制和苛稅所累；遙遠的市鎮與地區之間的通訊聯系將受阻或被切斷；我們的孩子將被迫當兵，使他們現在還在和平耕種地失去自由，失去這絕好的政體，失去和平、富裕和幸福。因此，支持聯邦，我們就支持了自由人和博愛主義者所珍視的一切。

我站在你們面前的這一時刻充分地引起了人們的注意。世界各國的目光都在注視著我們的共和政體。目前這個危機的結果將決定全人類對我們聯邦制政府的可行性的看法。置于我們手中的賭注是巨大的，置于美國人民肩上的責任是重大的。讓我們意識到我們對全世界表明的這種態度的重要性。讓我們運用我們的克制態度和堅定信念，讓我們將我們的國家從所處的危險中解脫出來，從這些危險所反復說明的教訓中汲取智念。

這些觀察所得出的道理給我留下深刻的印象，既然我必須對我即將作的莊嚴誓詞負責，我將繼續竭盡全力維護憲法所規定的正當權力，將我們合眾國的福祉無損地傳至后代，同時，我的目標是，以我的官方行動，反復灌輸中央政府只行使明確地授予它的權力的必要性；鼓勵政府節儉開支；不向人民征收超過達到這些目標所需要的款項，最大限度地提高社會各階級和聯邦各州的利益。我們要時刻牢記，在進入社會時·個人必須放棄一份自由以維護其他人的自由“，我的愿望將是履行我的職責，并和全國各地的同胞們一起，培養一種寬容謙讓的精神，使我們的公民安心于為維護更大的利益而必須做出部分的犧牲，從而是我們寶貴的政府和聯邦能博得美國人民的信任和愛戴。最后，我站在全能的上帝面前作最熱忱的祈禱，我們的共和國在他的懷抱里已經從嬰兒成長到今日，愿他主宰我得一切愿望和行動，并激發公民們的信念，使我們能免遭一切危險，永遠成為一個團結和幸福的民族。

Andrew Jackson Second Inaugural Address Monday, March 4, 1833 Fellow-Citizens:

THE will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term.For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude.It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness.So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily called forthsometimes under circumstances the most delicate and painfulmy views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the General Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with some of them.The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued by successive Administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations of the earth.To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted.In the domestic policy of this Government there are two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude.They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union.These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed.To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own government.My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination.In proportion, therefore, as the General Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation.Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the General Government.But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers.You have been wisely admonished to “accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.” Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved;without union they never can be maintained.Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions;communication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off;our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace;the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges.The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union.In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist.The time at which I stand before you is full of interest.The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic.The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government.Great is the stake placed in our hands;great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States.Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world.Let us exercise forbearance and firmness.Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate.Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union.At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated;to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government;to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union.Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society “individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest,” it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people.Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.威廉·亨利·哈里森

就職演講

星期四,1841年3月4日

我國的政黨

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同胞們，在結束演講之前，我必須談談我國目前存在的政黨問題，我認為有一點是顯而易見的；目前支配各個政黨的強烈的黨派情緒，如果不能完全消除，也應該極大地削弱，否則后果不堪設想。

在一個共和國里，如果說政黨的存在是必要的，以便確保某種程度的警覺，使公共職能機構不越出法律和職責的范圍，那么，政黨的作用應該到此為止。超過這一限度，政黨就會成為公共美德的破壞力量，就會培育與自由精神相抵觸的情緒，就會最終不可避免地毀掉自由。以往的某些共和國不乏這樣的例子。在那里，熱愛祖國和熱愛自由一度是全體公民的主導情感，但是，盡管自由政府的名義和形式還繼續存在，而在公民的心中，上述情感已蕩然無存，一位英國著名作家說得很精彩：“在羅馬元老院，屋大維有自己的黨，安東尼也有自己的黨，共和國卻一無所有。”然而，元老院照舊在自由的神殿里開會，高談共和國的神圣、美麗，凝望老布魯圖、柯蒂和德西等人的雕像，人民照舊在廣場集會，但不像在卡米盧和大小西庇阿時代，為選舉執政官而自由投票，或對元老院的議案作出裁決，而是從各自的黨派頭目那里領取一份贓物，還吵吵嚷嚷地要這要那，因為從高盧、埃及和小亞細亞收繳的贓物，將能提供更多的份額。自由精神無影無蹤。為避開文明人的住地，自由精神已到錫西厄或斯堪的納維亞的荒野中錄求庇護。因此，由于同樣的原因和影響，自由精神也會從我們的國會和議事堂銷聲匿跡。這不僅對我國，而且對世界來說都是可怕的災難。每一個愛國者，都應力求避免這一災難，面任何可能導致這種災難的事態發展，何必須立即制止。現在，這種趨勢已經存在——確實已經存在。我一直是同胞們的朋友，我從不對你們阿諛奉迎，你門對我的偏愛使我榮登高位，因此，我有責任告訴你們：我國存在著一種與你們的最大利益相抵觸的情緒——一種與自由本身相抵觸的情緒。這是一種狹隘的、自私的情緒。為了擴大少數人的權勢，它甚至不惜毀掉全體人民的利益。徹底的糾正要靠人民，然而，人民賦予我的手段可能會起一些作用。我們需要團結起來，但不是為黨派的緣故而團結起來。而是為了國家、為了捍衛她的利益和榮譽并抵御外國入侵、為了捍衛先輩們如此光榮斗爭過的原則而團結起來。在我看來，這個目標一定能實現。我將竭盡所能，至少要防止在立法機構內形成一個執政黨。我提出的任何措施，如果不符合國會議員的判斷，如果有悖于他們對選民的責任感，我不指望他們任何人給予任何支持；我也不指望事先就得到人民的信任，而只求得到杰斐遜先生所要求的那種信任，以便“堅定地、有效地依法管理大家的事務”。

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William Henry Harrison Inaugural Address Thursday, March 4, 1841

Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the residue of my life to fill the chief executive office of this great and free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oaths which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary qualification for the performance of its duties;and in obedience to a custom coeval with our Government and what I believe to be your expectations I proceed to present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I shall be called upon to perform.It was the remark of a Roman consul in an early period of that celebrated Republic that a most striking contrast was observable in the conduct of candidates for offices of power and trust before and after obtaining them, they seldom carrying out in the latter case the pledges and promises made in the former.However much the world may have improved in many respects in the lapse of upward of two thousand years since the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear that a strict examination of the annals of some of the modern elective governments would develop similar instances of violated confidence.Although the fiat of the people has gone forth proclaiming me the Chief Magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remaining to be done, it may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up the delusion under which they may be supposed to have acted in relation to my principles and opinions;and perhaps there may be some in this assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn those I shall now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they are now uttered.But the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel their fears.The outline of principles to govern and measures to be adopted by an Administration not yet begun will soon be exchanged for immutable history, and I shall stand either exonerated by my countrymen or classed with the mass of those who promised that they might deceive and flattered with the intention to betray.However strong may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confiding people, I too well understand the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed from the magnitude of the power which it has been the pleasure of the people to commit to my hands not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my country.The broad foundation upon which our Constitution rests being the peoplea breath of theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, change, or modify itit can be assigned to none of the great divisions of government but to that of democracy.If such is its theory, those who are called upon to administer it must recognize as its leading principle the duty of shaping their measures so as to produce the greatest good to the greatest number.But with these broad admissions, if we would compare the sovereignty acknowledged to exist in the mass of our people with the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by those which have been considered most purely democratic, we shall find a most essential difference.All others lay claim to power limited only by their own will.The majority of our citizens, on the contrary, possess a sovereignty with an amount of power precisely equal to that which has been granted to them by the parties to the national compact, and nothing beyond.We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has made no distinction amongst men;that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.The Constitution of the United States is the instrument containing this grant of power to the several departments composing the Government.On an examination of that instrument it will be found to contain declarations of power granted and of power withheld.The latter is also susceptible of division into power which the majority had the right to grant, but which they do not think proper to intrust to their agents, and that which they could not have granted, not being possessed by themselves.In other words, there are certain rights possessed by each individual American citizen which in his compact with the others he has never surrendered.Some of them, indeed, he is unable to surrender, being, in the language of our system, unalienable.The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was to him a shield only against a petty provincial ruler, whilst the proud democrat of Athens would console himself under a sentence of death for a supposed violation of the national faithwhich no one understood and which at times was the subject of the mockery of allor the banishment from his home, his family, and his country with or without an alleged cause, that it was the act not of a single tyrant or hated aristocracy, but of his assembled countrymen.Far different is the power of our sovereignty.It can interfere with no one's faith, prescribe forms of worship for no one's observance, inflict no punishment but after well-ascertained guilt, the result of investigation under rules prescribed by the Constitution itself.These precious privileges, and those scarcely less important of giving expression to his thoughts and opinions, either by writing or speaking, unrestrained but by the liability for injury to others, and that of a full participation in all the advantages which flow from the Government, the acknowledged property of all, the American citizen derives from no charter granted by his fellow-man.He claims them because he is himself a man, fashioned by the same Almighty hand as the rest of his species and entitled to a full share of the blessings with which He has endowed them.Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty possessed by the people of the United States and the restricted grant of power to the Government which they have adopted, enough has been given to accomplish all the objects for which it was created.It has been found powerful in war, and hitherto justice has been administered, and intimate union effected, domestic tranquillity preserved, and personal liberty secured to the citizen.As was to be expected, however, from the defect of language and the necessarily sententious manner in which the Constitution is written, disputes have arisen as to the amount of power which it has actually granted or was intended to grant.This is more particularly the case in relation to that part of the instrument which treats of the legislative branch, and not only as regards the exercise of powers claimed under a general clause giving that body the authority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the specified powers, but in relation to the latter also.It is, however, consolatory to reflect that most of the instances of alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the Constitution have ultimately received the sanction of a majority of the people.And the fact that many of our statesmen most distinguished for talent and patriotism have been at one time or other of their political career on both sides of each of the most warmly disputed questions forces upon us the inference that the errors, if errors there were, are attributable to the intrinsic difficulty in many instances of ascertaining the intentions of the framers of the Constitution rather than the influence of any sinister or unpatriotic motive.But the great danger to our institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation by the Government of power not granted by the people, but by the accumulation in one of the departments of that which was assigned to others.Limited as are the powers which have been granted, still enough have been granted to constitute a despotism if concentrated in one of the departments.This danger is greatly heightened, as it has been always observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of one department upon another than upon their own reserved rights.When the Constitution of the United States first came from the hands of the Convention which formed it, many of the sternest republicans of the day were alarmed at the extent of the power which had been granted to the Federal Government, and more particularly of that portion which had been assigned to the executive branch.There were in it features which appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple representative democracy or republic, and knowing the tendency of power to increase itself, particularly when exercised by a single individual, predictions were made that at no very remote period the Government would terminate in virtual monarchy.It would not become me to say that the fears of these patriots have been already realized;but as I sincerely believe that the tendency of measures and of men's opinions for some years past has been in that direction, it is, I conceive, strictly proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore given of my determination to arrest the progress of that tendency if it really exists and restore the Government to its pristine health and vigor, as far as this can be effected by any legitimate exercise of the power placed in my hands.I proceed to state in as summary a manner as I can my opinion of the sources of the evils which have been so extensively complained of and the correctives which may be applied.Some of the former are unquestionably to be found in the defects of the Constitution;others, in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of some of its provisions.Of the former is the eligibility of the same individual to a second term of the Presidency.The sagacious mind of Mr.Jefferson early saw and lamented this error, and attempts have been made, hitherto without success, to apply the amendatory power of the States to its correction.As, however, one mode of correction is in the power of every President, and consequently in mine, it would be useless, and perhaps invidious, to enumerate the evils of which, in the opinion of many of our fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the Constitution may have been the source and the bitter fruits which we are still to gather from it if it continues to disfigure our system.It may be observed, however, as a general remark, that republics can commit no greater error than to adopt or continue any feature in their systems of government which may be calculated to create or increase the lover of power in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges them to commit the management of their affairs;and surely nothing is more likely to produce such a state of mind than the long continuance of an office of high trust.Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more destructive of all those noble feelings which belong to the character of a devoted republican patriot.When this corrupting passion once takes possession of the human mind, like the love of gold it becomes insatiable.It is the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows with his growth and strengthens with the declining years of its victim.If this is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit the service of that officer at least to whom she has intrusted the management of her foreign relations, the execution of her laws, and the command of her armies and navies to a period so short as to prevent his forgetting that he is the accountable agent, not the principal;the servant, not the master.Until an amendment of the Constitution can be effected public opinion may secure the desired object.I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge heretofore given that under no circumstances will I consent to serve a second term.But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged defects of the Constitution in the want of limit to the continuance of the Executive power in the same hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less from a misconstruction of that instrument as it regards the powers actually given.I can not conceive that by a fair construction any or either of its provisions would be found to constitute the President a part of the legislative power.It can not be claimed from the power to recommend, since, although enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which he holds in common with every other citizen;and although there may be something more of confidence in the propriety of the measures recommended in the one case than in the other, in the obligations of ultimate decision there can be no difference.In the language of the Constitution, “all the legislative powers” which it grants “are vested in the Congress of the United States.” It would be a solecism in language to say that any portion of these is not included in the whole.It may be said, indeed, that the Constitution has given to the Executive the power to annul the acts of the legislative body by refusing to them his assent.So a similar power has necessarily resulted from that instrument to the judiciary, and yet the judiciary forms no part of the Legislature.There is, it is true, this difference between these grants of power: The Executive can put his negative upon the acts of the Legislature for other cause than that of want of conformity to the Constitution, whilst the judiciary can only declare void those which violate that instrument.But the decision of the judiciary is final in such a case, whereas in every instance where the veto of the Executive is applied it may be overcome by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress.The negative upon the acts of the legislative by the executive authority, and that in the hands of one individual, would seem to be an incongruity in our system.Like some others of a similar character, however, it appears to be highly expedient, and if used only with the forbearance and in the spirit which was intended by its authors it may be productive of great good and be found one of the best safeguards to the Union.At the period of the formation of the Constitution the principle does not appear to have enjoyed much favor in the State governments.It existed but in two, and in one of these there was a plural executive.If we would search for the motives which operated upon the purely patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the Constitution for the adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to the leading democratic principle that the majority should govern, we must reject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to the ordinary course of legislation.They knew too well the high degree of intelligence which existed among the people and the enlightened character of the State legislatures not to have the fullest confidence that the two bodies elected by them would be worthy representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that