航天信息电话烟台:美国历届总统资料图集

  美国历届总统资料图集  

美国历届总统就职演讲辞

 

First Inaugural Address of George Washington
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.

乔治·华盛顿
第一次就职演讲
纽约
星期四,1789年4月30日

美国人民的实验
　　参议院和众议院的同胞们：
　　在人生沉浮中，没有一件事能比本月14日收到根据你们的命令送达的通知更使我焦虑不安，一方面，国家召唤我出任此职，对于她的召唤，我永远只能肃然敬从；而隐退是我以挚爱心憎、满腔希望和坚定的决心选择的暮年归宿，由于爱好和习惯，且时光流逝，健康渐衰，时感体力不济，愈觉隐退之必要和可贵。另一方面，国家召唤我担负的责任如此重大和艰巨，足以使国内最有才智和经验的人度德量力，而我天资愚饨，又无民政管理的实践，理应倍觉自己能力之不足，因而必然感到难以肩此重任。怀着这种矛盾心情，我唯一敢断言的是，通过正确估计可能产生影响的各种情况来克尽厥职，乃是我忠贞不渝的努力目标。我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在执行这项任务时因陶醉于往事，或因由衷感激公民们对我的高度信赖，因而受到过多影响，以致在处理从未经历过的大事时，忽视了自己的无能和消极，我的错误将会由于使我误人歧途的各种动机而减轻，而大家在评判错误的后果时；也会适当包涵产生这些动机的偏见。

　　既然这就是我在遵奉公众召唤就任现职时的感想，那么，在此宣誓就职之际，如不热忱地祈求全能的上帝就极其失当，因为上帝统治着宇宙，主宰着各国政府，它的神助能弥补人类的任何不足，愿上帝赐福，侃佑一个为美国人民的自由和幸福而组成的政府，保佑它为这些基本目的而作出奉献，保佑政府的各项行政措施在我负责之下都能成功地发挥作用。我相信，在向公众利益和私人利益的伟大缔造者献上这份崇敬时，这些活也同样表达了各位和广大公民的心意。没有人能比美国人更坚定不移地承认和崇拜掌管人间事务的上帝。他们在迈向独立国家的进程中，似乎每走一步都有某种天佑的迹象；他们在刚刚完成的联邦政府体制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔诚的感恩而得到某种回报，如果不是谦卑地期待着过去有所预示的赐福的到来，那么，通过众多截然不同的集团的平静思考和自愿赞同来完成改革，这种方式是不能与大多数政府的组建方式同日而语的。在目前转折关头，我产生这些想法确实是深有所感而不能自已，我相信大家会和我怀有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一个新生的自由政府别无他法能一开始就事事顺利。根据设立行政部门的条款，总统有责任“将他认为必要而妥善的措施提请国会审议”。但在目前与各位见面的这个场合，恕我不进一步讨论这个问题，而只提一下伟大的宪法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它规定了各位的权限，指出了各位应该注意的目标。在这样的场合，更恰当、也更能反映我内心激情的做法是不提出具体措施，而是称颂将要规划和采纳这些措施的当选者的才能、正直和爱国心。我从这些高贵品格中看到了最可靠的保证：其一，任何地方偏见或地方感情，任何意见分歧或党派敌视，都不能使我们偏离全局观点和公平观点，即必须维护这个由不同地区和利益所组成的大联合；因此，其二，我国的政策将会以纯洁而坚定的个人道德原则为基础，而自由政府将会以那赢得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特点而显示其优越性。我对国家的一片热爱之心激励着我满怀喜悦地展望这幅远景，因为根据自然界的构成和发展趋势，在美德与幸福之间，责任与利益之间，恪守诚实宽厚的政策与获得社会繁荣幸福的硕果之间，有着密不可分的统一；因为我们应该同样相信，上帝亲自规定了水恒的秩序和权利法则，它决不可能对无视这些法则的国家慈祥地加以赞许；因为人们理所当然地、满怀深情地、也许是最后一次把维护神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命运，系于美国人所遵命进行的实验上。

　　我已将有感于这一聚会场合的想法奉告各位，现在我就要向大家告辞；但在此以前，我要再一次以谦卑的心情祈求仁慈的上帝给予帮助。因为承蒙上帝的恩赐，美国人有了深思熟虑的机会，以及为确保联邦的安全和促进幸福，用前所未有的一致意见来决定政府体制的意向；因而，同样明显的是，上帝将保佑我们扩大眼界，心平气和地进行协商，并采取明智的措施，而这些都是本届政府取得成功所必不可少的依靠。

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of George Washington
THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1793
 Fellow Citizens:
 I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
 Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of 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.
 - John Adams

 

约翰·亚当斯
就职演讲
费城
星期六,1797年3月4日

美国的政体与乔治·华盛顿
　　确实，还有其他什么形式的政体，值得我们如此尊敬和热爱呢？
　　古代有一种很不严密的观念认为，人类聚集而形成城市和国家，是最令具有卓越见识的人感到愉悦的目标，但无可置疑的是，在善良的人们看来，任何国家所显示的情景，都比不上这里和另一议院所经常见到的集会更令人喜悦，更高尚庄严，或者说更令人敬畏；政府的行政权和国会各个机构的立法权，是由同胞们定期选出的公民来行使的，其目的是为公众利益而制定和执行法律。难道官袍和钻石能为此增添实质性的东西吗？难道它们不就是一些装饰品吗？难道因运而生或通过远古制反而继承的权力，会比诚实而卓识的人民按自己的意愿和判断而产生的权力更可亲可敬吗？因为这样的政府唯一代表的是人民。它的各个合法机构，无论表现为何种形式，反映的都是人民的权利和尊严，并且只为人民谋利益。像我们这样的政府，不论其将存在多久，都是对知识和美德在全人类传播的充分证明。难道还有比这更令人喜悦的目标或构想能奉献给人类观念吗？如果说民族自豪感历来无可非议和情有可原，那么，这种自豪感必定不是来自权势和财富，不是来自豪华和荣耀，而是来自坚信民族的纯真、识见和仁爱。

　　当我们沉浸在这些愉快的想法时，如果任何片面或无关紧要的因素影响到自由、公平、高尚和独立的选举，使选举失去了纯洁性，使我们忽视自由所面临的危险，我们就会自欺欺人。如果选举需由一人一票的多数票来决定胜负，而一个政党可以通过欺骗和腐蚀来达到目的，那么这个政府就有可能是政党为自身目的而作出的选择，而下是国家为全国利益而作出的选择；如果其他国家有可能通过奉承或胁迫，欺诈或暴力，通过恐怖、阴谋或收买等伎俩控制了这次选举，那么这个政府就可能不是美国人民作出的选择，而是其他国家作出的选择。那样，就可能是外国统治我们，而不是我们——人民——来管理自已，那样，公正的人士就会认识到，选择较之命运或机遇就未必更有优越性而下值得夸耀了。

　　这就是使人感到亲切和兴趣的政治体制（及其可能暴露的某些弊端）。8年来，美国人民在一位公民的领导下展现了这种政治体制，引起了各国贤达的赞赏或挂虑。这位公民为人谨慎、公正、节制、坚韧，长期以来，他以一系列伟大的行动，领导着一个为共同的美德所鼓舞、强烈的爱国心所激励的和热爱自由的民族，走向独立、和平、富强和空前鳖荣。他值得同胞们感恩戴德，他博得了世界各国的最高赞扬，他必将名垂千古。他自愿选择了隐退，愿他在隐退后长寿，愉快地回忆他供职时的情景，并享受人类对他的感激，享受他所作出的奉献给他本人和全世界带来的与日俱增的幸福果实，享受这个国家的未来命运决定的、正在逐年展开的光明前景。他的名字仍将是一道防线，他的长寿仍将是一座堡垒，抵御着一切危害国家安定的、公开的或暗藏的敌人。他的这一举动已得到国会两院、各州立法机构和全国人民的一致赞扬，并将成为继任者效法的榜样。

 

 

Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address
First Inaugural Address
 March 4, 1801
 FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,
 Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
 During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
 Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
 About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
 I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
 Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.

 

托马斯·杰斐逊
第一次就职演讲
华盛顿
星期三,1801年3月4日

同心同德地团结起来
　　朋友们、同胞们：
　　我应召担任国家的最高行政长官，值此诸位同胞集会之时，我衷心感谢大家寄予我的厚爱，诚挚地说，我意识到这项任务非我能力所及，其责任之重大，本人能力之浅簿，自然使我就任时忧惧交加。一个沃野千里的新兴国家，带着丰富的工业产品跨海渡洋，同那些自恃强权、不顾公理的国家进行贸易，向着世人无法预见的天命疾奔——当我思考这些重大的目标，当我想到这个可爱的国家，其荣誉、幸福和希望都系于这个问题和今天的盛典，我就不敢再想下去，并面对这宏图大业自惭德薄能鲜。确实，若不是在这里见到许多先生们在场，使我想起无论遇到什么困难，都可以向宪法规定的另一高级机构寻找智慧、美德和热忱的源泉，我一定会完全心灰意懒。因此，负有神圣的立法职责的先生们和各位有关人士，我鼓起勇气期望你们给予指引和支持，使我们能够在乱世纷争中同舟共济，安然航行。

　　在我们过去的意见交锋中，大家热烈讨论，各展所长，这种紧张气氛，有时会使不习惯于自由思想、不习惯于说出或写下自己想法的人感到不安；但如今，这场争论既已由全国的民意作出决定，而且根据宪法的规定予以公布，大家当然会服从法律的意志，妥为安排，为共同的利益齐心协力，大家也会铭记这条神圣的原则；尽管在任何情况下，多数人的意志是起决定作用的，但这种意志必须合理才瞩公正；少数人享有同等权利，这种权利必须同样受到法律保护，如果侵犯，便是压迫。因此，公民们，让我们同心同德地团结起来。让我们在社会交往中和睦如初、恢复友爱，如果没有这些，自由，甚至生活本身都会索然寡味，让我们再想一想，我们已经将长期以来造成人类流血、受苦的宗教信仰上的不宽容现象逐出国上，如果我们鼓励某种政治上的不宽容，其专演、邪恶和可能造成的残酷、血腥迫害均与此相仿，那么我们必将无所收获。当旧世界经历阵痛和骚动，当愤怒的人挣扎着想通过流血、杀戮来寻求失去已人的自由，那波涛般的激情甚至也会冲击这片遥远而宁静的海岸；对此，人们的感触和忧患不会一样，因而对安全措施的意见就出现了分歧，这些都不足为奇。但是，各种意见分歧并不都是原则分歧。我们以不同的名字呼唤同一原则的兄弟。我们都是共和党人，我们都是联邦党人，如果我们当中有人想解散这个联邦，或者想改变它的共和体制，那就让他们不受干扰而作为对平安的纪念碑吧，因为有了平安，错误的意见就可得到宽容，理性就得以自由地与之抗争。诚然，我知道，有些正直人士担心共和制政府无法成为强有力的政府，担心我们这个政府不够坚强；但是，在实验取得成功的高潮中，一个诚实的爱国者，难道会因为一种假设的和幻想的疑惧，就以为这个被世界寄予最大希望的政府可能需要力量才得以自存，因而就放弃这个迄今带给我们自由和坚定的政府吗？我相信下会。相反，我相信这是世界上最坚强的政府。我相信唯有在这种政府的治理下，每个人才会响应法律的号召，奔向法律的旗帜下，像对待切身利益那样，迎击侵犯公共秩序的举动：有时我们听到一种说法：不能让人们自己管理自己。那么，能让他去管理别人吗？或者·我们在统治人民的君王名单中发现了无使吗？这个问题让历史来回答吧。

　　因此，让我们以勇气和信心，迫求我们自己的联邦与共和原则，拥戴联邦与代议制政府。我们受惠于大自然和大洋的阻隔，幸免于地球上四分之一地区发生的那场毁灭性浩动；

　　我们品格高尚，不能容忍他人的堕落； 们天赐良邦，其幅员足以容纳子孙万代；我们充分认识到在发挥个人才干、以勤劳换取收入、受到同胞的尊敬与信赖上，大家享有平等的权利，但这种尊敬和信赖不是出于门第，而是出于我们的行为和同胞的评判；我们受到仁慈的宗教的启迪，尽管教派不同，形式各异，但它们都教人以正直、忠诚、节制、恩义和仁爱；我们承认和崇拜全能的上帝，而天意表明，他乐于使这里的人们得到幸福，今后还将得到更多的幸福——我们有了这些福祉，还需要什么才能够使我们成为快乐而兴旺的民族呢？公民们，我们还需要一件，那就是贤明而节俭的政府，它会制止人们相互伤害，使他们自由地管理自己的实业和进步活动，它不会侵夺人们的劳动果实。这就是良好政府的集粹，这也是我们达到幸福圆满之必需。

　　公民们，我即将履行职责，这些职责包括你们所珍爱的一切，因此，你们应当了解我所认为的政府基本原则是什么，确定其行政依据的原则又是什么。我将尽量扼要地加以叙述，只讲一般原则，不讲其种种限制。实行人人平等和真正的公平，而不论其宗教或政治上的地位或派别；同所有国家和平相处、商务往来、真诚友好，而下与任何国家结盟，维护备州政府的一切权利，将它们作为我国最有权能的内政机构，和抵御反共和趋势的最可靠屏障；维持全国政府在宪制上的全部活力，将其作为国内安定和国际安全的最后依靠；忠实地维护人民的选举仅——将它作为一种温和而稳妥的矫正手段，对革命留下的、尚无和平补救办法的种种弊端予以矫正；绝对同意多数人的决定，因为这是共和制的主要原则，反之，不诉诸舆论而诉诸武力乃是专制的主要原则和直接根源；建立一支训练有来的民兵，作为平时和战争初期的最好依靠，直到正规军来接替；实行文职权高于军职权；节约政府开支，减轻劳工负担；诚实地偿还债务，庄严地维护政府信誉；鼓励农业，辅之以商业；传播信息，以公众理智力准绳补偏救弊；实行宗教自由；实行出版自由和人身自由，根据人身保护法和公正选出陪审团进行审判来保证人身自由。这些原则构成了明亮的星座，它在我们的前方照闸，指引我们经历了革命和改革时朗，先皙的智慧和英雄的鲜血都曾为实现这些原则作出过奉献，这些原则应当是我们的政治信条，公民教育的课本，检验我们所信曹的人的工作的试金石，如果我们因一时错误或惊恐而背日这些原则，那就让我们赶紧回头，重返这唯一通向和平、自由和安全的大道。

　　各位公民，我即将担当起你们委派给我的职务。根据我担任许多较低职务的经验，我已经意识到这是最艰巨的职务，囵此，我能够预期，当一个并非尽善尽奏的人从这个职位卸任时，很少能像就任时那样深手众望。我不敢奢皇大家如同信任我们第一位最伟大的革命元勋那样对我高度信任，因为他的卓著勋劳使他最有资格受到全国的爱戳，使他在忠实的史书中占有汲辉煌的一页，我只要求大家给我相当的信任，使人足以坚定地、有效地依法管理大家的事务。由于判断有误，我会常常犯错误。即使我是正确的，那些不是站在统筹全局的立场上看问题的人，也会常常认为我是错误的，我请求你们宽容我自己犯的锗误，而这些错误决不是故意犯的，我请求你们支持我反对别人的错误，而这些人如果通盘考虑，也是决不会犯的。从投票结果来看，大家对我的过去甚为嘉许，这是我莫大的安慰；今后我所渴望的是，力求赐予我好评的各位能保持这种好评，在我职权范围内为其他各位效劳以博得他们的好评，并为所有同胞们的幸福和自由而尽力。

　　现在，我仰承各位的好意，恭顺地就任此职，一旦你们觉得需要作出你们有权作出的更好的选择，我便准备辞去此职。愿主宰夭地万物命运的上帝引导我们的机构臻于完善，并为大家的和平与昌盛，赐给它一个值得赞许的结果。

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Jefferson Second Inaugural Address
Second Inaugural Address
 March 4, 1805
 Proceeding, fellow citizens, to that qualification which the constitution requires, before my entrance on the charge again conferred upon me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow citizens at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me, so to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.
 On taking this station on a former occasion, I declared the principles on which I believed it my duty to administer the affairs of our commonwealth. My conscience tells me that I have, on every occasion, acted up to that declaration, according to its obvious import, and to the understanding of every candid mind.
 In the transaction of your foreign affairs, we have endeavored to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with which we have the most important relations. We have done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and equal terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations, as with individuals, our interests soundly calculated, will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties; and history bears witness to the fact, that a just nation is taken on its word, when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others.
 At home, fellow citizens, you best know whether we have done well or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes. These covering our land with officers, and opening our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process of domiciliary vexation which, once entered, is scarcely to be restrained from reaching successively every article of produce and property. If among these taxes some minor ones fell which had not been inconvenient, it was because their amount would not have paid the officers who collected them, and because, if they had any merit, the state authorities might adopt them, instead of others less approved.
 The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles, is paid cheerfully by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries to domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboards and frontiers only, and incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile citizens, it may be the pleasure and pride of an American to ask, what farmer, what mechanic, what laborer, ever sees a tax-gatherer of the United States? These contributions enable us to support the current expenses of the government, to fulfil contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the native right of soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to apply such a surplus to our public debts, as places at a short day their final redemption, and that redemption once effected, the revenue thereby liberated may, by a just repartition among the states, and a corresponding amendment of the constitution, be applied, _in time of peace_, to rivers, canals, roads, arts, manufactures, education, and other great objects within each state. _In time of war_, if injustice, by ourselves or others, must sometimes produce war, increased as the same revenue will be increased by population and consumption, and aided by other resources reserved for that crisis, it may meet within the year all the expenses of the year, without encroaching on the rights of future generations, by burdening them with the debts of the past. War will then be but a suspension of useful works, and a return to a state of peace, a return to the progress of improvement.
 I have said, fellow citizens, that the income reserved had enabled us to extend our limits; but that extension may possibly pay for itself before we are called on, and in the meantime, may keep down the accruing interest; in all events, it will repay the advances we have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some, from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively? The larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family? With which shall we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly intercourse?
 In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies.
 The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded with the commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with the faculties and the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of liberty and independence, and occupying a country which left them no desire but to be undisturbed, the stream of overflowing population from other regions directed itself on these shores; without power to divert, or habits to contend against, they have been overwhelmed by the current, or driven before it; now reduced within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts; to encourage them to that industry which alone can enable them to maintain their place in existence, and to prepare them in time for that state of society, which to bodily comforts adds the improvement of the mind and morals. We have therefore liberally furnished them with the implements of husbandry and household use; we have placed among them instructors in the arts of first necessity; and they are covered with the aegis of the law against aggressors from among ourselves.
 But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits their present course of life, to induce them to exercise their reason, follow its dictates, and change their pursuits with the change of circumstances, have powerful obstacles to encounter; they are combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudice of their minds, ignorance, pride, and the influence of interested and crafty individuals among them, who feel themselves something in the present order of things, and fear to become nothing in any other. These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for the customs of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did, must be done through all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance under its counsel, in their physical, moral, or political condition, is perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as their Creator made them, ignorance being safety, and knowledge full of danger; in short, my friends, among them is seen the action and counteraction of good sense and bigotry; they, too, have their anti-philosophers, who find an interest in keeping things in their present state, who dread reformation, and exert all their faculties to maintain the ascendency of habit over the duty of improving our reason, and obeying its mandates.
 In giving these outlines, I do not mean, fellow citizens, to arrogate to myself the merit of the measures; that is due, in the first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large, who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen the public measures; it is due to the sound discretion with which they select from among themselves those to whom they confide the legislative duties; it is due to the zeal and wisdom of the characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public happiness in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains for others; and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, whose patriotism has associated with me in the executive functions.
 During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science, are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness, and to sap its safety; they might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved and provided by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defamation; but public duties more urgent press on the time of public servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their punishment in the public indignation.
 Nor was it uninteresting to the world, that an experiment should be fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by power, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth -- whether a government, conducting itself in the true spirit of its constitution, with zeal and purity, and doing no act which it would be unwilling the whole world should witness, can be written down by falsehood and defamation. The experiment has been tried; you have witnessed the scene; our fellow citizens have looked on, cool and collected; they saw the latent source from which these outrages proceeded; they gathered around their public functionaries, and when the constitution called them to the decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict, honorable to those who had served them, and consolatory to the friend of man, who believes he may be intrusted with his own affairs.
 No inference is here intended, that the laws, provided by the State against false and defamatory publications, should not be enforced; he who has time, renders a service to public morals and public tranquillity, in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law; but the experiment is noted, to prove that, since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.
 Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally, as auguring harmony and happiness to our future course, I offer to our country sincere congratulations. With those, too, not yet rallied to the same point, the disposition to do so is gaining strength; facts are piercing through the veil drawn over them; and our doubting brethren will at length see, that the mass of their fellow citizens, with whom they cannot yet resolve to act, as to principles and measures, think as they think, and desire what they desire; that our wish, as well as theirs, is, that the public efforts may be directed honestly to the public good, that peace be cultivated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law and order preserved; equality of rights maintained, and that state of property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his own industry, or that of his fathers. When satisfied of these views, it is not in human nature that they should not approve and support them; in the meantime, let us cherish them with patient affection; let us do them justice, and more than justice, in all competitions of interest; and we need not doubt that truth, reason, and their own interests, will at length prevail, will gather them into the fold of their country, and will complete their entire union of opinion, which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony, and the benefit of all its strength.
 I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow citizens have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which they have approved. I fear not that any motives of interest may lead me astray; I am sensible of no passion which could seduce me knowingly from the path of justice; but the weakness of human nature, and the limits of my own understanding, will produce errors of judgment sometimes injurious to your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence I have heretofore experienced -- the want of it will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.

 

 

 

 

 

First Inaugural Address of James Madison
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1809
 Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I avail myself of the occasion now presented to express the profound impression made on me by the call of my country to the station to the duties of which I am about to pledge myself by the most solemn of sanctions. So distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate and tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would under any circumstances have commanded my gratitude and devotion, as well as filled me with an awful sense of the trust to be assumed. Under the various circumstances which give peculiar solemnity to the existing period, I feel that both the honor and the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly enhanced.
 The present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel and that of our own country full of difficulties. The pressure of these, too, is the more severely felt because they have fallen upon us at a moment when the national prosperity being at a height not before attained, the contrast resulting from the change has been rendered the more striking. Under the benign influence of our republican institutions, and the maintenance of peace with all nations whilst so many of them were engaged in bloody and wasteful wars, the fruits of a just policy were enjoyed in an unrivaled growth of our faculties and resources. Proofs of this were seen in the improvements of agriculture, in the successful enterprises of commerce, in the progress of manufacturers and useful arts, in the increase of the public revenue and the use made of it in reducing the public debt, and in the valuable works and establishments everywhere multiplying over the face of our land.
 It is a precious reflection that the transition from this prosperous condition of our country to the scene which has for some time been distressing us is not chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any involuntary errors in the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor in the world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned; posterity at least will do justice to them.
 This unexceptionable course could not avail against the injustice and violence of the belligerent powers. In their rage against each other, or impelled by more direct motives, principles of retaliation have been introduced equally contrary to universal reason and acknowledged law. How long their arbitrary edicts will be continued in spite of the demonstrations that not even a pretext for them has been given by the United States, and of the fair and liberal attempt to induce a revocation of them, can not be anticipated. Assuring myself that under every vicissitude the determined spirit and united councils of the nation will be safeguards to its honor and its essential interests, I repair to the post assigned me with no other discouragement than what springs from my own inadequacy to its high duties. If I do not sink under the weight of this deep conviction it is because I find some support in a consciousness of the purposes and a confidence in the principles which I bring with me into this arduous service.
 To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality toward belligerent nations; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision of them by an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries and so baneful to free ones; to foster a spirit of independence too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves and too elevated not to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States and to the people as equally incorporated with and essential to the success of the general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the right of conscience or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve in their full energy the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press; to observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the public resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to keep within the requisite limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republics--that without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe; to promote by authorized means improvements friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, and to external as well as internal commerce; to favor in like manner the advancement of science and the diffusion of information as the best aliment to true liberty; to carry on the benevolent plans which have been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness of savage life to a participation of the improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized state--as far as sentiments and intentions such as these can aid the fulfillment of my duty, they will be a resource which can not fail me.
 It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which I am to tread lighted by examples of illustrious services successfully rendered in the most trying difficulties by those who have marched before me. Of those of my immediate predecessor it might least become me here to speak. I may, however, be pardoned for not suppressing the sympathy with which my heart is full in the rich reward he enjoys in the benedictions of a beloved country, gratefully bestowed or exalted talents zealously devoted through a long career to the advancement of its highest interest and happiness.
 But the source to which I look or the aids which alone can supply my deficiencies is in the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in the other departments associated in the care of the national interests. In these my confidence will under every difficulty be best placed, next to that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.

 

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of James Madison
 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·麦迪逊
第二次就职演讲
星期四,1813年3月4日

关于一八一二年战争
　　美国一直没有宣战，直到出现了以下情况——直到这场加于美国的战争在实际上，尽管不是在名义上已进行了根久；直到再也没有争辩和规劝的余地；直到美国被明确地告知，无理挑衅不会中止；直到这最后的呼吁不可再拖延，不然国家的精神就要崩溃，国家和政府机构的信心就要丧失，那样，就得永远忍受屈辱，否则就得付出更高昂的代价和经过更严酷的斗争，才能恢复我国作为独立国家的地位和尊严。
　　战争问题关系到我国在公海上的主权，关系到一个重要的公民阶层的安全，而这个阶层所从事的职业，对于其他公民阶层具有重要的价值。如果不为此而斗争，就是放弃我国在公海上与其他国家的同等地位，就是侵犯每一个社会成风所拥有的、保护自己的神圣权利。我不必强调指出，巡航官对我国水手为所欲为，迫使他们离开自己的船只而登上异国船只的不法行径，也不必渲染其中免不了的暴行。我国历届政府的记录中都留有证据，凡是同情心尚未泯灭的人们，都会在心中记住这部分美国人所蒙受的苦难。由于这场战争从根本上说是正义的，从目标上说是必要的和高尚的，所以，我们可以自豪而满意地表明，把这场战争继续下去，并没有侵犯公正或道义原则，并没有违背文明国家的惯例，也没有触犯礼仪或人道法则。我们是以严格尊重所有上述义务的态度，和空间高昂的自由精神来进行这场战争的。

 

 

 

 

First Inaugural Address of James Monroe
 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 eople 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
 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 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 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.

 

詹姆斯·门罗
第一次就职演讲
星期二,1817年3月4日

冲突不和不属于我们的制度
　　同胞们满怀信心地召唤我出任这一重要职务，令我十分感动，不然我就是一个缺乏感情的人。这表明同胞们甚为矗许我的公职行为，我对此感到心满意足，而唯有竭尽全力做了值得夸奖的工作的人，才能有这种威受。我能正确估计到这一职务的重要性以及承担这一义务的性质和范围，所以我对于正确地履行同我们这一伟大同由民族的崇高利益密切相连的义务的感受也随之而增加。由于意识到自己的不足，所以在开始履行这些义务时，我无法不对将来的结累裴示极大的忧虑。对应尽的责任我决不会裹足不前，我颇有信心地认为。只要我尽力促进公共福利，入门就始终会恰当地评价我的动机，而且会以公正和爱护的眼光来看待我的行为，就像我在其他职位上已经经历过的那样。
　　历任杰出总统在开始履行职责前有一个惯例，即明确阐述各自执政的指导原则。在仿效这些令人尊敬的榜样时,我自然把注意力集中于目前给合众国带来高度幸褔的那些主要原因。这些原因将能充分说明我们职责的性质，并且阐明我们将来必须推行的政策。

　　从独立革命至今几乎已过去40个春秋，而宪法的制定也已有鹏载。在此时期，我们的政府一直被强调为自治政府。其结果如何呢？无论我们将目光转向何处，不论是涉及到国外问题还是国内问题，我们都有足够的理由庆幸我们拥有优越的制度。在充满艰辛和非凡事件的岁月里，我们的合众国还是取得了空前的繁荣，公民们个个幸福欢乐，国家昌盛发达。

　　……

　　使我特别感到满意的是，我是在合众国探受和平之惠时开始履行这些职责的。合众国的繁荣和幸福最需要和平。我衷心希望维持和平，依靠政府的努力、以公正的原则与各国交往，不提任何不合理的要求，并对各国履行应尽的义务。

　　 我同样感到满意的是，我看到我们合众国越来越和谐一致。冲突不和不同于我们的制度，联邦之所以受到拥护，是因为我们的政府制定了自由和仁慈的原则，从而使每个人都受到了恩惠，同时还因为它有其他突出的优点。美国人民已共同克服了巨大的危险，成功地经受了严重的考验。他们组成了具有共同利益的大家庭。经验已经在一些对同家至关重即明确阐述各自执政的指导原则。在仿效这些令人尊敬的榜样时,我自然把注意力集中于目前给合众国带来高度幸褔的那些主要原因。这些原因将能充分说明我们职责的性质，并且阐明我们将来必须推行的政策。

　　从独立革命至今几乎已过去40个春秋，而宪法的制定也已有鹏载。在此时期，我们的政府一直被强调为自治政府。其结果如何呢？无论我们将目光转向何处，不论是涉及到国外问题还是国内问题，我们都有足够的理由庆幸我们拥有优越的制度。在充满艰辛和非凡事件的岁月里，我们的合众国还是取得了空前的繁荣，公民们个个幸福欢乐，国家昌盛发达。

　　……

　　使我特别感到满意的是，我是在合众国探受和平之惠时开始履行这些职责的。合众国的繁荣和幸福最需要和平。我衷心希望维持和平，依靠政府的努力、以公正的原则与各国交往，不提任何不合理的要求，并对各国履行应尽的义务。

　　 我同样感到满意的是，我看到我们合众国越来越和谐一致。冲突不和不同于我们的制度，联邦之所以受到拥护，是因为我们的政府制定了自由和仁慈的原则，从而使每个人都受到了恩惠，同时还因为它有其他突出的优点。美国人民已共同克服了巨大的危险，成功地经受了严重的考验。他们组成了具有共同利益的大家庭。经验已经在一些对同家至关重要的问题上使我们获得教益，由于对国家的各种利益须作正确的考虑和忠诚的关切，所以进展是很缓慢的。我将持之以恒并努力追求的目标是：按照我们的共和政府的原则，以充分发挥其作用的方式来促进和谐，并在所有其他方面促进我们联邦的最大利益。

　　 从来没有一个政府能像我国政府那样从一开始就诸事如意，并获得如此彻底的成功。翻阅一下其他国家的历史，无论是古代的国家还是现代的国家，都无法找到一个发展如此迅速，规模如此巨大，而人民又是如此富裕和幸福的实例。当我们思考还有哪些尚待完成的任务时，每个公民必然由衷地感到喜悦，因为他会想到：我们的政府已经如此接近于完善：我们在这方回已无需作出重大改善，伟大的目标在于维护我们政府拥有的基本原则和特征，这将通过保持人民的美德和启发人民的心灵来实现；伟大的目标还在于采取不可缺少的措施，来维护我们的独立、权利和自由，并确保我国不受外来的威胁。如果我们能保持目前我们已经获得进展的事业，并坚持不懈地走我们已经走过的路，那么在仁慈上帝的保佑下，我们便能达到似乎正在等待着我们的崇高目标。

　　 在我之前，已有几位杰出人物担任过这一崇高的职务，而且我与其中一些人很早就结成了最紧密的联系。他们所提供的执政典范，将永远使后继者获得高度的教益。从这些典范中，我将尽力获取所有的长处，至于我的前任总统，由于他所进行的工作已经成为我们巨大而成功的实验的极为重要的一部分，大家必然会体谅我要向他表示热烈的祝愿：原它在退休后能永享国家对他的感激之情，这种感情是对他的杰出才能和最为忠诚而卓越的服务的最好报答。依靠政府其他各部门的帮助，我开始担任同胞们通过选举而交给我的职务。我虔诚地向全能的上帝祈祷，他已经如此明显地展示了对我们的护佑，愿他继续仁慈的护佑我们。

 

 