they would require no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures which the circumstances of the country might require.And it is preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the center of the country, could better understand the wants and wishes of the people than their own immediate representatives, who spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of interest, duty, and affection.To assist or control Congress, then, in its ordinary legislation could not, I conceive, have been the motive for conferring the veto power on the President.This argument acquires additional force from the fact of its never having been thus used by the first six Presidentsand two of them were members of the Convention, one presiding over its deliberations and the other bearing a larger share in consummating the labors of that august body than any other person.But if bills were never returned to Congress by either of the Presidents above referred to upon the ground of their being inexpedient or not as well adapted as they might be to the wants of the people, the veto was applied upon that of want of conformity to the Constitution or because errors had been committed from a too hasty enactment.There is another ground for the adoption of the veto principle, which had probably more influence in recommending it to the Convention than any other.I refer to the security which it gives to the just and equitable action of the Legislature upon all parts of the Union.It could not but have occurred to the Convention that in a country so extensive, embracing so great a variety of soil and climate, and consequently of products, and which from the same causes must ever exhibit a great difference in the amount of the population of its various sections, calling for a great diversity in the employments of the people, that the legislation of the majority might not always justly regard the rights and interests of the minority, and that acts of this character might be passed under an express grant by the words of the Constitution, and therefore not within the competency of the judiciary to declare void;that however enlightened and patriotic they might suppose from past experience the members of Congress might be, and however largely partaking, in the general, of the liberal feelings of the people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so constituted should not sometimes be controlled by local interests and sectional feelings.It was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire from whose situation and mode of appointment more independence and freedom from such influences might be expected.Such a one was afforded by the executive department constituted by the Constitution.A person elected to that high office, having his constituents in every section, State, and subdivision of the Union, must consider himself bound by the most solemn sanctions to guard, protect, and defend the rights of all and of every portion, great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the rest.I consider the veto power, therefore, given by the Constitution to the Executive of the United States solely as a conservative power, to be used only first, to protect the Constitution from violation;secondly, the people from the effects of hasty legislation where their will has been probably disregarded or not well understood, and, thirdly, to prevent the effects of combinations violative of the rights of minorities.In reference to the second of these objects I may observe that I consider it the right and privilege of the people to decide disputed points of the Constitution arising from the general grant of power to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly given;and I believe with Mr.Madison that “repeated recognitions under varied circumstances in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government, accompanied by indications in different modes of the concurrence of the general will of the nation,” as affording to the President sufficient authority for his considering such disputed points as settled.Upward of half a century has elapsed since the adoption of the present form of government.It would be an object more highly desirable than the gratification of the curiosity of speculative statesmen if its precise situation could be ascertained, a fair exhibit made of the operations of each of its departments, of the powers which they respectively claim and exercise, of the collisions which have occurred between them or between the whole Government and those of the States or either of them.We could then compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial of our system with what it was in the commencement of its operations and ascertain whether the predictions of the patriots who opposed its adoption or the confident hopes of its advocates have been best realized.The great dread of the former seems to have been that the reserved powers of the States would be absorbed by those of the Federal Government and a consolidated power established, leaving to the States the shadow only of that independent action for which they had so zealously contended and on the preservation of which they relied as the last hope of liberty.Without denying that the result to which they looked with so much apprehension is in the way of being realized, it is obvious that they did not clearly see the mode of its accomplishment.The General Government has seized upon none of the reserved rights of the States.As far as any open warfare may have gone, the State authorities have amply maintained their rights.To a casual observer our system presents no appearance of discord between the different members which compose it.Even the addition of many new ones has produced no jarring.They move in their respective orbits in perfect harmony with the central head and with each other.But there is still an undercurrent at work by which, if not seasonably checked, the worst apprehensions of our antifederal patriots will be realized, and not only will the State authorities be overshadowed by the great increase of power in the executive department of the General Government, but the character of that Government, if not its designation, be essentially and radically changed.This state of things has been in part effected by causes inherent in the Constitution and in part by the never-failing tendency of political power to increase itself.By making the President the sole distributer of all the patronage of the Government the framers of the Constitution do not appear to have anticipated at how short a period it would become a formidable instrument to control the free operations of the State governments.Of trifling importance at first, it had early in Mr.Jefferson's Administration become so powerful as to create great alarm in the mind of that patriot from the potent influence it might exert in controlling the freedom of the elective franchise.If such could have then been the effects of its influence, how much greater must be the danger at this time, quadrupled in amount as it certainly is and more completely under the control of the Executive will than their construction of their powers allowed or the forbearing characters of all the early Presidents permitted them to make.But it is not by the extent of its patronage alone that the executive department has become dangerous, but by the use which it appears may be made of the appointing power to bring under its control the whole revenues of the country.The Constitution has declared it to be the duty of the President to see that the laws are executed, and it makes him the Commander in Chief of the Armies and Navy of the United States.If the opinion of the most approved writers upon that species of mixed government which in modern Europe is termed monarchy in contradistinction to despotism is correct, there was wanting no other addition to the powers of our Chief Magistrate to stamp a monarchical character on our Government but the control of the public finances;and to me it appears strange indeed that anyone should doubt that the entire control which the President possesses over the officers who have the custody of the public money, by the power of removal with or without cause, does, for all mischievous purposes at least, virtually subject the treasure also to his disposal.The first Roman Emperor, in his attempt to seize the sacred treasure, silenced the opposition of the officer to whose charge it had been committed by a significant allusion to his sword.By a selection of political instruments for the care of the public money a reference to their commissions by a President would be quite as effectual an argument as that of Caesar to the Roman knight.I am not insensible of the great difficulty that exists in drawing a proper plan for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public revenues, and I know the importance which has been attached by men of great abilities and patriotism to the divorce, as it is called, of the Treasury from the banking institutions.It is not the divorce which is complained of, but the unhallowed union of the Treasury with the executive department, which has created such extensive alarm.To this danger to our republican institutions and that created by the influence given to the Executive through the instrumentality of the Federal officers I propose to apply all the remedies which may be at my command.It was certainly a great error in the framers of the Constitution not to have made the officer at the head of the Treasury Department entirely independent of the Executive.He should at least have been removable only upon the demand of the popular branch of the Legislature.I have determined never to remove a Secretary of the Treasury without communicating all the circumstances attending such removal to both Houses of Congress.The influence of the Executive in controlling the freedom of the elective franchise through the medium of the public officers can be effectually checked by renewing the prohibition published by Mr.Jefferson forbidding their interference in elections further than giving their own votes, and their own independence secured by an assurance of perfect immunity in exercising this sacred privilege of freemen under the dictates of their own unbiased judgments.Never with my consent shall an officer of the people, compensated for his services out of their pockets, become the pliant instrument of Executive will.There is no part of the means placed in the hands of the Executive which might be used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes than the control of the public press.The maxim which our ancestors derived from the mother country that “the freedom of the press is the great bulwark of civil and religious liberty” is one of the most precious legacies which they have left us.We have learned, too, from our own as well as the experience of other countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever or by whatever pretense imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of despotism.The presses in the necessary employment of the Government should never be used “to clear the guilty or to varnish crime.” A decent and manly examination of the acts of the Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged.Upon another occasion I have given my opinion at some length upon the impropriety of Executive interference in the legislation of Congressthat the article in the Constitution making it the duty of the President to communicate information and authorizing him to recommend measures was not intended to make him the source in legislation, and, in particular, that he should never be looked to for schemes of finance.It would be very strange, indeed, that the Constitution should have strictly forbidden one branch of the Legislature from interfering in the origination of such bills and that it should be considered proper that an altogether different department of the Government should be permitted to do so.Some of our best political maxims and opinions have been drawn from our parent isle.There are others, however, which can not be introduced in our system without singular incongruity and the production of much mischief, and this I conceive to be one.No matter in which of the houses of Parliament a bill may originate nor by whom introduceda minister or a member of the oppositionby the fiction of law, or rather of constitutional principle, the sovereign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably to his will and then submitted it to Parliament for their advice and consent.Now the very reverse is the case here, not only with regard to the principle, but the forms prescribed by the Constitution.The principle certainly assigns to the only body constituted by the Constitution(the legislative body)the power to make laws, and the forms even direct that the enactment should be ascribed to them.The Senate, in relation to revenue bills, have the right to propose amendments, and so has the Executive by the power given him to return them to the House of Representatives with his objections.It is in his power also to propose amendments in the existing revenue laws, suggested by his observations upon their defective or injurious operation.But the delicate duty of devising schemes of revenue should be left where the Constitution has placed itwith the immediate representatives of the people.For similar reasons the mode of keeping the public treasure should be prescribed by them, and the further removed it may be from the control of the Executive the more wholesome the arrangement and the more in accordance with republican principle.Connected with this subject is the character of the currency.The idea of making it exclusively metallic, however well intended, appears to me to be fraught with more fatal consequences than any other scheme having no relation to the personal rights of the citizens that has ever been devised.If any single scheme could produce the effect of arresting at once that mutation of condition by which thousands of our most indigent fellow-citizens by their industry and enterprise are raised to the possession of wealth, that is the one.If there is one measure better calculated than another to produce that state of things so much deprecated by all true republicans, by which the rich are daily adding to their hoards and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic currency.Or if there is a process by which the character of the country for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be destroyed by the great increase and neck toleration of usury, it is an exclusive metallic currency.14