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of James Monroe
 MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1821
 Fellow-Citizens:
 I shall not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the new and very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, evinced by my reelection to this high trust, has excited in my bosom. The approbation which it announces of my conduct in the preceding term affords me a consolation which I shall profoundly feel through life. The general accord with which it has been expressed adds to the great and never-ceasing obligations which it imposes. To merit the continuance of this good opinion, and to carry it with me into my retirement as the solace of advancing years, will be the object of my most zealous and unceasing efforts.
 Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously identified with our Revolution, and who contributed so preeminently to promote its success, I consider myself rather as the instrument than the cause of the union which has prevailed in the late election In surmounting, in favor of my humble pretensions, the difficulties which so often produce division in like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes, indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have essentially contributed to draw you together. That these powerful causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my fixed opinion; that they may produce a like accord in all questions touching, however remotely, the liberty, prosperity and happiness of our country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good.
 In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who may be placed by their suffrages in this high trust should declare on commencing its duties the principles on which he intends to conduct the Administration. If the person thus elected has served the preceding term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal occurrences and to give such further explanation respecting them as in his judgment may be useful to his constituents. The events of one year have influence on those of another, and, in like manner, of a preceding on the succeeding Administration. The movements of a great nation are connected in all their parts. If errors have been committed they ought to be corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported. It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that our fellow-citizens are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a proper direction to the future.
 Just before the commencement of the last term the United States had concluded a war with a very powerful nation on conditions equal and honorable to both parties. The events of that war are too recent and too deeply impressed on the memory of all to require a development from me. Our commerce had been in a great measure driven from the sea, our Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded in almost every part; the waste of life along our coast and on some parts of our inland frontiers, to the defense of which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called, was immense, in addition to which not less than $120,000,000 were added at its end to the public debt.
 As soon as the war had terminated, the nation, admonished by its events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be better calculated to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and, in case it should recur, to mitigate its calamities. With this view, after reducing our land force to the basis of a peace establishment, which has been further modified since, provision was made for the construction of fortifications at proper points through the whole extent of our coast and such an augmentation of our naval force as should be well adapted to both purposes. The laws making this provision were passed in 1815 and 1816, and it has been since the constant effort of the Executive to carry them into effect.
 The advantage of these fortifications and of an augmented naval force in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been fully illustrated by a report of the Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears that in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a correspondent naval force, in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the construction of the works would be defrayed by the difference in the sum necessary to maintain the force which would be adequate toour defense with the aid of those works and that which would be incurred without them. The reason of this difference is obvious. If fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets, as distant from our cities as circumstances will permit, they will form the only points of attack, and the enemy will be detained there by a small regular force a sufficient time to enable our militia to collect and repair to that on which the attack is made. A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single point, with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is all that would be requisite. But if there were no fortifications, then the enemy might go where he pleased, and, changing his position and sailing from place to place, our force must be called out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast and on both sides of every bay and river as high up in each as it might be navigable for ships of war. By these fortifications, supported by our Navy, to which they would afford like support, we should present to other powers an armed front from St. Croix to the Sabine, which would protect in the event of war our whole coast and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other powers, in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, as, by keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, peace and order in them would be preserved and the Government be protected from insult.
 It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have not been resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a disposition does not exist toward any power. Peace and good will have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard to justice. They have been dictated by a love of peace, of economy, and an earnest desire to save the lives of our fellow-citizens from that destruction and our country from that devastation which are inseparable from war when it finds us unprepared for it. It is believed, and experience has shown, that such a preparation is the best expedient that can be resorted to prevent war. I add with much pleasure that considerable progress has already been made in these measures of defense, and that they will be completed in a few years, considering the great extent and importance of the object, if the plan be zealously and steadily persevered in.
 The conduct of the Government in what relates to foreign powers is always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, its peace, may all be affected by it. Attention is therefore due to this subject.
 At the period adverted to the powers of Europe, after having been engaged in long and destructive wars with each other, had concluded a peace, which happily still exists. Our peace with the power with whom we had been engaged had also been concluded. The war between Spain and the colonies in South America, which had commenced many years before, was then the only conflict that remained unsettled. This being a contest between different parts of the same community, in which other powers had not interfered, was not affected by their accommodations.
 This contest was considered at an early stage by my predecessor a civil war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports. This decision, the first made by any power, being formed on great consideration of the comparative strength and resources of the parties, the length of time, and successful opposition made by the colonies, and of all other circumstances on which it ought to depend, was in strict accord with the law of nations. Congress has invariably acted on this principle, having made no change in our relations with either party. Our attitude has therefore been that of neutrality between them, which has been maintained by the Government with the strictest impartiality. No aid has been afforded to either, nor has any privilege been enjoyed by the one which has not been equally open to the other party, and every exertion has been made in its power to enforce the execution of the laws prohibiting illegal equipments with equal rigor against both.
 By this equality between the parties their public vessels have been received in our ports on the same footing; they have enjoyed an equal right to purchase and export arms, munitions of war, and every other supply, the exportation of all articles whatever being permitted under laws which were passed long before the commencement of the contest; our citizens have traded equally with both, and their commerce with each has been alike protected by the Government.
 Respecting the attitude which it may be proper for the United States to maintain hereafter between the parties, I have no hesitation in stating it as my opinion that the neutrality heretofore observed should still be adhered to. From the change in the Government of Spain and the negotiation now depending, invited by the Cortes and accepted by the colonies, it may be presumed, that their differences will be settled on the terms proposed by the colonies. Should the war be continued, the United States, regarding its occurrences, will always have it in their power to adopt such measures respecting it as their honor and interest may require.
 Shortly after the general peace a band of adventurers took advantage of this conflict and of the facility which it afforded to establish a system of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to the great annoyance of the commerce of the United States, and, as was represented, of that of other powers. Of this spirit and of its injurious bearing on the United States strong proofs were afforded by the establishment at Amelia Island, and the purposes to which it was made instrumental by this band in 1817, and by the occurrences which took place in other parts of Florida in 1818, the details of which in both instances are too well known to require to be now recited. I am satisfied had a less decisive course been adopted that the worst consequences would have resulted from it. We have seen that these checks, decisive as they were, were not sufficient to crush that piratical spirit. Many culprits brought within our limits have been condemned to suffer death, the punishment due to that atrocious crime. The decisions of upright and enlightened tribunals fall equally on all whose crimes subject them, by a fair interpretation of the law, to its censure. It belongs to the Executive not to suffer the executions under these decisions to transcend the great purpose for which punishment is necessary. The full benefit of example being secured, policy as well as humanity equally forbids that they should be carried further. I have acted on this principle, pardoning those who appear to have been led astray by ignorance of the criminality of the acts they had committed, and suffering the law to take effect on those only in whose favor no extenuating circumstances could be urged.
 Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty with Spain, which has been ratified by both the parties, and the ratifications whereof have been exchanged, has placed the relations of the two countries on a basis of permanent friendship. The provision made by it for such of our citizens as have claims on Spain of the character described will, it is presumed, be very satisfactory to them, and the boundary which is established between the territories of the parties westward of the Mississippi, heretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been settled on conditions just and advantageous to both. But to the acquisition of Florida too much importance can not be attached. It secures to the United States a territory important in itself, and whose importance is much increased by its bearing on many of the highest interests of the Union. It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage to the ocean, through the Province ceded, by several rivers, having their sources high up within their limits. It secures us against all future annoyance from powerful Indian tribes. It gives us several excellent harbors in the Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It covers by its position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other great waters within our extended limits, and thereby enables the United States to afford complete protection to the vast and very valuable productions of our whole Western country, which find a market through those streams.
 By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date on the 20th of October, 1818, the convention regulating the commerce between the United States and Great Britain, concluded on the 3d of July, 1815, which was about expiring, was revived and continued for the term of ten years from the time of its expiration. By that treaty, also, the differences which had arisen under the treaty of Ghent respecting the right claimed by the United States for their citizens to take and cure fish on the coast of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, with other differences on important interests, were adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties. No agreement has yet been entered into respecting the commerce between the United States and the British dominions in the West Indies and on this continent. The restraints imposed on that commerce by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the United States on a principle of defense, continue still in force.
 The negotiation with France for the regulation of the commercial relations between the two countries, which in the course of the last summer had been commenced at Paris, has since been transferred to this city, and will be pursued on the part of the United States in the spirit of conciliation, and with an earnest desire that it may terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to both parties.
 Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved in the same state and by the same means that were employed when I came into this office. As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron into the Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce and no period has intervened, a short term excepted, when it was thought advisable to withdraw it. The great interests which the United States have in the Pacific, in commerce and in the fisheries, have also made it necessary to maintain a naval force there In disposing of this force in both instances the most effectual measures in our power have been taken, without interfering with its other duties, for the suppression of the slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas.
 The situation of the United States in regard to their resources, the extent of their revenue, and the facility with which it is raised affords a most gratifying spectacle. The payment of nearly $67,000,000 of the public debt, with the great progress made in measures of defense and in other improvements of various kinds since the late war, are conclusive proofs of this extraordinary prosperity, especially when it is recollected that these expenditures have been defrayed without a burthen on the people, the direct tax and excise having been repealed soon after the conclusion of the late war, and the revenue applied to these great objects having been raised in a manner not to be felt. Our great resources therefore remain untouched for any purpose which may affect the vital interests of the nation. For all such purposes they are inexhaustible. They are more especially to be found in the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of our fellow-citizens, and in the devotion with which they would yield up by any just measure of taxation all their property in support of the rights and honor of their country.
 Under the present depression of prices, affecting all the productions of the country and every branch of industry, proceeding from causes explained on a former occasion, the revenue has considerably diminished, the effect of which has been to compel Congress either to abandon these great measures of defense or to resort to loans or internal taxes to supply the deficiency. On the presumption that this depression and the deficiency in the revenue arising from it would be temporary, loans were authorized for the demands of the last and present year. Anxious to relieve my fellow-citizens in 1817 from every burthen which could be dispensed with and the state of the Treasury permitting it, I recommended the repeal of the internal taxes, knowing that such relief was then peculiarly necessary in consequence of the great exertions made in the late war. I made that recommendation under a pledge that should the public exigencies require a recurrence to them at any time while I remained in this trust, I would with equal promptitude perform the duty which would then be alike incumbent on me. By the experiment now making it will be seen by the next session of Congress whether the revenue shall have been so augmented as to be adequate to all these necessary purposes. Should the deficiency still continue, and especially should it be probable that it would be permanent, the course to be pursued appears to me to be obvious. I am satisfied that under certain circumstances loans may be resorted to with great advantage. I am equally well satisfied, as a general rule, that the demands of the current year, especially in time of peace, should be provided for by the revenue of that year.
 I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned, in any situation in which I have been placed making appeals to the virtue and patriotism of my fellow-citizens, well knowing that they could never be made in vain, especially in times of great emergency or for purposes of high national importance. Independently of the exigency of the case, many considerations of great weight urge a policy having in view a provision of revenue to meet to a certain extent the demands of the nation, without relying altogether on the precarious resource of foreign commerce. I am satisfied that internal duties and excises, with corresponding imposts on foreign articles of the same kind, would, without imposing any serious burdens on the people, enhance the price of produce, promote our manufactures, and augment the revenue, at the same time that they made it more secure and permanent.
 The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has long been an essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been executed in a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. We have treated them as independent nations, without their having any substantial pretensions to that rank. The distinction has flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many instances paved the way to their destruction. The progress of our settlements westward, supported as they are by a dense population, has constantly driven them back, with almost the total sacrifice of the lands which they have been compelled to abandon. They have claims on the magnanimity and, I may add, on the justice of this nation which we must all feel. We should become their real benefactors; we should perform the office of their Great Father, the endearing title which they emphatically give to the Chief Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over vast territories should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to each individual and his posterity in competent portions; and for the territory thus ceded by each tribe some reasonable equivalent should be granted, to be vested in permanent funds for the support of civil government over them and for the education of their children, for their instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance for them until they could provide it for themselves. My earnest hope is that Congress will digest some plan, founded on these principles, with such improvements as their wisdom may suggest, and carry it into effect as soon as it may be practicable.
 Europe is again unsettled and the prospect of war increasing. Should the flame light up in any quarter, how far it may extend it is impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether unconnected with the causes which produce this menacing aspect elsewhere. With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions. I see no reasonable cause to apprehend variance with any power, unless it proceed from a violation of our maritime rights. In these contests, should they occur, and to whatever extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral; but as a neutral power we have rights which it is our duty to maintain. For like injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek redress in a spirit of amity, in full confidence that, injuring none, none would knowingly injure us. For more imminent dangers we should be prepared, and it should always be recollected that such preparation adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the judgment and wishes of our constituents can not fail to have a good effect in averting dangers of every kind. We should recollect also that the season of peace is best adapted to these preparations.
 If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more immediately to the internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on which its future welfare depends, we have every reason to anticipate the happiest results. It is now rather more than forty-four years since we declared our independence, and thirty-seven since it was acknowledged. The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great struggle were a sure presage of all that has since followed. A people who were able to surmount in their infant state such great perils would be more competent as they rose into manhood to repel any which they might meet in their progress. Their physical strength would be more adequate to foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by the light of experience, could not fail to produce an effect equally salutary on all those questions connected with the internal organization. These favorable anticipations have been realized.
 In our whole system, national and State, we have shunned all the defects which unceasingly preyed on the vitals and destroyed the ancient Republics. In them there were distinct orders, a nobility and a people, or the people governed in one assembly. Thus, in the one instance there was a perpetual conflict between the orders in society for the ascendency, in which the victory of either terminated in the overthrow of the government and the ruin of the state; in the other, in which the people governed in a body, and whose dominions seldom exceeded the dimensions of a county in one of our States, a tumultuous and disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence. In this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from them, without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of free, enlightened and efficient government. The whole system is elective, the complete sovereignty being in the people, and every officer in every department deriving his authority from and being responsible to them for his conduct.
 Our career has corresponded with this great outline. Perfection in our organization could not have been expected in the outset either in the National or State Governments or in tracing the line between their respective powers. But no serious conflict has arisen, nor any contest but such as are managed by argument and by a fair appeal to the good sense of the people, and many of the defects which experience had clearly demonstrated in both Governments have been remedied. By steadily pursuing this course in this spirit there is every reason to believe that our system will soon attain the highest degree of perfection of which human institutions are capable, and that the movement in all its branches will exhibit such a degree of order and harmony as to command the admiration and respect of the civilized world.
 Our physical attainments have not been less eminent. Twenty-five years ago the river Mississippi was shut up and our Western brethren had no outlet for their commerce. What has been the progress since that time? The river has not only become the property of the United States from its source to the ocean, with all its tributary streams (with the exception of the upper part of the Red River only), but Louisiana, with a fair and liberal boundary on the western side and the Floridas on the eastern, have been ceded to us. The United States now enjoy the complete and uninterrupted sovereignty over the whole territory from St. Croix to the Sabine. New States, settled from among ourselves in this and in other parts, have been admitted into our Union in equal participation in the national sovereignty with the original States. Our population has augmented in an astonishing degree and extended in every direction. We now, fellow-citizens, comprise within our limits the dimensions and faculties of a great power under a Government possessing all the energies of any government ever known to the Old World, with an utter incapacity to oppress the people.
 Entering with these views the office which I have just solemnly sworn to execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I derive great satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be assisted in the several Departments by the very enlightened and upright citizens from whom I have received so much aid in the preceding term. With full confidence in the continuance of that candor and generous indulgence from my fellow-citizens at large which I have heretofore experienced, and with a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith commence the duties of the high trust to which you have called me.

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams
 FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1825
 In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called.
 In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of the Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted--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 to the people of this Union in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation.
 In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its authority and in conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have distributed the executive functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the Union by land and sea. A coordinate department of the judiciary has expounded the Constitution and the laws, settling in harmonious coincidence with the legislative will numerous weighty questions of construction which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. The year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union has just elapsed that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution.
 Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union in numbers nearly equal to those of the first Confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the ax of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year.
 Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a Constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit that this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil-- physical, moral, and political--it is not our claim to be exempt. We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of Heaven through disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other nations, even to the extremities of war; and, lastly, by dissensions among ourselves--dissensions perhaps inseparable from the enjoyment of freedom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the dissolution of the Union, and with it the overthrow of all the enjoyments of our present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dissensions have been various, founded upon differences of speculation in the theory of republican government; upon conflicting views of policy in our relations with foreign nations; upon jealousies of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain.
 It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty--all have been promoted by the Government under which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to that generation which has gone by and forward to that which is advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in cheering hope. From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future. Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary wars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment when the Government of the United States first went into operation under this Constitution, excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies which kindled all the passions and imbittered the conflict of parties till the nation was involved in war and the Union was shaken to its center. This time of trial embraced a period of five and twenty years, during which the policy of the Union in its relations with Europe constituted the principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the wars of the French Revolution terminated, and our own subsequent peace with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was uprooted. From that time no difference of principle, connected either with the theory of government or with our intercourse with foreign nations, has existed or been called forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued combination of parties or to give more than wholesome animation to public sentiment or legislative debate. Our political creed is, without a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth; that the best security for the beneficence and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the General Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow- servants of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon each other; that the firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war; that a rigorous economy and accountability of public expenditures should guard against the aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power; that the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate; that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of our salvation union are articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled; if there have been projects of partial confederacies to be erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds; if there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation and antipathies against another, they have been extinguished. Ten years of peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political contention and blended into harmony the most discordant elements of public opinion There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party communion.
 The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, and modes of domestic life are more permanent, and therefore, perhaps, more dangerous. It is this which gives inestimable value to the character of our Government, at once federal and national. It holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike and with equal anxiety the rights of each individual State in its own government and the rights of the whole nation in that of the Union. Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with the other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration of the State governments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests of the federative fraternity or of foreign powers is of the resort of this General Government. The duties of both are obvious in the general principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the detail. To respect the rights of the State governments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union; the government of every State will feel its own obligation to respect and preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition and functions of the great national councils annually assembled from all quarters of the Union at this place. Here the distinguished men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis.
 Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of the Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the first traces of the path of duty in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the Administration of my immediate predecessor as the second. It has passed away in a period of profound peace, how much to the satisfaction of our country and to the honor of our country's name is known to you all. The great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the will of the Legislature, have been to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military force; to improve the organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the great interests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the time of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight years the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the Revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognized, and recommended by example and by counsel to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defense of the country by fortifications and the increase of the Navy, toward the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior regions of the Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country.
 In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate predecessor the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. It is that from which I am convinced that the unborn millions of our posterity who are in future ages to people this continent will derive their most fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union; that in which the beneficent action of its Government will be most deeply felt and acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public works are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after ages, and have survived thousands of years after all her conquests have been swallowed up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for legislation upon objects of this nature. The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by venerated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the first national road was commenced. The authority for its construction was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it ever proved an injury? Repeated, liberal, and candid discussions in the Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the opinions of enlightened minds upon the question of constitutional power. I can not but hope that by the same process of friendly, patient, and persevering deliberation all constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. The extent and limitation of the powers of the General Government in relation to this transcendently important interest will be settled and acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all, and every speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing.
 Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me in the fulfillment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare of our country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that "except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country.

 

 

 

 

Iaugural Address of Andrew Jackson
 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1829
 Fellow-Citizens:
 About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication of my humble abilities to their service and their good.
 As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly to explain.
 In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people.
 In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the Confederacy.
 The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours, and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt accountability of public officers.
 With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found essential to our national independence.
 Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance.
 Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.
 It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.
 The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of reform, which will require particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.
 In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers.
 A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction.

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Andrew Jackson
 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.

 

安德鲁·杰克逊
第二次就职演讲
星期一,1833年3月4日

论国内外政策
　　公民们：
　　美国人民通过自愿选举所表达的意志，要求我站在你们面前通过这一庄重的仪式，作为我连任合众国总统职务的准备。你们对我在一个不无困难的时期执政的情况表示认可，对我良好的愿望再次表示信赖，对此我实在我不出适当的言词来表达我的感激。我将继续尽我微薄之力管理政府，维护你们的自由，促进你们的幸福，以此来表达我的感激之憎。

　　在过会4年里发生了这么多事件，这必然引起——有时是在最微妙和最痛苦的情况下——我对许多必须由中央政府执行的原则和政策的看法，因此，我必须在此列提到与某些原则和政策有关的一些主要问题。

　　在目前的这部宪法制定后不久，我国政府所采取的、并为历届政府普遍奉行的外交政策，获得了几乎全面成功的荣誉，并提高了我们在世界各国中的声望。对所有的人一视同仁，不向任何人的邪恶屈服，乃是我当政期间的指导方针。其结果非常成功，我们不仅和世界各国和睦相处，也很少有引起争端的缘由，至于尚未调整的也只是一些元足轻重的问题。

　　在这届政府执行的国内政策上有两个目标特别值得人民及其代表的注意，这两个目标一直是，并仍将继续是我日益关注的问题。这就是维护几个州的权利和维护联邦的完整。

　　这两大目标必然是相关的，只有在这些州的适当范围内开明地行使各自的权力并符合宪法所表达的公众的意志，才能达到这些目标。要达到这个目伪，所有的人都有责任乐意地和富有爱国心地服从宪法所规定的法律，从而提高并增强人民亲自为他们的政府所规定的几个州和合众国的那些法律的信心。

　　 我任公职的经验和对生活的略微高超的观察证实了我长久以来所形成的观点：废除我们的州政府或者取消它们对地方事务的控制，必然会直接导致单命或无政府状态，最终则导致专制和军事控制。因此，如果中央政府侵害了各州的部分权利，也就损害了自身的部分权力，并减损了部分的创造能力。如果向胞们切实铭记这些考虑，便会发现我准备行使我的宪法权力，以阻止那些直接或间接侵犯州权、或企图加强中央政府政治权力的各种措施。但是，具有同等而且确实是无可估量重要性的是这些州的联合，以及所有各州都大力支持中央政府行使其公正的权为，以此来维护其联合的神圣职责。你们曾被理智地告诫过：“你们要习惯于像对待护佑你们政治上的安全与繁荣的守护神那样想到它或谈论它，要小心翼翼、无微不至地保护它；要驳斥一切抛弃它的想法，即使对它抱有丝毫怀疑亦不允许；要义正词严地反对刚回头的、一切可能使我国的任何部分与其他部分疏远并削弱连接全国各地的神圣纽带的种种企图”。没有联合，我们的独立和自由就永远不会取得，没有联合，独立和自由也决得不到维护，如果我国分裂为24个独立的地区，或者即使数量上少一些，我们的国内贸易将为无数的限制和苛税所累；遥远的市镇与地区之间的通讯联系将受阻或被切断；我们的孩子将被迫当兵，使他们现在还在和平耕种地失去自由，失去这绝好的政体，失去和平、富裕和幸福。因此，支持联邦，我们就支持了自由人和博爱主义者所珍视的一切。

　　我站在你们面前的这一时刻充分地引起了人们的注意。世界各国的目光都在注视着我们的共和政体。目前这个危机的结果将决定全人类对我们联邦制政府的可行性的看法。置于我们手中的赌注是巨大的，置于美国人民肩上的责任是重大的。让我们意识到我们对全世界表明的这种态度的重要性。让我们运用我们的克制态度和坚定信念，让我们将我们的国家从所处的危险中解脱出来，从这些危险所反复说明的教训中汲取智念。

　　这些观察所得出的道理给我留下深刻的印象，既然我必须对我即将作的庄严誓词负责，我将继续竭尽全力维护宪法所规定的正当权力，将我们合众国的福祉无损地传至后代，同时，我的目标是，以我的官方行动，反复灌输中央政府只行使明确地授予它的权力的必要性；鼓励政府节俭开支；不向人民征收超过达到这些目标所需要的款项，最大限度地提高社会各阶级和联邦各州的利益。我们要时刻牢记，在进入社会时·个人必须放弃一份自由以维护其他人的自由“，我的愿望将是履行我的职责，并和全国各地的同胞们一起，培养一种宽容谦让的精神，使我们的公民安心于为维护更大的利益而必须做出部分的牺牲，从而是我们宝贵的政府和联邦能博得美国人民的信任和爱戴。最后，我站在全能的上帝面前作最热忱的祈祷，我们的共和国在他的怀抱里已经从婴儿成长到今日，愿他主宰我得一切愿望和行动，并激发公民们的信念，使我们能免遭一切危险，永远成为一个团结和幸福的民族。

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Martin Van Buren
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1837
 Fellow-Citizens:
 The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill--to accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast. In imitating their example I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is our happiness to believe are not found on the executive calendar of any country. Among them we recognize the earliest and firmest pillars of the Republic--those by whom our national independence was first declared, him who above all others contributed to establish it on the field of battle, and those whose expanded intellect and patriotism constructed, improved, and perfected the inestimable institutions under which we live. If such men in the position I now occupy felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for this the highest of all marks of their country's confidence, and by a consciousness of their inability adequately to discharge the duties of an office so difficult and exalted, how much more must these considerations affect one who can rely on no such claims for favor or forbearance! Unlike all who have preceded me, the Revolution that gave us existence as one people was achieved at the period of my birth; and whilst I contemplate with grateful reverence that memorable event, I feel that I belong to a later age and that I may not expect my countrymen to weigh my actions with the same kind and partial hand.
 So sensibly, fellow-citizens, do these circumstances press themselves upon me that I should not dare to enter upon my path of duty did I not look for the generous aid of those who will be associated with me in the various and coordinate branches of the Government; did I not repose with unwavering reliance on the patriotism, the intelligence, and the kindness of a people who never yet deserted a public servant honestly laboring their cause; and, above all, did I not permit myself humbly to hope for the sustaining support of an ever-watchful and beneficent Providence.
 To the confidence and consolation derived from these sources it would be ungrateful not to add those which spring from our present fortunate condition. Though not altogether exempt from embarrassments that disturb our tranquillity at home and threaten it abroad, yet in all the attributes of a great, happy, and flourishing people we stand without a parallel in the world. Abroad we enjoy the respect and, with scarcely an exception, the friendship of every nation; at home, while our Government quietly but efficiently performs the sole legitimate end of political institutions--in doing the greatest good to the greatest number-- we present an aggregate of human prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found.
 How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy! All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess. Position and climate and the bounteous resources that nature has scattered with so liberal a hand--even the diffused intelligence and elevated character of our people--will avail us nothing if we fail sacredly to uphold those political institutions that were wisely and deliberately formed with reference to every circumstance that could preserve or might endanger the blessings we enjoy. The thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for our country as they found it. Looking upon it with the eyes of statesmen and patriots, they saw all the sources of rapid and wonderful prosperity; but they saw also that various habits, opinions and institutions peculiar to the various portions of so vast a region were deeply fixed. Distinct sovereignties were in actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to the welfare and happiness of all. Between many of them there was, at least to some extent, a real diversity of interests, liable to be exaggerated through sinister designs; they differed in size, in population, in wealth, and in actual and prospective resources and power; they varied in the character of their industry and staple productions, and [in some] existed domestic institutions which, unwisely disturbed, might endanger the harmony of the whole. Most carefully were all these circumstances weighed, and the foundations of the new Government laid upon principles of reciprocal concession and equitable compromise. The jealousies which the smaller States might entertain of the power of the rest were allayed by a rule of representation confessedly unequal at the time, and designed forever to remain so. A natural fear that the broad scope of general legislation might bear upon and unwisely control particular interests was counteracted by limits strictly drawn around the action of the Federal authority, and to the people and the States was left unimpaired their sovereign power over the innumerable subjects embraced in the internal government of a just republic, excepting such only as necessarily appertain to the concerns of the whole confederacy or its intercourse as a united community with the other nations of the world.
 This provident forecast has been verified by time. Half a century, teeming with extraordinary events, and elsewhere producing astonishing results, has passed along, but on our institutions it has left no injurious mark. From a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of just principles. The privileges, civil and religious, of the humblest individual are still sacredly protected at home, and while the valor and fortitude of our people have removed far from us the slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not yet induced us in a single instance to forget what is right. Our commerce has been extended to the remotest nations; the value and even nature of our productions have been greatly changed; a wide difference has arisen in the relative wealth and resources of every portion of our country; yet the spirit of mutual regard and of faithful adherence to existing compacts has continued to prevail in our councils and never long been absent from our conduct. We have learned by experience a fruitful lesson--that an implicit and undeviating adherence to the principles on which we set out can carry us prosperously onward through all the conflicts of circumstances and vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years.
 The success that has thus attended our great experiment is in itself a sufficient cause for gratitude, on account of the happiness it has actually conferred and the example it has unanswerably given But to me, my fellow-citizens, looking forward to the far-distant future with ardent prayers and confiding hopes, this retrospect presents a ground for still deeper delight. It impresses on my mind a firm belief that the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon ourselves; that if we maintain the principles on which they were established they are destined to confer their benefits on countless generations yet to come, and that America will present to every friend of mankind the cheering proof that a popular government, wisely formed, is wanting in no element of endurance or strength. Fifty years ago its rapid failure was boldly predicted. Latent and uncontrollable causes of dissolution were supposed to exist even by the wise and good, and not only did unfriendly or speculative theorists anticipate for us the fate of past republics, but the fears of many an honest patriot overbalanced his sanguine hopes. Look back on these forebodings, not hastily but reluctantly made, and see how in every instance they have completely failed.
 An imperfect experience during the struggles of the Revolution was supposed to warrant the belief that the people would not bear the taxation requisite to discharge an immense public debt already incurred and to pay the necessary expenses of the Government The cost of two wars has been paid, not only without a murmur; but with unequaled alacrity. No one is now left to doubt that every burden will be cheerfully borne that may be necessary to sustain our civil institutions or guard our honor or welfare. Indeed, all experience has shown that the willingness of the people to contribute to these ends in cases of emergency has uniformly outrun the confidence of their representatives.
 In the early stages of the new Government, when all felt the imposing influence as they recognized the unequaled services of the first President, it was a common sentiment that the great weight of his character could alone bind the discordant materials of our Government together and save us from the violence of contending factions. Since his death nearly forty years are gone. Party exasperation has been often carried to its highest point; the virtue and fortitude of the people have sometimes been greatly tried; yet our system, purified and enhanced in value by all it has encountered, still preserves its spirit of free and fearless discussion, blended with unimpaired fraternal feeling.
 The capacity of the people for self-government, and their willingness, from a high sense of duty and without those exhibitions of coercive power so generally employed in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints and exactions of municipal law, have also been favorably exemplified in the history of the American States. Occasionally, it is true, the ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the regular progress of the judicial tribunals or seeking to reach cases not denounced as criminal by the existing law, has displayed itself in a manner calculated to give pain to the friends of free government and to encourage the hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. These occurrences, however, have been far less frequent in our country than in any other of equal population on the globe, and with the diffusion of intelligence it may well be hoped that they will constantly diminish in frequency and violence. The generous patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass of our fellow-citizens will assuredly in time produce this result; for as every assumption of illegal power not only wounds the majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liberties of the people, the latter have the most direct and permanent interest in preserving the landmarks of social order and maintaining on all occasions the inviolability of those constitutional and legal provisions which they themselves have made.
 In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for those hostile emergencies which no country can always avoid their friends found a fruitful source of apprehension, their enemies of hope. While they foresaw less promptness of action than in governments differently formed, they overlooked the far more important consideration that with us war could never be the result of individual or irresponsible will, but must be a measure of redress for injuries sustained voluntarily resorted to by those who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who would consequently feel an individual interest in the contest, and whose energy would be commensurate with the difficulties to be encountered. Actual events have proved their error; the last war, far from impairing, gave new confidence to our Government, and amid recent apprehensions of a similar conflict we saw that the energies of our country would not be wanting in ample season to vindicate its rights. We may not possess, as we should not desire to possess, the extended and ever-ready military organization of other nations; we may occasionally suffer in the outset for the want of it; but among ourselves all doubt upon this great point has ceased, while a salutary experience will prevent a contrary opinion from inviting aggression from abroad.
 Certain danger was foretold from the extension of our territory, the multiplication of States, and the increase of population. Our system was supposed to be adapted only to boundaries comparatively narrow. These have been widened beyond conjecture; the members of our Confederacy are already doubled, and the numbers of our people are incredibly augmented. The alleged causes of danger have long surpassed anticipation, but none of the consequences have followed. The power and influence of the Republic have arisen to a height obvious to all mankind; respect for its authority was not more apparent at its ancient than it is at its present limits; new and inexhaustible sources of general prosperity have been opened; the effects of distance have been averted by the inventive genius of our people, developed and fostered by the spirit of our institutions; and the enlarged variety and amount of interests, productions, and pursuits have strengthened the chain of mutual dependence and formed a circle of mutual benefits too apparent ever to be overlooked.
 In justly balancing the powers of the Federal and State authorities difficulties nearly insurmountable arose at the outset and subsequent collisions were deemed inevitable. Amid these it was scarcely believed possible that a scheme of government so complex in construction could remain uninjured. From time to time embarrassments have certainly occurred; but how just is the confidence of future safety imparted by the knowledge that each in succession has been happily removed! Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied. While the Federal Government has successfully performed its appropriate functions in relation to foreign affairs and concerns evidently national, that of every State has remarkably improved in protecting and developing local interests and individual welfare; and if the vibrations of authority have occasionally tended too much toward one or the other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate operation of the entire system has been to strengthen all the existing institutions and to elevate our whole country in prosperity and renown.
 The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this subject, and they treated it with a forbearance so evidently wise that in spite of every sinister foreboding it never until the present period disturbed the tranquillity of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the patriotism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken that an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflection that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of excited passions this generous and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded; and standing as I now do before my countrymen, in this high place of honor and of trust, I can not refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving before my election the deep interest this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it, and now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least they will be my standard of conduct in the path before me. I then declared that if the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified "I must go into the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists." I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fullness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved and are confided in by a majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they most immediately affect It now only remains to add that no bill conflicting with these views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the Republic, and that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable, and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed, and that in this as in every other instance the apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the destruction of our Government are again destined to be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred, terrifying instances of local violence have been witnessed, and a reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation; but neither masses of the people nor sections of the country have been swerved from their devotion to the bond of union and the principles it has made sacred. It will be ever thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically return, but with each the object will be better understood. That predominating affection for our political system which prevails throughout our territorial limits, that calm and enlightened judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast body, will always be at hand to resist and control every effort, foreign or domestic, which aims or would lead to overthrow our institutions.
 What can be more gratifying than such a retrospect as this? We look back on obstacles avoided and dangers overcome, on expectations more than realized and prosperity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the hostile, the fears of the timid, and the doubts of the anxious actual experience has given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually dispel every unfavorable foreboding and our Constitution surmount every adverse circumstance dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Present excitement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past can remain to be overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to entertain an abiding confidence in the stability of our institutions and an entire conviction that if administered in the true form, character, and spirit in which they were established they are abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich blessings already derived from them, to make our beloved land for a thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a perfect equality of political rights.
 For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those who framed it. Looking back to it as a sacred instrument carefully and not easily framed; remembering that it was throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as limited to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people and the States all power not explicitly parted with, I shall endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend it by anxiously referring to its provision for direction in every action. To matters of domestic concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal Government and to such as relate to our intercourse with foreign nations I shall zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I shall never pass.
 To enter on this occasion into a further or more minute exposition of my views on the various questions of domestic policy would be as obtrusive as it is probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great precision, my opinions on all the most prominent of these subjects. Those opinions I shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability.
 Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible as to constitute a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights of experience and the known opinions of my constituents. We sedulously cultivate the friendship of all nations as the conditions most compatible with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our objects and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We have no disposition and we disclaim all right to meddle in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest other countries, regarding them in their actual state as social communities, and preserving a strict neutrality in all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people and our exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed aggression; and in the consciousness of our own just conduct we feel a security that we shall never be called upon to exert our determination never to permit an invasion of our rights without punishment or redress.
 In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to make the solemn promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that I will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with me a settled purpose to maintain the institutions of my country, which I trust will atone for the errors I commit.
 In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success. But united as I have been in his counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which his countrymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely of his confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be found to attend upon my path. For him I but express with my own the wishes of all, that he may yet long live to enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent life; and for myself, conscious of but one desire, faithfully to serve my country, I throw myself without fear on its justice and its kindness. Beyond that I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His providence to bless our beloved country with honors and with length of days. May her ways be ways of pleasantness and all her paths be peace!