Amongst the other duties of a delicate character which the President is called upon to perform is the supervision of the government of the Territories of the United States.Those of them which are destined to become members of our great political family are compensated by their rapid progress from infancy to manhood for the partial and temporary deprivation of their political rights.It is in this District only where American citizens are to be found who under a settled policy are deprived of many important political privileges without any inspiring hope as to the future.Their only consolation under circumstances of such deprivation is that of the devoted exterior guards of a campthat their sufferings secure tranquillity and safety within.Are there any of their countrymen, who would subject them to greater sacrifices, to any other humiliations than those essentially necessary to the security of the object for which they were thus separated from their fellow-citizens? Are their rights alone not to be guaranteed by the application of those great principles upon which all our constitutions are founded? We are told by the greatest of British orators and statesmen that at the commencement of the War of the Revolution the most stupid men in England spoke of “their American subjects.” Are there, indeed, citizens of any of our States who have dreamed of their subjects in the District of Columbia? Such dreams can never be realized by any agency of mine.The people of the District of Columbia are not the subjects of the people of the States, but free American citizens.Being in the latter condition when the Constitution was formed, no words used in that instrument could have been intended to deprive them of that character.If there is anything in the great principle of unalienable rights so emphatically insisted upon in our Declaration of Independence, they could neither make nor the United States accept a surrender of their liberties and become the subjectsin other words, the slavesof their former fellow-citizens.If this be trueand it will scarcely be denied by anyone who has a correct idea of his own rights as an American citizenthe grant to Congress of exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia can be interpreted, so far as respects the aggregate people of the United States, as meaning nothing more than to allow to Congress the controlling power necessary to afford a free and safe exercise of the functions assigned to the General Government by the Constitution.In all other respects the legislation of Congress should be adapted to their peculiar position and wants and be conformable with their deliberate opinions of their own interests.I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respective departments of the Government, as well as all the other authorities of our country, within their appropriate orbits.This is a matter of difficulty in some cases, as the powers which they respectively claim are often not defined by any distinct lines.Mischievous, however, in their tendencies as collisions of this kind may be, those which arise between the respective communities which for certain purposes compose one nation are much more so, for no such nation can long exist without the careful culture of those feelings of confidence and affection which are the effective bonds to union between free and confederated states.Strong as is the tie of interest, it has been often found ineffectual.Men blinded by their passions have been known to adopt measures for their country in direct opposition to all the suggestions of policy.The alternative, then, is to destroy or keep down a bad passion by creating and fostering a good one, and this seems to be the corner stone upon which our American political architects have reared the fabric of our Government.The cement which was to bind it and perpetuate its existence was the affectionate attachment between all its members.To insure the continuance of this feeling, produced at first by a community of dangers, of sufferings, and of interests, the advantages of each were made accessible to all.No participation in any good possessed by any member of our extensive Confederacy, except in domestic government, was withheld from the citizen of any other member.By a process attended with no difficulty, no delay, no expense but that of removal, the citizen of one might become the citizen of any other, and successively of the whole.The lines, too, separating powers to be exercised by the citizens of one State from those of another seem to be so distinctly drawn as to leave no room for misunderstanding.The citizens of each State unite in their persons all the privileges which that character confers and all that they may claim as citizens of the United States, but in no case can the same persons at the same time act as the citizen of two separate States, and he is therefore positively precluded from any interference with the reserved powers of any State but that of which he is for the time being a citizen.He may, indeed, offer to the citizens of other States his advice as to their management, and the form in which it is tendered is left to his own discretion and sense of propriety.It may be observed, however, that organized associations of citizens requiring compliance with their wishes too much resemble the recommendations of Athens to her allies, supported by an armed and powerful fleet.It was, indeed, to the ambition of the leading States of Greece to control the domestic concerns of the others that the destruction of that celebrated Confederacy, and subsequently of all its members, is mainly to be attributed, and it is owing to the absence of that spirit that the Helvetic Confederacy has for so many years been preserved.Never has there been seen in the institutions of the separate members of any confederacy more elements of discord.In the principles and forms of government and religion, as well as in the circumstances of the several Cantons, so marked a discrepancy was observable as to promise anything but harmony in their intercourse or permanency in their alliance, and yet for ages neither has been interrupted.Content with the positive benefits which their union produced, with the independence and safety from foreign aggression which it secured, these sagacious people respected the institutions of each other, however repugnant to their own principles and prejudices.Our Confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be preserved by the same forbearance.Our citizens must be content with the exercise of the powers with which the Constitution clothes them.The attempt of those of one State to control the domestic institutions of another can only result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, the certain harbingers of disunion, violence, and civil war, and the ultimate destruction of our free institutions.Our Confederacy is perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing a common copartnership.There is a fund of power to be exercised under the direction of the joint councils of the allied members, but that which has been reserved by the individual members is intangible by the common Government or the individual members composing it.To attempt it finds no support in the principles of our Constitution.It should be our constant and earnest endeavor mutually to cultivate a spirit of concord and harmony among the various parts of our Confederacy.Experience has abundantly taught us that the agitation by citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not confided to the General Government, but exclusively under the guardianship of the local authorities, is productive of no other consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and injury to the very cause which is intended to be advanced.Of all the great interests which appertain to our country, that of unioncordial, confiding, fraternal unionis by far the most important, since it is the only true and sure guaranty of all others.In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency, some of the States may meet with difficulty in their financial concerns.However deeply we may regret anything imprudent or excessive in the engagements into which States have entered for purposes of their own, it does not become us to disparage the States governments, nor to discourage them from making proper efforts for their own relief.On the contrary, it is our duty to encourage them to the extent of our constitutional authority to apply their best means and cheerfully to make all necessary sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to fulfill their engagements and maintain their credit, for the character and credit of the several States form a part of the character and credit of the whole country.The resources of the country are abundant, the enterprise and activity of our people proverbial, and we may well hope that wise legislation and prudent administration by the respective governments, each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity.