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of William Henry Harrison
 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 Stages 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 asimilar 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.

 

威廉·亨利·哈里森
就职演讲
星期四,1841年3月4日

我国的政党
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同胞们，在结束演讲之前，我必须谈谈我国目前存在的政党问题，我认为有一点是显而易见的；目前支配各个政党的强烈的党派情绪，如果不能完全消除，也应该极大地削弱，否则后果不堪设想。

　　在一个共和国里，如果说政党的存在是必要的，以便确保某种程度的警觉，使公共职能机构不越出法律和职责的范围，那么，政党的作用应该到此为止。超过这一限度，政党就会成为公共美德的破坏力量，就会培育与自由精神相抵触的情绪，就会最终不可避免地毁掉自由。以往的某些共和国不乏这样的例子。在那里，热爱祖国和热爱自由一度是全体公民的主导情感，但是，尽管自由政府的名义和形式还继续存在，而在公民的心中，上述情感已荡然无存，一位英国著名作家说得很精彩：“在罗马元老院，屋大维有自己的党，安东尼也有自己的党，共和国却一无所有。”然而，元老院照旧在自由的神殿里开会，高谈共和国的神圣、美丽，凝望老布鲁图、柯蒂和德西等人的雕像，人民照旧在广场集会，但不像在卡米卢和大小西庇阿时代，为选举年度执政官而自由投票，或对元老院的议案作出裁决，而是从各自的党派头目那里领取一份赃物，还吵吵嚷嚷地要这要那，因为从高卢、埃及和小亚细亚收缴的赃物，将能提供更多的份额。自由精神无影无踪。为避开文明人的住地，自由精神已到锡西厄或斯堪的纳维亚的荒野中录求庇护。因此，由于同样的原因和影响，自由精神也会从我们的国会和议事堂销声匿迹。这不仅对我国，而且对世界来说都是可怕的灾难。每一个爱国者，都应力求避免这一灾难，面任何可能导致这种灾难的事态发展，何必须立即制止。现在，这种趋势已经存在——确实已经存在。我一直是同胞们的朋友，我从不对你们阿谀奉迎，你门对我的偏爱使我荣登高位，因此，我有责任告诉你们：我国存在着一种与你们的最大利益相抵触的情绪——一种与自由本身相抵触的情绪。这是一种狭隘的、自私的情绪。为了扩大少数人的权势，它甚至不惜毁掉全体人民的利益。彻底的纠正要靠人民，然而，人民赋予我的手段可能会起一些作用。我们需要团结起来，但不是为党派的缘故而团结起来。而是为了国家、为了捍卫她的利益和荣誉并抵御外国入侵、为了捍卫先辈们如此光荣斗争过的原则而团结起来。在我看来，这个目标一定能实现。我将竭尽所能，至少要防止在立法机构内形成一个执政党。我提出的任何措施，如果不符合国会议员的判断，如果有悖于他们对选民的责任感，我不指望他们任何人给予任何支持；我也不指望事先就得到人民的信任，而只求得到杰斐逊先生所要求的那种信任，以便“坚定地、有效地依法管理大家的事务”。

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Second Inaugural Address of William Henry Harrison

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.
 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 aprocess 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.
 Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be between the constituted authorities of the citizens of our country in relation to the lines which separate their respective jurisdictions, the results can be of no vital injury to our institutions if that ardent patriotism, that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of moderation and forbearance for which our countrymen were once distinguished, continue to be cherished. If this continues to be the ruling passion of our souls, the weaker feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions may receive. On the contrary, no care that can be used in the construction of our Government, no division of powers, no distribution of checks in its several departments, will prove effectual to keep us a free people if this spirit is suffered to decay; and decay it will without constant nurture. To the neglect of this duty the best historians agree in attributing the ruin of all the republics with whose existence and fall their writings have made us acquainted. The same causes will ever produce the same effects, and as long as the love of power is a dominant passion of the human bosom, and as long as the understandings of men can be warped and their affections changed by operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation. The danger to all well-established free governments arises from the unwillingness of the people to believe in its existence or from the influence of designing men diverting their attention from the quarter whence it approaches to a source from which it can never come. This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their country. In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against the influence of wealth and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples. Caesar became the master of the Roman people and the senate under the pretense of supporting the democratic claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter; Cromwell, in the character of protector of the liberties of the people, became the dictator of England, and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power with the title of his country's liberator. There is, on the contrary, no instance on record of an extensive and well- established republic being changed into an aristocracy. The tendencies of all such governments in their decline is to monarchy, and the antagonist principle to liberty there is the spirit of faction--a spirit which assumes the character and in times of great excitement imposes itself upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and, like the false Christs whose coming was foretold by the Savior, seeks to, and were it possible would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of liberty. It is in periods like this that it behooves the people to be most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted power. And although there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the false from the true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the counterfeit, as well by the character of its operations as the results that are produced. The true spirit of liberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and uncompromising in principle, that secured is mild and tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs, whilst the spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive, and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies which it brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of liberty animates the body of a people to a thorough examination of their affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may have fastened itself upon any of the departments of the government, and restores the system to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of an intolerant spirit of party amongst a free people seldom fails to result in a dangerous accession to the executive power introduced and established amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy.
 The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected with our domestic concerns. It may be proper, however, that I should give some indications to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course of conduct in the management of our foreign relations. I assure them, therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power to preserve the friendly intercourse which now so happily subsists with every foreign nation, and that although, of course, not well informed as to the state of pending negotiations with any of them, I see in the personal characters of the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual interests of our own and of the governments with which our relations are most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to the interests of their subjects as well as of our citizens will not be interrupted by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon their part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long the defender of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens will not see in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign powers any indication that their rights will ever be sacrificed or the honor of the nation tarnished by any admission on the part of their Chief Magistrate unworthy of their former glory. In our intercourse with our aboriginal neighbors the same liberality and justice which marked the course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious predecessors when acting under their direction in the discharge of the duties of superintendent and commissioner shall be strictly observed. I can conceive of no more sublime spectacle, none more likely to propitiate an impartial and common Creator, than a rigid adherence to the principles of justice on the part of a powerful nation in its transactions with aweaker and uncivilized people whom circumstances have placed at its disposal.
 Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on the subject of the parties at this time existing in our country. To me it appears perfectly clear that the interest of that country requires that the violence of the spirit by which those parties are at this time governed must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or consequences will ensue which are appalling to be thought of.
 If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law and duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become destructive of public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that of liberty, and eventually its inevitable conqueror. We have examples of republics where the love of country and of liberty at one time were the dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the continuance of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of these qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of its citizens. It was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that "in the Roman senate Octavius had a party and Anthony a party, but the Commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in the temple of liberty to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the Commonwealth and gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii, and the people assembled in the forum, not, as in the days of Camillus and the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual magistrates or pass upon the acts of the senate, but to receive from the hands of the leaders of the respective parties their share of the spoils and to shout for one or the other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the lesser Asia would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled, and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the operation of the same causes and influences it will fly from our Capitol and our forums. A calamity so awful, not only to our country, but to the world, must be deprecated by every patriot and every tendency to a state of things likely to produce it immediately checked. Such a tendency has existed--does exist. Always the friend of my countrymen, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them from this high place to which their partiality has exalted me that there exists in the land a spirit hostile to their best interests--hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit contracted in its views, selfish in its objects. It looks to the aggrandizement of a few even to the destruction of the interests of the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may be effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is union that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but aunion of the whole country for the sake of the whole country, for the defense of its interests and its honor against foreign aggression, for the defense of those principles for which our ancestors so gloriously contended As far as it depends upon me it shall be accomplished. All the influence that I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal administration of their affairs."
 I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time.
 Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability, and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just and generous people.

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of James Knox Polk
 TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1845
 Fellow-Citizens:
 Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors, I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the discharge of my official duties.
 If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and policy which should characterize the administration of our Government? Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.
 In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the destinies of nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from an unwise public policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
 A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion.
 The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.
 It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers, and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers that we have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union.
 "To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the General Government should abstain from the exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."
 To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country, which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power.
 This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self- government among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful operation for more than half a century, and if preserved from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come and dispense the blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the Executive or of majorities in the legislative department of the Government for powers which have been withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.
 That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unConstitutional legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.
 The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are permitted collectively and individually to seek their own happiness in their own way, and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed the number of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members of the Confederacy within the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and States are seeking protection under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests in developing his faculties and powers and the capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
 These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our Federal Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty, which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions and invites all the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error and wrong are committed in the administration of the Government, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect, and that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven or devised by man has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic sentiment, "Our Federal Union--it must be preserved." To preserve it the compromises which alone enabled our fathers to form a common Constitution for the government and protection of so many States and distinct communities, of such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to none other than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences.
 It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in other sections--institutions which existed at the adoption of the Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our happy form of government must speedily follow.
 I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all should remember that they are members of the same political family, having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must operate to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow- citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved, if sectional jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our laws be just and the Government be practically administered strictly within the limits of power prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions for the safety of the Union.
 With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the Government and the value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the creation of those institutions and systems which in their nature tend to pervert it from its legitimate purposes and make it the instrument of sections, classes, and individuals. We need no national banks or other extraneous institutions planted around the Government to control or strengthen it in opposition to the will of its authors. Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public authorities--how impotent for good and how powerful for mischief.
 Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as the Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my power the strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money which may be compatible with the public interests.
 A national debt has become almost an institution of European monarchies. It is viewed in some of them as an essential prop to existing governments. Melancholy is the condition of that people whose government can be sustained only by a system which periodically transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible with the ends for which our republican Government was instituted. Under a wise policy the debts contracted in our Revolution and during the War of 1812 have been happily extinguished. By a judicious application of the revenues not required for other necessary purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off.
 I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the credit of the General Government of the Union and that of many of the States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted. Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of our compact of union to assume them, yet we can not but feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities and pay off their just debts at the earliest practicable period. That they will do so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens there is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States can not be questioned, and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their part, as their ability returns after a season of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and to acquiesce in any reasonable measures to accomplish that object.
 One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical administration of the Government consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of Government. In the general proposition that no more money shall be collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall require all parties seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any material difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the Government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or one occupation, for the mere profit of another. "Justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country." I have heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that "in my judgment it is the duty of the Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just protection to all of the great interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation." I have also declared my opinion to be "in favor of a tariff for revenue," and that "in adjusting the details of such a tariff I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount of revenue needed and at the same time afford reasonable incidental protection to our home industry," and that I was "opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."
 The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" was an indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which without it would possess no means of providing for its own support. In executing this power by levying a tariff of duties for the support of Government, the raising of revenue should be the object and protection the incident. To reverse this principle and make protection the object and revenue the incident would be to inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the protected interests. In levying duties for revenue it is doubtless proper to make such discriminations within the revenue principle as will afford incidental protection to our home interests. Within the revenue limit there is a discretion to discriminate; beyond that limit the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The incidental protection afforded to our home interests by discriminations within the revenue range it is believed will be ample. In making discriminations all our home interests should as far as practicable be equally protected. The largest portion of our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their respective pursuits and their joint labors constitute the national or home industry. To tax one branch of this home industry for the benefit of another would be unjust. No one of these interests can rightfully claim an advantage over the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the others. All are equally entitled to the fostering care and protection of the Government. In exercising a sound discretion in levying discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, care should be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the toiling millions by taxing lowest the luxuries of life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can only be consumed by the wealthy, and highest the necessaries of life, or articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass of our people must consume. The burdens of government should as far as practicable be distributed justly and equally among all classes of our population. These general views, long entertained on this subject, I have deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting its details should be cherished by every part of our widespread country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquiescence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our patriotic citizens in every part of the Union will readily submit to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed for the support of their Government, whether in peace or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as possible among them.
 The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union, to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a part of our country--was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power--is now independent, and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to merge her sovereignty as a separate and independent state in ours. I congratulate my country that by an act of the late Congress of the United States the assent of this Government has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the two countries to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both.
 I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent to contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with them or to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United States not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new and ever-increasing markets for their products.
 To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of our Government would be extended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily developed, while the safety of New Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier against hostile aggression, as well as the interests of the whole Union, would be promoted by it.
 In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed with some that our system of confederated States could not operate successfully over an extended territory, and serious objections have at different times been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. These objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not well founded. The title of numerous Indian tribes to vast tracts of country has been extinguished; new States have been admitted into the Union; new Territories have been created and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our population has expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. AS our boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has been spread over a large surface, our federative system has acquired additional strength and security. It may well be doubted whether it would not be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population were confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and that as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from being weakened, will become stronger.
 None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is there one among our citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional wars, which so often occur between bordering independent nations? Is there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or cross her frontiers? Is there one who would not prefer an unrestricted communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must occur if she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the local institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the United States or not. None of the present States will be responsible for them any more than they are for the local institutions of each other. They have confederated together for certain specified objects. Upon the same principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual union with Texas because of her local institutions our forefathers would have been prevented from forming our present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the measure and many reasons for its adoption vitally affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both countries, I shall on the broad principle which formed the basis and produced the adoption of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endeavor by all Constitutional, honorable, and appropriate means to consummate the expressed will of the people and Government of the United States by the reannexation of Texas to our Union at the earliest practicable period.
 Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by all Constitutional means the right of the United States to that portion of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of the Oregon is "clear and unquestionable," and already are our people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives and children. But eighty years ago our population was confined on the west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period--within the lifetime, I might say, of some of my hearers--our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the Missouri to its headsprings, and are already engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately wherever they may be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our republican institutions should be extended over them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the States, of which the formation in that part of our territory can not be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected.
 In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should characterize all our intercourse with foreign countries. All alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and honor of our country or sacrifice any one of the national interests will be studiously avoided, and yet no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable understanding with foreign governments by which our navigation and commerce may be extended and the ample products of our fertile soil, as well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market and remunerating prices in foreign countries.
 In taking "care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict performance of duty will be exacted from all public officers. From those officers, especially, who are charged with the collection and disbursement of the public revenue will prompt and rigid accountability be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to account for the moneys intrusted to them at the times and in the manner required by law will in every instance terminate the official connection of such defaulting officer with the Government.
 Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.
 Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the coordinate departments of the Government in conducting our public affairs, I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being who has watched over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present hour to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be a prosperous and happy people.