第三篇：中英文對照美國歷屆總統就職演說精選之喬治

中英文對照美國歷屆總統就職演說精選之喬治-布什年就職演說(圖

中英文對照美國歷屆總統就職演說精選之喬治-布什2001年就職演說(圖.txt遇事瀟灑一點，看世糊涂一點。相親是經銷，戀愛叫直銷，拋繡球招親則為圍標。沒有準備請不要開始，沒有能力請不要承諾。愛情這東西，沒得到可能是缺憾，不表白就會有遺憾，可是如果自不量力，就只能抱憾了。Inaugural Address of George W.Bush

January 20, 2001

President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens:

The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country.With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation;and I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.We have a place, all of us, in a long story.A story we continue, but whose end we will not see.It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.It is the American story.A story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.Americans are called upon to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws;and though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea.Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along;and even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our own country.The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth;and sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country.We do not accept this, and we will not allow it.Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation;and this is my solemn pledge, “I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.” I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image and we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.America has never been united by blood or

birth or soil.We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.Every child must be taught these principles.Every citizen must uphold them;and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility.A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.But the stakes for America are never small.If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led.If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism.If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.We must live up to the calling we share.Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment.It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.This commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.America, at its best, is also courageous.Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good.Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us.We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives;we will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent;we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans;we will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge;and we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors.The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake, America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom.We will defend our allies and our interests;we will show purpose without arrogance;we will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength;and to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.America, at its best, is compassionate.In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.Whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault.Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love.The proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hop

e and order in our souls.Where there is suffering, there is duty.Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities, and all of us are diminished when any are hopeless.Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools.Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government.Some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer.Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do.I can pledge our nation to a goal, “When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.”

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience.Though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment.We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments.We find that children and community are the commitments that set us free.Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom.Sometimes in life we are called to do great things.But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love.The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.I will live and lead by these principles, “to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well.” In all of these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.What you do is as important as anything government does.I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort;to defend needed reforms against easy attacks;to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor.I ask you to be citizens.Citizens, not spectators;citizens, not subjects;responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves.When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it.When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson, “We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong.Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?” Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration.The years and changes accumulate, but the themes of this day he would know, “our

nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.”

We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with His purpose.Yet His purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today;to make our country more just and generous;to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.This work continues.This story goes on.And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.God bless you all, and God bless America.喬治-布什2001年就職演說

謝謝大家！

尊敬的芮恩奎斯特大法官，卡特總統，布什總統，克林頓總統，尊敬的來賓們，我的同胞們，這次權利的和平過渡在歷史上是罕見的，但在美國是平常的。我們以樸素的宣誓莊嚴地維護了古老的傳統，同時開始了新的歷程。

首先，我要感謝克林頓總統為這個國家作出的貢獻，也感謝副總統戈爾在競選過程中的熱情與風度。

站在這里，我很榮幸，也有點受寵若驚。在我之前，許多美國領導人從這里起步；在我之后，也會有許多領導人從這里繼續前進。

在美國悠久的歷史中，我們每個人都有自己的位置；我們還在繼續推動著歷史前進，但是我們不可能看到它的盡頭。這是一部新世界的發展史，是一部后浪推前浪的歷史。這是一部美國由奴隸制社會發展成為崇尚自由的社會的歷史。這是一個強國保護而不是占有世界的歷史，是捍衛而不是征服世界的歷史。這就是美國史。它不是一部十全十美的民族發展史，但它是一部在偉大和永恒理想指導下幾代人團結奮斗的歷史。

這些理想中最偉大的是正在慢慢實現的美國的承諾，這就是：每個人都有自身的價值，每個人都有成功的機會，每個人天生都會有所作為的。美國人民肩負著一種使命，那就是要竭力將這個諾言變成生活中和法律上的現實。雖然我們的國家過去在追求實現這個承諾的途中停滯不前甚至倒退，但我們仍將堅定不移地完成這一使命。

在上個世紀的大部分時間里，美國自由民主的信念猶如洶涌大海中的巖石。現在它更像風中的種子，把自由帶給每個民族。在我們的國家，民主不僅僅是一種信念，而是全人類的希望。民主，我們不會獨占，而會竭力讓大家分享。民主，我們將銘記于心并且不斷傳播。225年過去了，我們仍有很長的路要走。

有很多公民取得了成功，但也有人開始懷疑，懷疑我們自己的國家所許下的諾言，甚至懷疑它的公正。失敗的教育，潛在的偏見和出身的環境限制了一些美國人的雄心。有時，我們的分歧是如此之深，似乎我 們雖身處同一個大陸，但不屬于同一個國家。我們不能接受這種分歧，也無法容許它的存在。我們的團結和統一，是每一代領導人和每一個公民的嚴肅使命。在此，我鄭重宣誓：我將竭力建設一個公正、充滿機會的統一國家。我知道這是我們的目標，因為上帝按自己的身形創造了我們，上帝高于一切的力量將引導我們前進。

對這些將我們團結起來并指引我們向前的原則，我們充滿信心。血緣、出身或地域從未將美國聯合起來。只有理想，才能使我們心系一處，超越自己，放棄個人利益，并逐步領會何謂公民。每個孩子都必須學習這些原則。每個公民都必須堅持這些原則。每個移民，只有接受這些原則，才能使我們的國家不喪失而更具美國特色今天，我們在這里重申一個新的信念，即通過發揚謙恭、勇氣、同情心和個性的精神來實現我們國家的理想。美國在它最鼎盛時也沒忘記遵循謙遜有禮的原則。一個文明的社會需要我們每個人品質優良，尊重他人，為人公平和寬宏大量。

有人認為我們的政治制度是如此的微不足道，因為在和平年代，我們所爭論的話題都是無關緊要的。但是，對我們美國來說，我們所討論的問題從來都不是什么小事。如果我們不領導和平事業，那么和平將無人來領導；如果我們不引導我們的孩子們真心地熱愛知識、發揮個性，他們的天分將得不到發揮，理想將難以實現。如果我們不采取適當措施，任憑經濟衰退，最大的受害者將是平民百姓。

我們應該時刻聽取時代的呼喚。謙遜有禮不是戰術也不是感情用事。這是我們最堅定的選擇--在批評聲中贏得信任；在混亂中尋求統一。如果遵循這樣的承諾，我們將會享有共同的成就。

美國有強大的國力作后盾，將會勇往直前。

在大蕭條和戰爭時期，我們的人民在困難面前表現得無比英勇，克服我們共同的困難體現了我們共同的優秀品質。現在，我們正面臨著選擇，如果我們作出正確的選擇，祖輩一定會激勵我們；如果我們的選擇是錯誤的，祖輩會譴責我們的。上帝正眷顧著這個國家，我們必須顯示出我們的勇氣，敢于面對問題，而不是將它們遺留給我們的后代。