 

詹姆斯·波尔克
就职演讲
星期二,1845年3月4日

关于扩大疆域
　　得克萨斯共和国已宣布愿意加入我们的联邦，它要成为我们联邦的一员，与我们共享宪法所保障的自由的恩泽。得克萨斯曾是我国的一部分，后来不明智地让给了他国，现在它已经独立，并有权处置其部分或全部领土，它要作为一个独立的州合并到我们国家中来。我祝贺我们的国家，政府已根据合众国国会的最新法案，同意接受它加入联邦，现在只要两国同意提出的条件，即可达成对双方关系极为重大的目标。我认为合并问题纯属美国和得克萨斯的内部事务。双方都是有能力订立条约的独立国家，外国无权干预，无权对两者的再次联合表示异议。有一些国家似乎并不理解我国政府的真正特性。我们的联邦是各个独立州的联盟，它对各个州和对全世界都采取和平政策。扩大联邦的疆界就是把和平的范围扩展到新增加的领土和日益增加的人民。世界其他国家不必害怕我国抱有军事野心。我国的总统及国会议员都是由数百万群众选出来的，而且任期很短，如果发生战争，百姓必然要承受战争的负担和祸害，所以我们的政府只能是和平的政府。因此，外国不应把得克萨斯合并到合众国看作是企图用武力和暴力来扩张领上，而应看作是用和平的方法获得曾经属于它自己的领土，是经过一个新成员的同意，为我们的联邦增添了这个新成员，从而减少了战争发生的可能性，并为其产品开拓了崭新的。日益扩大的市场。
　　对得克萨斯来说，加入联邦具有重大的意义，因为我国政府的强大保卫力量就能扩大到这个地区。得克萨斯土地肥沃，气候温和，各种丰富资源将得到迅速开发，同时，新奥尔良和西南边境抵御敌国侵犯以保卫安全的能力，以及整个联邦的利益，都将因其加盟而获得增强。在我国初创时期有一种观点，认为联邦的体制无法对扩大后的领上有效地发挥作用，因而在各个时期都有人竭力反对我们扩充疆域。在我们获得路易斯安那时，反对的意见相兰激烈。经验证明，这些反对意见是没有根据的。许多印第安人部族在我国拥有大片土地的权利消失了；有些新的州加入了联邦，新的准州建立了，我们可以对这些州行使管辖权和执行法律。随着人口的增加，联邦得到了巩固和加强。随着疆域的扩展和农业人口的广泛分布。我们的联邦体制也增加了力量和获得了保障。我们不妨认为，如果我们现有的人口分布于当初13个州的相当狭小的范围，而不是像现在这样稀疏地分散在较广阔的领土上，那我们的联邦将处于被颠覆的极大危险之中。我们深信我们的制度可以稳固地拓展到我们领上的最远边界；同时我们也相信，随着制度的拓展，联邦的结合不但下会削弱，反而会变得更牢固。

　　 大家都能看到，如果得克萨斯仍然处于独立状态，或成为势力比其更大的国家的同盟或附属国，它将威胁我们的安全和未来的和平。难道我们的公民中会有人不愿同得克萨斯保持永久和平。而喜欢那经常发生于独立国家间的边境战争吗？难道有谁不愿意同得克萨斯自由地交往，而宁可为我们的产品进入其港口或通过其疆界而支付高额税金吗？难道有人不愿不受限制地同它的公民进行通信而甘愿忍受疆界的阻碍吗？只要得克萨斯不加入联邦，这种种情形就必然会存在下去。不论是否与联邦合并，得克萨斯地方体制的优缺点仍然是它自己的问题。目前任何一个州都无权干涉得克萨斯的内部体制，正如各州彼此不能干涉他州的内部体制一样。它们是为了特殊目的而建立的同盟。各州如果以得克萨斯的地方体制为由而拒绝同它缔结永久盟约，那我们的开国先贤根本无法组成现今的联邦。在接纳得克萨斯加入联邦的方法与理由方面，既然没有任何令人信服的反对意见足以证明那会严重影响两国的安全、和平与繁荣，我将根据宪法所赖以成立的广泛原则，而不是以偏狭的区域性政策精神，努力采取符合宪法的、光荣而合适的方法来完成美国政府和人民的意愿，尽早把得克萨斯并入我们的联邦。

　　我将以符合宪法的方法，坚持并维护美国对落矶山脉以西这一部分的领土权，这同样将是我应尽的义务。我们对俄勒冈的主权是“明确而不容置疑的”，而且我们的人民已准备和他们的妻儿移居到那里，以便使这一主权臻于完整。但是8O 年前，我国的人口分布局限于阿勒格尼山脊的西部。在那段时期里，我不妨说，也就是在座的一些听众的一生中,我们的人民已增至数百万，它们密布于密西西比河东部流域，甚至冒险溯流而上至密苏里河的源头，并在流注太平洋各河流的河谷上建立起自治政府。世界各国都注视着我国移民事业的和平成果。只要有移民在我们的领土上，我们就有责任保护他们。我们法律的管辖权以及共和体制的幸福应该施于那些择居远地的人民，日益增加的交通设施，将轻而易举地把各个州带进联邦的范围，在我们联邦范围内的那一部分领土里，应尽早地完成各项设施。同时，任何条约和协定所规定的各项义务都必须得到严格的遵守。

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Zachary Taylor
 MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1849
 Elected by the American people to the highest office known to our laws, I appear here to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, and, in compliance with a time-honored custom, to address those who are now assembled.
 The confidence and respect shown by my countrymen in calling me to be the Chief Magistrate of a Republic holding a high rank among the nations of the earth have inspired me with feelings of the most profound gratitude; but when I reflect that the acceptance of the office which their partiality has bestowed imposes the discharge of the most arduous duties and involves the weightiest obligations, I am conscious that the position which I have been called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities. Happily, however, in the performance of my new duties I shall not be without able cooperation. The legislative and judicial branches of the Government present prominent examples of distinguished civil attainments and matured experience, and it shall be my endeavor to call to my assistance in the Executive Departments individuals whose talents, integrity, and purity of character will furnish ample guaranties for the faithful and honorable performance of the trusts to be committed to their charge. With such aids and an honest purpose to do whatever is right, I hope to execute diligently, impartially, and for the best interests of the country the manifold duties devolved upon me.
 In the discharge of these duties my guide will be the Constitution, which I this day swear to "preserve, protect, and defend." For the interpretation of that instrument I shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by its authority and to the practice of the Government under the earlier Presidents, who had so large a share in its formation. To the example of those illustrious patriots I shall always defer with reverence, and especially to his example who was by so many titles "the Father of his Country."
 To command the Army and Navy of the United States; with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties and to appoint ambassadors and other officers; to give to Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be necessary; and to take care that the laws shall be faithfully executed--these are the most important functions intrusted to the President by the Constitution, and it may be expected that I shall briefly indicate the principles which will control me in their execution.
 Chosen by the body of the people under the assurance that my Administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to the support of any particular section or merely local interest, I this day renew the declarations I have heretofore made and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain to the extent of my ability the Government in its original purity and to adopt as the basis of my public policy those great republican doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence.
 In reference to the Army and Navy, lately employed with so much distinction on active service, care shall be taken to insure the highest condition of efficiency, and in furtherance of that object the military and naval schools, sustained by the liberality of Congress, shall receive the special attention of the Executive.
 As American freemen we can not but sympathize in all efforts to extend the blessings of civil and political liberty, but at the same time we are warned by the admonitions of history and the voice of our own beloved Washington to abstain from entangling alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes between conflicting governments it is our interest not less than our duty to remain strictly neutral, while our geographical position, the genius of our institutions and our people, the advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dictates of religion direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with all other powers. It is to be hoped that no international question can now arise which a government confident in its own strength and resolved to protect its own just rights may not settle by wise negotiation; and it eminently becomes a government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honorable diplomacy before appealing to arms. In the conduct of our foreign relations I shall conform to these views, as I believe them essential to the best interests and the true honor of the country.
 The appointing power vested in the President imposes delicate and onerous duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity, and fidelity indispensable prerequisites to the bestowal of office, and the absence of either of these qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal.
 It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to Congress as may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement and protection to the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, to improve our rivers and harbors, to provide for the speedy extinguishment of the public debt, to enforce a strict accountability on the part of all officers of the Government and the utmost economy in all public expenditures; but it is for the wisdom of Congress itself, in which all legislative powers are vested by the Constitution, to regulate these and other matters of domestic policy. I shall look with confidence to the enlightened patriotism of that body to adopt such measures of conciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests and tend to perpetuate that Union which should be the paramount object of our hopes and affections. In any action calculated to promote an object so near the heart of everyone who truly loves his country I will zealously unite with the coordinate branches of the Government.
 In conclusion I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us seek to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation in our councils, by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion, by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles, and by an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own widespread Republic.

 

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Franklin Pierce
 FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1853
 My Countrymen:
 It a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself.
 The circumstances under which I have been called for a limited period to preside over the destinies of the Republic fill me with aprofound sense of responsibility, but with nothing like shrinking apprehension. I repair to the post assigned me not as to one sought, but in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your will, answerable only for a fearless, faithful, and diligent exercise of my best powers. I ought to be, and am, truly grateful for the rare manifestation of the nation's confidence; but this, so far from lightening my obligations, only adds to their weight. You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength. When looking for the fulfillment of reasonable requirements, you will not be unmindful of the great changes which have occurred, even within the last quarter of a century, and the consequent augmentation and complexity of duties imposed in the administration both of your home and foreign affairs.
 Whether the elements of inherent force in the Republic have kept pace with its unparalleled progression in territory, population, and wealth has been the subject of earnest thought and discussion on both sides of the ocean. Less than sixty-four years ago the Father of his Country made "the" then "recent accession of the important State of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States" one of the subjects of his special congratulation. At that moment, however, when the agitation consequent upon the Revolutionary struggle had hardly subsided, when we were just emerging from the weakness and embarrassments of the Confederation, there was an evident consciousness of vigor equal to the great mission so wisely and bravely fulfilled by our fathers. It was not a presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith, springing from a clear view of the sources of power in a government constituted like ours. It is no paradox to say that although comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically strong. Inconsiderable in population and apparent resources, it was upheld by a broad and intelligent comprehension of rights and an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, stronger than armaments. It came from the furnace of the Revolution, tempered to the necessities of the times. The thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their sentiments were patriotic. They wasted no portion of their energies upon idle and delusive speculations, but with a firm and fearless step advanced beyond the governmental landmarks which had hitherto circumscribed the limits of human freedom and planted their standard, where it has stood against dangers which have threatened from abroad, and internal agitation, which has at times fearfully menaced at home. They proved themselves equal to the solution of the great problem, to understand which their minds had been illuminated by the dawning lights of the Revolution. The object sought was not a thing dreamed of; it was a thing realized. They had exhibited only the power to achieve, but, what all history affirms to be so much more unusual, the capacity to maintain. The oppressed throughout the world from that day to the present have turned their eyes hitherward, not to find those lights extinguished or to fear lest they should wane, but to be constantly cheered by their steady and increasing radiance.
 In this our country has, in my judgment, thus far fulfilled its highest duty to suffering humanity. It has spoken and will continue to speak, not only by its words, but by its acts, the language of sympathy, encouragement, and hope to those who earnestly listen to tones which pronounce for the largest rational liberty. But after all, the most animating encouragement and potent appeal for freedom will be its own history--its trials and its triumphs. Preeminently, the power of our advocacy reposes in our example; but no example, be it remembered, can be powerful for lasting good, whatever apparent advantages may be gained, which is not based upon eternal principles of right and justice. Our fathers decided for themselves, both upon the hour to declare and the hour to strike. They were their own judges of the circumstances under which it became them to pledge to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" for the acquisition of the priceless inheritance transmitted to us. The energy with which that great conflict was opened and, under the guidance of a manifest and beneficent Providence the uncomplaining endurance with which it was prosecuted to its consummation were only surpassed by the wisdom and patriotic spirit of concession which characterized all the counsels of the early fathers.
 One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is to be found in the fact that the actual working of our system has dispelled a degree of solicitude which at the outset disturbed bold hearts and far-reaching intellects. The apprehension of dangers from extended territory, multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented population has proved to be unfounded. The stars upon your banner have become nearly threefold their original number; your densely populated possessions skirt the shores of the two great oceans; and yet this vast increase of people and territory has not only shown itself compatible with the harmonious action of the States and Federal Government in their respective constitutional spheres, but has afforded an additional guaranty of the strength and integrity of both.
 With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my Administration will not be controlled by any timid forebodings of evil from expansion. Indeed, it is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important for our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through no grasping spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and security, and in a manner entirely consistent with the strictest observance of national faith. We have nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations. Purposes, therefore, at once just and pacific will be significantly marked in the conduct of our foreign affairs. I intend that my Administration shall leave no blot upon our fair record, and trust I may safely give the assurance that no act within the legitimate scope of my constitutional control will be tolerated on the part of any portion of our citizens which can not challenge a ready justification before the tribunal of the civilized world. An Administration would be unworthy of confidence at home or respect abroad should it cease to be influenced by the conviction that no apparent advantage can be purchased at a price so dear as that of national wrong or dishonor. It is not your privilege as a nation to speak of a distant past. The striking incidents of your history, replete with instruction and furnishing abundant grounds for hopeful confidence, are comprised in a period comparatively brief. But if your past is limited, your future is boundless. Its obligations throng the unexplored pathway of advancement, and will be limitless as duration. Hence a sound and comprehensive policy should embrace not less the distant future than the urgent present.
 The great objects of our pursuit as a people are best to be attained by peace, and are entirely consistent with the tranquillity and interests of the rest of mankind. With the neighboring nations upon our continent we should cultivate kindly and fraternal relations. We can desire nothing in regard to them so much as to see them consolidate their strength and pursue the paths of prosperity and happiness. If in the course of their growth we should open new channels of trade and create additional facilities for friendly intercourse, the benefits realized will be equal and mutual. Of the complicated European systems of national polity we have heretofore been independent. From their wars, their tumults, and anxieties we have been, happily, almost entirely exempt. Whilst these are confined to the nations which gave them existence, and within their legitimate jurisdiction, they can not affect us except as they appeal to our sympathies in the cause of human freedom and universal advancement. But the vast interests of commerce are common to all mankind, and the advantages of trade and international intercourse must always present a noble field for the moral influence of a great people.
 With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we have a right to expect, and shall under all circumstances require, prompt reciprocity. The rights which belong to us as a nation are not alone to be regarded, but those which pertain to every citizen in his individual capacity, at home and abroad, must be sacredly maintained. So long as he can discern every star in its place upon that ensign, without wealth to purchase for him preferment or title to secure for him place, it will be his privilege, and must be his acknowledged right, to stand unabashed even in the presence of princes, with a proud consciousness that he is himself one of a nation of sovereigns and that he can not in legitimate pursuit wander so far from home that the agent whom he shall leave behind in the place which I now occupy will not see that no rude hand of power or tyrannical passion is laid upon him with impunity. He must realize that upon every sea and on every soil where our enterprise may rightfully seek the protection of our flag American citizenship is an inviolable panoply for the security of American rights. And in this connection it can hardly be necessary to reaffirm a principle which should now be regarded as fundamental. The rights, security, and repose of this Confederacy reject the idea of interference or colonization on this side of the ocean by any foreign power beyond present jurisdiction as utterly inadmissible.
 The opportunities of observation furnished by my brief experience as a soldier confirmed in my own mind the opinion, entertained and acted upon by others from the formation of the Government, that the maintenance of large standing armies in our country would be not only dangerous, but unnecessary. They also illustrated the importance--I might well say the absolute necessity--of the military science and practical skill furnished in such an eminent degree by the institution which has made your Army what it is, under the discipline and instruction of officers not more distinguished for their solid attainments, gallantry, and devotion to the public service than for unobtrusive bearing and high moral tone. The Army as organized must be the nucleus around which in every time of need the strength of your military power, the sure bulwark of your defense--a national militia--may be readily formed into a well-disciplined and efficient organization. And the skill and self-devotion of the Navy assure you that you may take the performance of the past as a pledge for the future, and may confidently expect that the flag which has waved its untarnished folds over every sea will still float in undiminished honor. But these, like many other subjects, will be appropriately brought at afuture time to the attention of the coordinate branches of the Government, to which I shall always look with profound respect and with trustful confidence that they will accord to me the aid and support which I shall so much need and which their experience and wisdom will readily suggest.
 In the administration of domestic affairs you expect a devoted integrity in the public service and an observance of rigid economy in all departments, so marked as never justly to be questioned. If this reasonable expectation be not realized, I frankly confess that one of your leading hopes is doomed to disappointment, and that my efforts in a very important particular must result in a humiliating failure. Offices can be properly regarded only in the light of aids for the accomplishment of these objects, and as occupancy can confer no prerogative nor importunate desire for preferment any claim, the public interest imperatively demands that they be considered with sole reference to the duties to be performed. Good citizens may well claim the protection of good laws and the benign influence of good government, but a claim for office is what the people of a republic should never recognize. No reasonable man of any party will expect the Administration to be so regardless of its responsibility and of the obvious elements of success as to retain persons known to be under the influence of political hostility and partisan prejudice in positions which will require not only severe labor, but cordial cooperation. Having no implied engagements to ratify, no rewards to bestow, no resentments to remember, and no personal wishes to consult in selections for official station, I shall fulfill this difficult and delicate trust, admitting no motive as worthy either of my character or position which does not contemplate an efficient discharge of duty and the best interests of my country. I acknowledge my obligations to the masses of my countrymen, and to them alone. Higher objects than personal aggrandizement gave direction and energy to their exertions in the late canvass, and they shall not be disappointed. They require at my hands diligence, integrity, and capacity wherever there are duties to be performed. Without these qualities in their public servants, more stringent laws for the prevention or punishment of fraud, negligence, and peculation will be vain. With them they will be unnecessary.
 But these are not the only points to which you look for vigilant watchfulness. The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded. You have a right, therefore, to expect your agents in every department to regard strictly the limits imposed upon them by the Constitution of the United States. The great scheme of our constitutional liberty rests upon a proper distribution of power between the State and Federal authorities, and experience has shown that the harmony and happiness of our people must depend upon a just discrimination between the separate rights and responsibilities of the States and your common rights and obligations under the General Government; and here, in my opinion, are the considerations which should form the true basis of future concord in regard to the questions which have most seriously disturbed public tranquillity. If the Federal Government will confine itself to the exercise of powers clearly granted by the Constitution, it can hardly happen that its action upon any question should endanger the institutions of the States or interfere with their right to manage matters strictly domestic according to the will of their own people.
 In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject rich has recently agitated the nation to almost a fearful degree, I am moved by no other impulse than a most earnest desire for the perpetuation of that Union which has made us what we are, showering upon us blessings and conferring a power and influence which our fathers could hardly have anticipated, even with their most sanguine hopes directed to a far-off future. The sentiments I now announce were not unknown before the expression of the voice which called me here. My own position upon this subject was clear and unequivocal, upon the record of my words and my acts, and it is only recurred to at this time because silence might perhaps be misconstrued. With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined. Without it what are we individually or collectively? What becomes of the noblest field ever opened for the advancement of our race in religion, in government, in the arts, and in all that dignifies and adorns mankind? From that radiant constellation which both illumines our own way and points out to struggling nations their course, let but a single star be lost, and, if these be not utter darkness, the luster of the whole is dimmed. Do my countrymen need any assurance that such a catastrophe is not to overtake them while I possess the power to stay it? It is with me an earnest and vital belief that as the Union has been the source, under Providence, of our prosperity to this time, so it is the surest pledge of a continuance of the blessings we have enjoyed, and which we are sacredly bound to transmit undiminished to our children. The field of calm and free discussion in our country is open, and will always be so, but never has been and never can be traversed for good in a spirit of sectionalism and uncharitableness. The founders of the Republic dealt with things as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism, and, as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which it will always be safe for us to consult. Every measure tending to strengthen the fraternal feelings of all the members of our Union has had my heartfelt approbation. To every theory of society or government, whether the offspring of feverish ambition or of morbid enthusiasm, calculated to dissolve the bonds of law and affection which unite us, I shall interpose a ready and stern resistance. I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in different States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution. I believe that it stands like any other admitted right, and that the States where it exists are entitled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the "compromise measures," are strictly constitutional and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect. I believe that the constituted authorities of this Republic are bound to regard the rights of the South in this respect as they would view any other legal and constitutional right, and that the laws to enforce them should be respected and obeyed, not with a reluctance encouraged by abstract opinions as to their propriety in a different state of society, but cheerfully and according to the decisions of the tribunal to which their exposition belongs. Such have been, and are, my convictions, and upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question is at rest, and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement may again threaten the durability of our institutions or obscure the light of our prosperity.
 But let not the foundation of our hope rest upon man's wisdom. It will not be sufficient that sectional prejudices find no place in the public deliberations. It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are rejected. It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.
 We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis. Wise counsels, like those which gave us the Constitution, prevailed to uphold it. Let the period be remembered as an admonition, and not as an encouragement, in any section of the Union, to make experiments where experiments are fraught with such fearful hazard. Let it be impressed upon all hearts that, beautiful as our fabric is, no earthly power or wisdom could ever reunite its broken fragments. Standing, as I do, almost within view of the green slopes of Monticello, and, as it were, within reach of the tomb of Washington, with all the cherished memories of the past gathering around me like so many eloquent voices of exhortation from heaven, I can express no better hope for my country than that the kind Providence which smiled upon our fathers may enable their children to preserve the blessings they have inherited.

 

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of James Buchanan
 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1857
 Fellow-Citizens:
 I appear before you this day to take the solemn oath "that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
 In entering upon this great office I must humbly invoke the God of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and responsible duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and ancient friendship among the people of the several States and to preserve our free institutions throughout many generations. Convinced that I owe my election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the Union which still animates the hearts of the American people, let me earnestly ask their powerful support in sustaining all just measures calculated to perpetuate these, the richest political blessings which Heaven has ever bestowed upon any nation. Having determined not to become a candidate for reelection, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct in administering the Government except the desire ably and faithfully to serve my country and to live in grateful memory of my countrymen.
 We have recently passed through a Presidential contest in which the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest degree by questions of deep and vital importance; but when the people proclaimed their will the tempest at once subsided and all was calm.
 The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government.
 What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule, that the will of the majority shall govern, to the settlement of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories. Congress is neither "to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."
 As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State it "shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission." A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves.
 This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion that under the Nebraska-Kansas act the appropriate period will be when the number of actual residents in the Territory shall justify the formation of a constitution with a view to its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the Government of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.
 The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the principle of popular sovereignty--a principle as ancient as free government itself--everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other question remains for adjustment, because all agree that under the Constitution slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power except that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists. May we not, then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is approaching its end, and that the geographical parties to which it has given birth, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will speedily become extinct? Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind shall be diverted from this question to others of more pressing and practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of this agitation, which has scarcely known any intermission for more than twenty years, whilst it has been productive of no positive good to any human being it has been the prolific source of great evils to the master, to the slave, and to the whole country. It has alienated and estranged the people of the sister States from each other, and has even seriously endangered the very existence of the Union. Nor has the danger yet entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy for all mere political evils in the sound sense and sober judgment of the people. Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but a few years ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed away and are now nearly forgotten. But this question of domestic slavery is of far graver importance than any mere political question, because should the agitation continue it may eventually endanger the personal safety of a large portion of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that event no form of government, however admirable in itself and however productive of material benefits, can compensate for the loss of peace and domestic security around the family altar. Let every Union-loving man, therefore, exert his best influence to suppress this agitation, which since the recent legislation of Congress is without any legitimate object.
 It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union. Reasoned estimates have been presented of the pecuniary profits and local advantages which would result to different States and sections from its dissolution and of the comparative injuries which such an event would inflict on other States and sections. Even descending to this low and narrow view of the mighty question, all such calculations are at fault. The bare reference to a single consideration will be conclusive on this point. We at present enjoy a free trade throughout our extensive and expanding country such as the world has never witnessed. This trade is conducted on railroads and canals, on noble rivers and arms of the sea, which bind together the North and the South, the East and the West, of our Confederacy. Annihilate this trade, arrest its free progress by the geographical lines of jealous and hostile States, and you destroy the prosperity and onward march of the whole and every part and involve all in one common ruin. But such considerations, important as they are in themselves, sink into insignificance when we reflect on the terrific evils which would result from disunion to every portion of the Confederacy--to the North, not more than to the South, to the East not more than to the West. These I shall not attempt to portray, because I feel an humble confidence that the kind Providence which inspired our fathers with wisdom to frame the most perfect form of government and union ever devised by man will not suffer it to perish until it shall have been peacefully instrumental by its example in the extension of civil and religious liberty throughout the world.
 Next in importance to the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union is the duty of preserving the Government free from the taint or even the suspicion of corruption. Public virtue is the vital spirit of republics, and history proves that when this has decayed and the love of money has usurped its place, although the forms of free government may remain for a season, the substance has departed forever.
 Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. No nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure and begets a race of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is suspected, and the character of the government suffers in the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great evil.
 The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment is to appropriate the surplus in the Treasury to great national objects for which a clear warrant can be found in the Constitution. Among these I might mention the extinguishment of the public debt, a reasonable increase of the Navy, which is at present inadequate to the protection of our vast tonnage afloat, now greater than that of any other nation, as well as to the defense of our extended seacoast.
 It is beyond all question the true principle that no more revenue ought to be collected from the people than the amount necessary to defray the expenses of a wise, economical, and efficient administration of the Government. To reach this point it was necessary to resort to a modification of the tariff, and this has, I trust, been accomplished in such a manner as to do as little injury as may have been practicable to our domestic manufactures, especially those necessary for the defense of the country. Any discrimination against a particular branch for the purpose of benefiting favored corporations, individuals, or interests would have been unjust to the rest of the community and inconsistent with that spirit of fairness and equality which ought to govern in the adjustment of a revenue tariff.
 But the squandering of the public money sinks into comparative insignificance as a temptation to corruption when compared with the squandering of the public lands.
 No nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with so rich and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. In administering this important trust, whilst it may be wise to grant portions of them for the improvement of the remainder, yet we should never forget that it is our cardinal policy to reserve these lands, as much as may be, for actual settlers, and this at moderate prices. We shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new States and Territories, by furnishing them a hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and our children's children, as well as for those exiles from foreign shores who may seek in this country to improve their condition and to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Such emigrants have done much to promote the growth and prosperity of the country. They have proved faithful both in peace and in war. After becoming citizens they are entitled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on a perfect equality with native-born citizens, and in this character they should ever be kindly recognized.
 The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers, and the question whether this grant should be liberally or strictly construed has more or less divided political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, I desire to state at the commencement of my Administration that long experience and observation have convinced me that a strict construction of the powers of the Government is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution. Whenever in our past history doubtful powers have been exercised by Congress, these have never failed to produce injurious and unhappy consequences. Many such instances might be adduced if this were the proper occasion. Neither is it necessary for the public service to strain the language of the Constitution, because all the great and useful powers required for a successful administration of the Government, both in peace and in war, have been granted, either in express terms or by the plainest implication.
 Whilst deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider it clear that under the war-making power Congress may appropriate money toward the construction of a military road when this is absolutely necessary for the defense of any State or Territory of the Union against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution Congress has power "to declare war," "to raise and support armies," "to provide and maintain a navy," and to call forth the militia to "repel invasions." Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the war-making power, the corresponding duty is required that "the United States shall protect each of them the States] against invasion." Now, how is it possible to afford this protection to California and our Pacific possessions except by means of a military road through the Territories of the United States, over which men and munitions of war may be speedily transported from the Atlantic States to meet and to repel the invader? In the event of a war with a naval power much stronger than our own we should then have no other available access to the Pacific Coast, because such a power would instantly close the route across the isthmus of Central America. It is impossible to conceive that whilst the Constitution has expressly required Congress to defend all the States it should yet deny to them, by any fair construction, the only possible means by which one of these States can be defended. Besides, the Government, ever since its origin, has been in the constant practice of constructing military roads. It might also be wise to consider whether the love for the Union which now animates our fellow-citizens on the Pacific Coast may not be impaired by our neglect or refusal to provide for them, in their remote and isolated condition, the only means by which the power of the States on this side of the Rocky Mountains can reach them in sufficient time to "protect" them "against invasion." I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion as to the wisest and most economical mode in which the Government can lend its aid in accomplishing this great and necessary work. I believe that many of the difficulties in the way, which now appear formidable, will in a great degree vanish as soon as the nearest and best route shall have been satisfactorily ascertained.
 It may be proper that on this occasion I should make some brief remarks in regard to our rights and duties as a member of the great family of nations. In our intercourse with them there are some plain principles, approved by our own experience, from which we should never depart. We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations, and this not merely as the best means of promoting our own material interests, but in a spirit of Christian benevolence toward our fellow-men, wherever their lot may be cast. Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due. We ought to cherish a sacred regard for the independence of all nations, and never attempt to interfere in the domestic concerns of any unless this shall be imperatively required by the great law of self-preservation. To avoid entangling alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its wisdom's no one will attempt to dispute. In short, we ought to do justice in a kindly spirit to all nations and require justice from them in return.
 It is our glory that whilst other nations have extended their dominions by the sword we have never acquired any territory except by fair purchase or, as in the case of Texas, by the voluntary determination of a brave, kindred, and independent people to blend their destinies with our own. Even our acquisitions from Mexico form no exception. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war against a sister republic, we purchased these possessions under the treaty of peace for a sum which was considered at the time a fair equivalent. Our past history forbids that we shall in the future acquire territory unless this be sanctioned by the laws of justice and honor. Acting on this principle, no nation will have a right to interfere or to complain if in the progress of events we shall still further extend our possessions. Hitherto in all our acquisitions the people, under the protection of the American flag, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty, as well as equal and just laws, and have been contented, prosperous, and happy. Their trade with the rest of the world has rapidly increased, and thus every commercial nation has shared largely in their successful progress.
 I shall now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, whilst humbly invoking the blessing of Divine Providence on this great people.

 

 

 

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1861
 Fellow-Citizens of the United States:
 In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of this office."
 I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.
 Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that--
 I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
 Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:
 Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
 I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another.
 There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:
 No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
 It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?
 There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?
 Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?
 I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.
 It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.
 I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
 Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as acontract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?
 Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."
 But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
 It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
 I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and Ishall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.
 In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.
 The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.
 That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?
 Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?
 All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.
 From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.
 Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?
 Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.
 I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.
 One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive- slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.
 Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
 This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.
 The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.
 Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.
 By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.
 My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.
 In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."
 I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

 

亚伯拉罕·林肯
第一次就职演讲
星期一,1861年3月4日

永久联邦与总统权力
　　我今天正式宣誓时，并没有保留意见，也无意以任何苛刻的标准来解释宪法和法律，尽管我不想具体指明国会通过的哪些法案是适合施行的·但我确实要建议，所有的人，不论处于官方还是私人的地位，都得遵守那些未被废止的法令，这比泰然自若地认为其中某个法案是违背宪法的而去触犯它，要稳当得多。
　　自从第一任总统根据我国宪法就职以来已经72年了。在此期间，有15位十分杰出的公民相继主持了政府的行政部门。他们在许多艰难险阻中履行职责，大致说来都很成功。然而，虽有这样的先例，我现在开始担任这个按宪法规定任期只有短暂4年的同一职务时，却处在巨大而特殊的困难之下。联邦的分裂，在此以前只是一种威胁，现在却已成为可怕的行动。

　　从一般法律和宪法角度来考虑，我认为由各州组成的联邦是永久性的。在合国政府的根本法中，永久性即使没有明确规定，也是不盲而喻的。我们有把握说，从来没有哪个正规政府在自己的组织法中列入一项要结束自己执政的条款。继续执行我国宪法明文规定的条款，联邦就将永远存在，毁灭联邦是办不到的，除非采取宪法本身未予规定的某种行动。再者：假如合众国不是名副其实的政府，而只是具有契约性质的各州的联盟，那么，作为一种契约，这个联盟能够毫无争议地由纬约各方中的少数加以取消吗？缔约的一方可以违约——也可以说毁约——但是，合法地废止契约难道不需要缔约各方全都同意吗？从这些一般原则在下推，我们认为，从法律上来说，联邦是永久性的这一主张已经为联邦本身的历史所证实。联邦的历史比宪法长久得多。事实上，它在1774年就根据《联合条款》组成了。1776年，《独立宣言》使它臻子成熟并持续下来。1778年《邦联条款》使联邦愈趋成熟，当时的13个州都信誓旦旦地明确保证联邦应该永存，最后，1787年制定宪法时所宣市的日标之一就是“建设更完善的联邦”。