我們要共同努力，健全美國的學校教育，不能讓無知和冷漠吞噬更多的年輕生命。我們要改革社會醫療和保險制度，在力所能及的范圍內拯救我們的孩子。我們要減低稅收，恢復經濟，酬勞辛勤工作的美國人民。我們要防患于未然，懈怠會帶來麻煩。我們還要阻止武器泛濫，使新的世紀擺脫恐怖的威脅。

反對自由和反對我們國家的人應該明白：美國仍將積極參與國

際事務，力求世界力量的均衡，讓自由的力量遍及全球。這是歷史的選擇。我們會保護我們的盟國，捍衛我們的利益。我們將謙遜地向世界人民表示我們的目標。我們將堅決反擊各種侵略和不守信用的行徑。我們要向全世界宣傳孕育了我們偉大民族的價值觀。

正處在鼎盛時期的美國也不缺乏同情心。

當我們靜心思考，我們就會明了根深蒂固的貧窮根本不值得我國作出承諾。無論我們如何看待貧窮的原因，我們都必須承認，孩子敢于冒險不等于在犯錯誤。放縱與濫用都為上帝所不容。這些都是缺乏愛的結果。監獄數量的增長雖然看起來是有必要的，但并不能代替我們心中的希望-人人遵紀守法。

哪里有痛苦，我們的義務就在哪里。對我們來說，需要幫助的美國人不是陌生人，而是我們的公民；不是負擔，而是急需救助的對象。當有人陷入絕望時，我們大家都會因此變得渺小。

對公共安全和大眾健康，對民權和學校教育，政府都應負有極大的責任。然而，同情心不只是政府的職責，更是整個國家的義務。有些需要是如此的迫切，有些傷痕是如此的深刻，只有導師的愛撫、牧師的祈禱才能有所感觸。不論是教堂還是慈善機構、猶太會堂還是清真寺，都賦予了我們的社會它們特有的人性，因此它們理應在我們的建設和法律上受到尊重。

我們國家的許多人都不知道貧窮的痛苦。但我們可以聽到那些感觸頗深的人們的傾訴。我發誓我們的國家要達到一種境界：當我們看見受傷的行人倒在遠行的路上，我們決不會袖手旁觀。

正處于鼎盛期的美國重視并期待每個人擔負起自己的責任。

鼓勵人們勇于承擔責任不是讓人們充當替罪羊，而是對人的良知的呼喚。雖然承擔責任意味著犧牲個人利益，但是你能從中體會到一種更加深刻的成就感。

我們實現人生的完整不單是通過擺在我們面前的選擇，而且是通過我們的實踐來實現。我們知道，通過對整個社會和我們的孩子們盡我們的義務，我們將得到最終自由。

我們的公共利益依賴于我們獨立的個性；依賴于我們的公民義務，家庭紐帶和基本的公正；依賴于我們無數的、默默無聞的體面行動，正是它們指引我們走向自由。

在生活中，有時我們被召喚著去做一些驚天動地的事情。但是，正如我們時代的一位圣人所言，每一天我們都被召喚帶著摯愛去做一些小事情。一個民主制度最重要的任務是由大家每一個人來完成的。

我為人處事的原則包括：堅信自己而不強加于人，為公眾的利益勇往直前，追求正義而不乏同情心，勇擔責任而決

不推卸。我要通過這一切，用我們歷史上傳統價值觀來哺育我們的時代。

(同胞們)，你們所做的一切和政府的工作同樣重要。我希望你們不要僅僅追求個人享受而忽略公眾的利益；要捍衛既定的改革措施，使其不會輕易被攻擊；要從身邊小事做起，為我們的國家效力。我希望你們成為真正的公民，而不是旁觀者，更不是臣民。你們應成為有責任心的公民，共同來建設一個互幫互助的社會和有特色的國家。

美國人民慷慨、強大、體面，這并非因為我們信任我們自己，而是因為我們擁有超越我們自己的信念。一旦這種公民精神喪失了，無論何種政府計劃都無法彌補它。一旦這種精神出現了，無論任何錯誤都無法抗衡它。

在《獨立宣言》簽署之后，弗吉尼亞州的政治家約翰?佩齊曾給托馬斯?杰弗遜寫信說：“我們知道，身手敏捷不一定就能贏得比賽，力量強大不一定就能贏得戰爭。難道這一切不都是上帝安排的嗎？”

杰斐遜就任總統的那個年代離我們已經很遠了。時光飛逝，美國發生了翻天覆地的變化。但是有一點他肯定能夠預知，即我們這個時代的主題仍然是：我們國家無畏向前的恢宏故事和它追求尊嚴的純樸夢想。

我們不是這個故事的作者，是杰斐遜作者本人的偉大理想穿越時空，并通過我們每天的努力在變為現實。我們正在通過大家的努力在履行著各自的職責。

帶著永不疲憊、永不氣餒、永不完竭的信念，今天我們重樹這樣的目標：使我們的國家變得更加公正、更加慷慨，去驗證我們每個人和所有人生命的尊嚴。

這項工作必須繼續下去。這個故事必須延續下去。上帝會駕馭我們航行的。

愿上帝保佑大家！愿上帝保佑美國！

第四篇：美國歷屆總統就職演說詞( Calvin Coolidge)

Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1925

My Countrymen: No one can contemplate current conditions without finding much that is satisfying and still more that is encouraging.Our own country is leading the world in the general readjustment to the results of the great conflict.Many of its burdens will bear heavily upon us for years, and the secondary and indirect effects we must expect to experience for some time.But we are beginning to comprehend more definitely what course should be pursued, what remedies ought to be applied, what actions should be taken for our deliverance, and are clearly manifesting a determined will faithfully and conscientiously to adopt these methods of relief.Already we have sufficiently rearranged our domestic affairs so that confidence has returned, business has revived, and we appear to be entering an era of prosperity which is gradually reaching into every part of the Nation.Realizing that we can not live unto ourselves alone, we have contributed of our resources and our counsel to the relief of the suffering and the settlement of the disputes among the European nations.Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope, inspires the heart of all humanity.These results have not occurred by mere chance.They have been secured by a constant and enlightened effort marked by many sacrifices and extending over many generations.We can not continue these brilliant successes in the future, unless we continue to learn from the past.It is necessary to keep the former experiences of our country both at home and abroad continually before us, if we are to have any science of government.If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations.We must realize that human nature is about the most constant thing in the universe and that the essentials of human relationship do not change.We must frequently take our bearings from these fixed stars of our political firmament if we expect to hold a true course.If we examine carefully what we have done, we can determine the more accurately what we can do.We stand at the opening of the one hundred and fiftieth year since our national consciousness first asserted itself by unmistakable action with an array of force.The old sentiment of detached and dependent colonies disappeared in the new sentiment of a united and independent Nation.Men began to discard the narrow confines of a local charter for the broader opportunities of a national constitution.Under the eternal urge of freedom we became an independent Nation.A little less than 50 years later that freedom and independence were reasserted in the face of all the world, and guarded, supported, and secured by the Monroe doctrine.The narrow fringe of States along the Atlantic seaboard advanced its frontiers across the hills and plains of an intervening continent until it passed down the golden slope to the Pacific.We made freedom a birthright.We extended our domain over distant islands in order to safeguard our own interests and accepted the consequent obligation to bestow justice and liberty upon less favored peoples.In the defense of our own ideals and in the general cause of liberty we entered the Great War.When victory had been fully secured, we withdrew to our own shores unrecompensed save in the consciousness of duty done.Throughout all these experiences we have enlarged our freedom, we have strengthened our independence.We have been, and propose to be, more and more American.We believe that we can best serve our own country and most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity by continuing to be openly and candidly, in tensely and scrupulously, American.If we have any heritage, it has been that.If we have any destiny, we have found it in that direction.But if we wish to continue to be distinctively American, we must continue to make that term comprehensive enough to embrace the legitimate desires of a civilized and enlightened people determined in all their relations to pursue a conscientious and religious life.We can not permit ourselves to be narrowed and dwarfed by slogans and phrases.It is not the adjective, but the substantive, which is of real importance.It is not the name of the action, but the result of the action, which is the chief concern.It will be well not to be too much disturbed by the thought of either isolation or entanglement of pacifists and militarists.The physical configuration of the earth has separated us from all of the Old World, but the common brotherhood of man, the highest law of all our being, has united us by inseparable bonds with all humanity.Our country represents nothing but peaceful intentions toward all the earth, but it ought not to fail to maintain such a military force as comports with the dignity and security of a great people.It ought to be a balanced force, intensely modem, capable of defense by sea and land, beneath the surface and in the air.But it should be so conducted that all the world may see in it, not a menace, but an instrument of security and peace.This Nation believes thoroughly in an honorable peace under which the rights of its citizens are to be everywhere protected.It has never found that the necessary enjoyment of such a peace could be maintained only by a great and threatening array of arms.In common with other nations, it is now more determined than ever to promote peace through friendliness and good will, through mutual understandings and mutual forbearance.We have never practiced the policy of competitive armaments.We have recently committed ourselves by covenants with the other great nations to a limitation of our sea power.As one result of this, our Navy ranks larger, in comparison, than it ever did before.Removing the burden of expense and jealousy, which must always accrue from a keen rivalry, is one of the most effective methods of diminishing that unreasonable hysteria and misunderstanding which are the most potent means of fomenting war.This policy represents a new departure in the world.It is a thought, an ideal, which has led to an entirely new line of action.It will not be easy to maintain.Some never moved from their old positions, some are constantly slipping back to the old ways of thought and the old action of seizing a musket and relying on force.America has taken the lead in this new direction, and that lead America must continue to hold.If we expect others to rely on our fairness and justice we must show that we rely on their fairness and justice.If we are to judge by past experience, there is much to be hoped for in international relations from frequent conferences and consultations.We have before us the beneficial results of the Washington conference and the various consultations recently held upon European affairs, some of which were in response to our suggestions and in some of which we were active participants.Even the failures can not but be accounted useful and an immeasurable advance over threatened or actual warfare.I am strongly in favor of continuation of this policy, whenever conditions are such that there is even a promise that practical and favorable results might be secured.In conformity with the principle that a display of reason rather than a threat of force should be the determining factor in the intercourse among nations, we have long advocated the peaceful settlement of disputes by methods of arbitration and have negotiated many treaties to secure that result.The same considerations should lead to our adherence to the Permanent Court of International Justice.Where great principles are involved, where great movements are under way which promise much for the welfare of humanity by reason of the very fact that many other nations have given such movements their actual support, we ought not to withhold our own sanction because of any small and inessential difference, but only upon the ground of the most important and compelling fundamental reasons.We can not barter away our independence or our sovereignty, but we ought to engage in no refinements of logic, no sophistries, and no subterfuges, to argue away the undoubted duty of this country by reason of the might of its numbers, the power of its resources, and its position of leadership in the world, actively and comprehensively to signify its approval and to bear its full share of the responsibility of a candid and disinterested attempt at the establishment of a tribunal for the administration of even-handed justice between nation and nation.The weight of our enormous influence must be cast upon the side of a reign not of force but of law and trial, not by battle but by reason.We have never any wish to interfere in the political conditions of any other countries.Especially are we determined not to become implicated in the political controversies of the Old World.With a great deal of hesitation, we have responded to appeals for help to maintain order, protect life and property, and establish responsible government in some of the small countries of the Western Hemisphere.Our private citizens have advanced large sums of money to assist in the necessary financing and relief of the Old World.We have not failed, nor shall we fail to respond, whenever necessary to mitigate human suffering and assist in the rehabilitation of distressed nations.These, too, are requirements which must be met by reason of our vast powers and the place we hold in the world.Some of the best thought of mankind has long been seeking for a formula for permanent peace.Undoubtedly the clarification of the principles of international law would be helpful, and the efforts of scholars to prepare such a work for adoption by the various nations should have our sympathy and support.Much may be hoped for from the earnest studies of those who advocate the outlawing of aggressive war.But all these plans and preparations, these treaties and covenants, will not of themselves be adequate.One of the greatest dangers to peace lies in the economic pressure to which people find themselves subjected.One of the most practical things to be done in the world is to seek arrangements under which such pressure may be removed, so that opportunity may be renewed and hope may be revived.There must be some assurance that effort and endeavor will be followed by success and prosperity.In the making and financing of such adjustments there is not only an opportunity, but a real duty, for America to respond with her counsel and her resources.Conditions must be provided under which people can make a living and work out of their difficulties.But there is another element, more important than all, without which there can not be the slightest hope of a permanent peace.That element lies in the heart of humanity.Unless the desire for peace be cherished there, unless this fundamental and only natural source of brotherly love be cultivated to its highest degree, all artificial efforts will be in vain.Peace will come when there is realization that only under a reign of law, based on righteousness and supported by the religious conviction of the brotherhood of man, can there be any hope of a complete and satisfying life.Parchment will fail, the sword will fail, it is only the spiritual nature of man that can be triumphant.It seems altogether probable that we can contribute most to these important objects by maintaining our position of political detachment and independence.We are not identified with any Old World interests.This position should be made more and more clear in our relations with all foreign countries.We are at peace with all of them.Our program is never to oppress, but always to assist.But while we do justice to others, we must require that justice be done to us.With us a treaty of peace means peace, and a treaty of amity means amity.We have made great contributions to the settlement of contentious differences in both Europe and Asia.But there is a very definite point beyond which we can not go.We can only help those who help themselves.Mindful of these limitations, the one great duty that stands out requires us to use our enormous powers to trim the balance of the world.While we can look with a great deal of pleasure upon what we have done abroad, we must remember that our continued success in that direction depends upon what we do at home.Since its very outset, it has been found necessary to conduct our Government by means of political parties.That system would not have survived from generation to generation if it had not been fundamentally sound and provided the best instrumentalities for the most complete expression of the popular will.It is not necessary to claim that it has always worked perfectly.It is enough to know that nothing better has been devised.No one would deny that there should be full and free expression and an opportunity for independence of action within the party.There is no salvation in a narrow and bigoted partisanship.But if there is to be responsible party government, the party label must be something more than a mere device for securing office.Unless those who are elected under the same party designation are willing to assume sufficient responsibility and exhibit sufficient loyalty and coherence, so that they can cooperate with each other in the support of the broad general principles, of the party platform, the election is merely a mockery, no decision is made at the polls, and there is no representation of the popular will.Common honesty and good faith with the people who support a party at the polls require that party, when it enters office, to assume the control of that portion of the Government to which it has been elected.Any other course is bad faith and a violation of the party pledges.When the country has bestowed its confidence upon a party by making it a majority in the Congress, it has a right to expect such unity of action as will make the party majority an effective instrument of government.This Administration has come into power with a very clear and definite mandate from the people.The expression of the popular will in favor of maintaining our constitutional guarantees was overwhelming and decisive.There was a manifestation of such faith in the integrity of the courts that we can consider that issue rejected for some time to come.Likewise, the policy of public ownership of railroads and certain electric utilities met with unmistakable defeat.The people declared that they wanted their rights to have not a political but a judicial determination, and their independence and freedom continued and supported by having the ownership and control of their property, not in the Government, but in their own hands.As they always do when they have a fair chance, the people demonstrated that they are sound and are determined to have a sound government.When we turn from what was rejected to inquire what was accepted, the policy that stands out with the greatest clearness is that of economy in public expenditure with reduction and reform of taxation.The principle involved in this effort is that of conservation.The resources of this country are almost beyond computation.No mind can comprehend them.But the cost of our combined governments is likewise almost beyond definition.Not only those who are now making their tax returns, but those who meet the enhanced cost of existence in their monthly bills, know by hard experience what this great burden is and what it does.No matter what others may want, these people want a drastic economy.They are opposed to waste.They know that extravagance lengthens the hours and diminishes the rewards of their labor.I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people.The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government.Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager.Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant.Economy is idealism in its most practical form.If extravagance were not reflected in taxation, and through taxation both directly and indirectly injuriously affecting the people, it would not be of so much consequence.The wisest and soundest method of solving our tax problem is through economy.Fortunately, of all the great nations this country is best in a position to adopt that simple remedy.We do not any longer need wartime revenues.The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny.Under this republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them.The only constitutional tax is the tax which ministers to public necessity.The property of the country belongs to the people of the country.Their title is absolute.They do not support any privileged class;they do not need to maintain great military forces;they ought not to be burdened with a great array of public employees.They are not required to make any contribution to Government expenditures except that which they voluntarily assess upon themselves through the action of their own representatives.Whenever taxes become burdensome a remedy can be applied by the people;but if they do not act for themselves, no one can be very successful in acting for them.The time is arriving when we can have further tax reduction, when, unless we wish to hamper the people in their right to earn a living, we must have tax reform.The method of raising revenue ought not to impede the transaction of business;it ought to encourage it.I am opposed to extremely high rates, because they produce little or no revenue, because they are bad for the country, and, finally, because they are wrong.We can not finance the country, we can not improve social conditions, through any system of injustice, even if we attempt to inflict it upon the rich.Those who suffer the most harm will be the poor.This country believes in prosperity.It is absurd to suppose that it is envious of those who are already prosperous.The wise and correct course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be successful.The verdict of the country has been given on this question.That verdict stands.We shall do well to heed it.These questions involve moral issues.We need not concern ourselves much about the rights of property if we will faithfully observe the rights of persons.Under our institutions their rights are supreme.It is not property but the right to hold property, both great and small, which our Constitution guarantees.All owners of property are charged with a service.These rights and duties have been revealed, through the conscience of society, to have a divine sanction.The very stability of our society rests upon production and conservation.For individuals or for governments to waste and squander their resources is to deny these rights and disregard these obligations.The result of economic dissipation to a nation is always moral decay.These policies of better international understandings, greater economy, and lower taxes have contributed largely to peaceful and prosperous industrial relations.Under the helpful influences of restrictive immigration and a protective tariff, employment is plentiful, the rate of pay is high, and wage earners are in a state of contentment seldom before seen.Our transportation systems have been gradually recovering and have been able to meet all the requirements of the service.Agriculture has been very slow in reviving, but the price of cereals at last indicates that the day of its deliverance is at hand.We are not without our problems, but our most important problem is not to secure new advantages but to maintain those which we already possess.Our system of government made up of three separate and independent departments, our divided sovereignty composed of Nation and State, the matchless wisdom that is enshrined in our Constitution, all these need constant effort and tireless vigilance for their protection and support.In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is obedience to law.Under a despotism the law may be imposed upon the subject.He has no voice in its making, no influence in its administration, it does not represent him.Under a free government the citizen makes his own laws, chooses his own administrators, which do represent him.Those who want their rights respected under the Constitution and the law ought to set the example themselves of observing the Constitution and the law.While there may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, the barbarian and the defective always violate it.Those who disregard the rules of society are not exhibiting a superior intelligence, are not promoting freedom and independence, are not following the path of civilization, but are displaying the traits of ignorance, of servitude, of savagery, and treading the way that leads back to the jungle.The essence of a republic is representative government.Our Congress represents the people and the States.In all legislative affairs it is the natural collaborator with the President.In spite of all the criticism which often falls to its lot, I do not hesitate to say that there is no more independent and effective legislative body in the world.It is, and should be, jealous of its prerogative.I welcome its cooperation, and expect to share with it not only the responsibility, but the credit, for our common effort to secure beneficial legislation.These are some of the principles which America represents.We have not by any means put them fully into practice, but we have strongly signified our belief in them.The encouraging feature of our country is not that it has reached its destination, but that it has overwhelmingly expressed its determination to proceed in the right direction.It is true that we could, with profit, be less sectional and more national in our thought.It would be well if we could replace much that is only a false and ignorant prejudice with a true and enlightened pride of race.But the last election showed that appeals to class and nationality had little effect.We were all found loyal to a common citizenship.The fundamental precept of liberty is toleration.We can not permit any inquisition either within or without the law or apply any religious test to the holding of office.The mind of America must be forever free.It is in such contemplations, my fellow countrymen, which are not exhaustive but only representative, that I find ample warrant for satisfaction and encouragement.We should not let the much that is to do obscure the much which has been done.The past and present show faith and hope and courage fully justified.Here stands our country, an example of tranquillity at home, a patron of tranquillity abroad.Here stands its Government, aware of its might but obedient to its conscience.Here it will continue to stand, seeking peace and prosperity, solicitous for the welfare of the wage earner, promoting enterprise, developing waterways and natural resources, attentive to the intuitive counsel of womanhood, encouraging education, desiring the advancement of religion, supporting the cause of justice and honor among the nations.America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force.No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign dominions.The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with the sword, but with the cross.The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin.She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God.

第五篇：美國歷屆總統就職演說詞(Jimmy Carter)

Inaugural Address of Jimmy Carter

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1977

For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation.As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”

Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition from the ancient prophet Micah:

“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”(Micah 6: 8)

This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all.A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation.I have no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both spirituality and of human liberty.It is that unique self-definition which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a special obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed, seem invariably to be in our own best interests.You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are.Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust.Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.The American dream endures.We must once again have full faith in our country--and in one another.I believe America can be better.We can be even stronger than before.Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic

principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government we have no future.We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united.In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory.We cannot afford to drift.We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of life for any person.Our Government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate.We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we are now struggling to enhance equality of opportunity.Our commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved;the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.We have learned that “more” is not necessarily “better,” that even our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems.We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future.So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home.And we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others.We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength.The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit.Peoples more numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding their place in the sun--not just for the benefit of their own physical condition, but for basic human rights.The passion for freedom is on the rise.Tapping this new spirit, there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is truly humane.We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so sufficient that it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight our wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are the enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our idealism with weakness.Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere.Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights.We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people.The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries.We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's armaments to those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety.And we will move this year a step toward ultimate goal--the elimination of all nuclear weapons from this Earth.We urge all other people to join us, for success can mean life instead of death.Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence.And I join in the hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:

-that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy, and justice;

-that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;

-that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;-that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of our society;

-that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;

-and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government once again.I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.