　　但是，如果联邦竟能由一个州或几个州按照法律加以取消的话，那么联邦就不如制宪前完善了，因为它丧失了永久性这个重要因素。

　　根据这些观点，任何一个州都不能只凭自己的动仪就能合法地脱离联邦；凡为此目的而作出的决议和法令在法律上都是无效的，任何一个州或几个州反对合众国当局的暴力行动都应根据憎况视为叛乱或革命。因此，我认为，根据宪法和法律，联邦是不容分裂的；我将按宪法本身明确授予我的权限，就自己能力所及，使联邦法律得以在各州忠实执行。我认为这仅仅是我份内的职责，我将以可行的方法去完成，除非我的合法主人——美国人民，不给予我必要的手段，或以权威的方式作出相反的指示，我相信大家下会把这看作是一种威胁，而只看作是联邦已宣布过的目标：它将按照宪法保卫和维护它自身。

　　以自然条件而言，我们是不能分开的，我们无法把各个地区彼此挪开，也无法在彼此之间筑起一堵无法逾越的墙垣。夫妻可以离婚，不再见面，互不接触，但是我们国家的各个地区就不可能那样做。它们仍得面对面地相处，它们之间还得有或者友好或者敌对的交往。那么，分开之后的交往是否可能比分开之前更有好处，更令人满意呢？外人之间订立条约难道还比朋友之间制定法律容易吗？外人之间执行条约难道还比朋友之间执行法律忠实吗？假定你们进行战争·你们不可能永远打下去；在双方损失惨重，任何一方都得不到好处之后，你们就会停止战斗，那时你们还会遇到诸如交往条件之类的老问题。

　　总统的一切权力来自人民，但人民没有授权给他为各州的分离规定条件。如果人民有此意愿，那他们可以这样做，而作为总统来说，则不可能这样做。他的责任是管理交给他的这一届政府，井将它完整地移交给他的继任者。

　　为什么我们不能对人民所具有的最高的公正抱有坚韧的信念呢？世界上还有比这更好或一样好的希望吗？在我何日前的分歧中，难道双方都缺乏相信自己正确的信心吗？如果万国全能的主宰以其永恒的真理和正义支持你北方这一边，或者支持你南方这一边，那么，那种真理和那种正义必将通过美国人民这个伟大法庭的裁决而取得胜利。

　　就是这些美国人民，通过我们现有的政府结构，明智地只给他们的公仆很小的权力，使他们不能力害作恶，并且同样明智地每隔很短的时间就把那小小的权力收回到自己手中。只要人民保持其力量和警惕，无论怎样作恶和愚蠢的执政人员都不能在短短4年的任期内十分严重地损害政府。我的同胞们，大家平静而认真地思考整个这一问题吧。任何宝贵的东西都下会因为从容对待而丧失，假使有一个目标火急地催促你们中随便哪一位采取一个措施，而你决不能不慌不忙，那么那个目标会因从容对待而落空；但是，任何好的目标是不会因为从容对待而落空的，你们现在感到不满意的人仍然有着原来的、完好元损的宪法，而且，在敏感问题上，你们有着自己根据这部宪法制定的各项法律；而新的一届政府即使想改变这两种情况，也没有直接的权力那样做。那些不满意的人在这场争论中即使被承认是站在正确的一边，也没有一点正当理由采取鲁莽的行动。理智、爱国精神、基行教义以及对从不抛弃这片幸福土地的上帝的信仰，这些仍然能以最好的方式来解决我们目前的一切困难。不满意的同胞们，内战这个重大问题的关键掌握在你们手中，而不掌握在我手中，政府不会对你们发动攻击。你们不当挑衅者，就下会面临冲突。你们没有对天发誓要毁灭政府，而我却要立下最庄严的誓言：“坚守、维护和捍卫合众国宪法。”我不愿意就此结束演说。我们不是敌人，而是朋友。我们一定不要成为敌人。尽管情绪紧张，也决不应割断我们之间的感情纽带。记忆的神秘琴弦，从每一个战场和爱国志上的坟墓伸向这片广阔土地上的每一颗跳动的心和家庭，必将再度被我们善良的夭性所拨响，那时就会高奏起联邦大团结的乐章。

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1865
 Fellow-Countrymen:
 At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
 On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
 One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
 With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

 

亚伯拉罕·林肯
第二次演讲
星期六,1865年3月4日

包扎好国家的创伤
同胞们：
　　在这第二次宣誓就任总统时，我不必像第一次那样发表长篇演说。当时，对于将要执行的方针作出比较详尽的说明似乎是恰当而适宜的。现在，4年任期已满，对于这场仍然吸引着全国关注并占用了全国力量的重大斗争的每一重要关头和方面，这4年间已不断地发布公告，因此我没有什么新情况可以奉告。我们军队的进展是其他一切的主要依靠，公众和我一样都清楚地了解军队进展的憎况，我深信，大家对之都是感到满意和鼓舞的，我们虽对未来抱有极大的希望，却下敢作出任何预测。4年前我就任总统时，同胞们的思想都焦急地集中在日益迫近的内战上，大家都害怕内战，都想避免内战，当我在这个地方发表就职演说，竭尽全力想不经过战争来拯救联邦时，叛乱分子却在这个城市里图谋不经过战争来毁灭联邦——企图以谈判方式解散联邦并分割财产。双方都表示反对战争，但一方宁愿发动战争而下借牺牲国家，另一方则宁可接受战争也不肯让国家灭亡，于是战争就爆发了。

　　我国全部人口的八分之一是黑人奴隶，他们并不是遍布于联邦各地，而是集中在联邦南部。这些奴隶构成了一种特殊的、重大的利益。大家都知道，这种利益由于某种原因竟成了这次战争的根源。叛乱者的目的是加强、永保和扩大这种利益，为此他们下惜用战争来分裂联邦，而政府却只是宣布有权限制享有这种利益的地区的扩大。双方都没有料到战争竟会达到如此规模，历时如此长久。双方也没有预期冲突的根源会随着冲突本身而消除，甚至会提前消除。各方都期望赢得轻松些，期望结局不至于那么涉及根本，那么惊人。双方同读一本《圣经》，向同一个上帝祈祷，而且都乞求上帝的帮助来与对方为敌。看来十分奇怪，居然有人敢要求公正的上帝帮助他们从别人脸上的汗水中榨取面包，但是我们且勿评论别人，以免被人评论。双方的祷告不可能都应验。也没有一方的祷告全部得到应验。全能的上帝有他自己的意旨。“这世界有祸了，因为将人绊倒，绊倒人的事是免不了的，但那绊倒人的有祸了。”如果我们设想美国的奴隶制是按照天意必然来到的罪恶之一，并且在上帝规定的时间内继续存在，而现在上帝要予以铲除，于是他就把这场可怕的战争作为犯罪者应受的灾难加诸南北双方，那么，我们能看出其中有任何违背天意之处吗？相信上帝永存的人总是把无意归于上帝的。我们深情地期望，虔诚地祷告，这场巨大的战争灾祸能够很快地过去，但是如果上帝要它继续下去，直至奴隶们250年来无偿劳动所积聚的财富全部毁灭，或如人们在三千年前说过的，直至鞭于下流出的每一滴血都要用剑下流出的每一滴血来偿还，那么今天我们还得说：“主的审判是完全正确和公正的。”

　　对任何人不怀恶意，对一切人心存宽厚，坚持正义，因为上帝使我们看到了正义，让我们继续努力完成正在从事的事业，包扎好国家的创伤，关心那些肩负战争重任的人，照顾他们的遗孀孤儿，去做能在我们自己中间和与一切国家缔造并保持公正持久和平的一切事情。

 

 

First Inaugural Address of Ulysses S. Grant
 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1869
 Citizens of the United States:
 Your suffrages having elected me to the office of President of the United States, I have, in conformity to the Constitution of our country, taken the oath of office prescribed therein. I have taken this oath without mental reservation and with the determination to do to the best of my ability all that is required of me. The responsibilities of the position I feel, but accept them without fear. The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the people.
 On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always express my views to Congress and urge them according to my judgment, and when I think it advisable will exercise the constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose; but all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet my approval or not.
 I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to govern all alike--those opposed as well as those who favor them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
 The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years which preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. In meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that the greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be attained.
 This requires security of person, property, and free religious and political opinion in every part of our common country, without regard to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will receive my best efforts for their enforcement.
 A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our posterity the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, as well as the return to a specie basis as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class or to the country at large, must be provided for. To protect the national honor, every dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. To this should be added a faithful collection of the revenue, a strict accountability to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment in expenditure in every department of Government.
 When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with the ten States in poverty from the effects of war, but soon to emerge, I trust, into greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying capacity twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it probably will be twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of paying every dollar then with more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries? Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed upon us a strong box in the precious metals locked up in the sterile mountains of the far West, and which we are now forging the key to unlock, to meet the very contingency that is now upon us.
 Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities to reach these riches and it may be necessary also that the General Government should give its aid to secure this access; but that should only be when a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same sort of dollar to use now, and not before. Whilst the question of specie payments is in abeyance the prudent business man is careful about contracting debts payable in the distant future. The nation should follow the same rule. A prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and all industries encouraged.
 The young men of the country--those who from their age must be its rulers twenty-five years hence--have a peculiar interest in maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what will be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth in their day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire them with national pride. All divisions--geographical, political, and religious--can join in this common sentiment. How the public debt is to be paid or specie payments resumed is not so important as that a plan should be adopted and acquiesced in. A united determination to do is worth more than divided counsels upon the method of doing. Legislation upon this subject may not be necessary now, or even advisable, but it will be when the civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country and trade resumes its wonted channels.
 It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for and economically disbursed. I will to the best of my ability appoint to office those only who will carry out this design.
 In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other, and I would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether of native or foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized or the flag of our country floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.
 The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land--the Indians one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.
 The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any State. It seems to me very desirable that this question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope and express the desire that it may be by the ratification of the fifteenth article of amendment to the Constitution.
 In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward another throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to do his share toward cementing a happy union; and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf of this consummation.

 

尤利塞斯·格兰特
第一次就职演讲
星期四,1869年3月4日

为最大多数人谋最大利益
　　这个国家刚刚从一场巨大的动乱中崛起。今后4年，它有许多问题要解决，而这些问题是以往历届政府从未遇到过的，面对这些问题，我们应该冷静对待，不怀偏见，不怀仇恨和地区优越感，随时记住我们的目标是为最大多数人谋最大利益。这就要求全国各地普遍地确保人身、财产的安全，宗教信仰与发表政见的自由，摈弃地域的偏见。我将全力履行旨在实现这些目标的一切法律。为了使我们与我们的后代保持联邦制度，国家背负了一笔巨额债务，偿还债款的本金和利息以及恢复硬币制度必须育妥善的安排，必须使债务人和国家不受物质损失，为了维护国家的荣誉，除非债约中另有规定，所有政府公债均应用黄金来偿还。应当明白，即使拒绝偿还公债中的一角钱，也会使政府不为公众所信任。我们必须进一步加强我们的信用制度，它应是世界上最可信赖的，以便能使我们以发行债券来代替借款，而支付较低的利息。为此，我们必须切实征税，财政部对征得的每一美元的使用均应严格核算，并实际地紧缩政府各部门的开支。
　　在衡量国家的偿还能力时，我们看到由于战争的结果，有10个州今天仍处于贫困之中。但我坚信，经济很快就会比过去任何时候都繁荣。把我们现在的偿付能力和25年前相比，并计算25年后的偿付能力，谁还会怀疑那时我们支付每一美元将比我们现在付款购买无益的奢侈品更加容易呢？这是肯定的，上苍赐给了我们一个坚固的金箱，它被深藏在遥远的西部荒山中，而现在我们正在打造一把开启金箱的钥匙，以应付当前的困境。

　　总之，为了获得这些宝藏，必须保证必要的手段，同时必须得到联邦政府的帮助。但是，必须保证偿还的每一美元与当前使用的美元等值，而不是以前的价值。以硬币偿付的问题尚未解决，谨慎的商人正小心地处理须经长期偿付的债务，国家也应当遵循这样的原则。我们特重建不景气的商业；振兴所有的工业。

　　美国青年——25年以后他们将成为国家的领导者——特别关心维护国家荣誉。如果说他们只对自己真诚，那么，稍许考虑一下我们对世界各国的重大影响，也应该激起他们的民族自豪感。一切部门——地理的、政治的和宗教的——都能以这种共同的情感团结起来。政府公债如何偿还，硬币如何支付等问题都不及采取和同意一项计划重要，关于行动的统一决心，比关于行动方法的有分歧的意见有价值。也许我们现在没有必要，也不适宜采取立法来完成这一计划。但是，当全国更全面地恢复实施民法，当贸易恢复常规时，就必须采取立法手段了。

　　我将真诚地致力于执行所有法律，课征一切应征税款，妥善安排，节省开支，我将尽力选拔称职者担任公职。

　　关于外交政策，我将像个人按照公正的法律彼此相处那样地对待合国。守法的公民，不论他出生在本上或国外，只要是在我国国旗飘扬的地方，一旦他的权利受到危害，我就会予以保护。我将尊重各国的权益，并要求别国同样尊重我国的权益，如果他们在与我们的交往中背离了这一原则，我们将被迫援用他们做出的先例。 如何妥善处置美洲大陆原来的居民——印第安人，需要认真加以研究。我将赞同一切有利于印第安人文化和基本公民权的方针。选举权的问题受到公众的密切注意。在任何一州内，只要有部分公民被剥夺了选举权，就必定会使公众不满。我认为现在这个问题是非解决不可了。我希望并要求这个问题通过宪法第十五条修正案的批准获得解决。总之，我希望在全国人民彼此宽容，决心各尽所能，建立一个幸福的联邦。我请求全国人民为实现这个伟大的目标而向全能的上帝祈祷。

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Ulysses S. Grant
 TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1873
 Fellow-Citizens:
 Under Providence I have been called a second time to act as Executive over this great nation. It has been my endeavor in the past to maintain all the laws, and, so far as lay in my power, to act for the best interests of the whole people. My best efforts will be given in the same direction in the future, aided, I trust, by my four years' experience in the office.
 When my first term of the office of Chief Executive began, the country had not recovered from the effects of a great internal revolution, and three of the former States of the Union had not been restored to their Federal relations.
 It seemed to me wise that no new questions should be raised so long as that condition of affairs existed. Therefore the past four years, so far as I could control events, have been consumed in the effort to restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the arts of peace and progress. It is my firm conviction that the civilized world is tending toward republicanism, or government by the people through their chosen representatives, and that our own great Republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others.
 Under our Republic we support an army less than that of any European power of any standing and a navy less than that of either of at least five of them. There could be no extension of territory on the continent which would call for an increase of this force, but rather might such extension enable us to diminish it.
 The theory of government changes with general progress. Now that the telegraph is made available for communicating thought, together with rapid transit by steam, all parts of a continent are made contiguous for all purposes of government, and communication between the extreme limits of the country made easier than it was throughout the old thirteen States at the beginning of our national existence.
 The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed, so far as Executive influence can avail.
 Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that anything be done to advance the social status of the colored man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what there is good in him, give him access to the schools, and when he travels let him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will receive.
 The States lately at war with the General Government are now happily rehabilitated, and no Executive control is exercised in any one of them that would not be exercised in any other State under like circumstances.
 In the first year of the past Administration the proposition came up for the admission of Santo Domingo as a Territory of the Union. It was not a question of my seeking, but was a proposition from the people of Santo Domingo, and which I entertained. I believe now, as I did then, that it was for the best interest of this country, for the people of Santo Domingo, and all concerned that the proposition should be received favorably. It was, however, rejected constitutionally, and therefore the subject was never brought up again by me.
 In future, while I hold my present office, the subject of acquisition of territory must have the support of the people before I will recommend any proposition looking to such acquisition. I say here, however, that I do not share in the apprehension held by many as to the danger of governments becoming weakened and destroyed by reason of their extension of territory. Commerce, education, and rapid transit of thought and matter by telegraph and steam have changed all this. Rather do I believe that our Great Maker is preparing the world, in His own good time, to become one nation, speaking one language, and when armies and navies will be no longer required.
 My efforts in the future will be directed to the restoration of good feeling between the different sections of our common country; to the restoration of our currency to a fixed value as compared with the world's standard of values--gold--and, if possible, to a par with it; to the construction of cheap routes of transit throughout the land, to the end that the products of all may find a market and leave a living remuneration to the producer; to the maintenance of friendly relations with all our neighbors and with distant nations; to the reestablishment of our commerce and share in the carrying trade upon the ocean; to the encouragement of such manufacturing industries as can be economically pursued in this country, to the end that the exports of home products and industries may pay for our imports--the only sure method of returning to and permanently maintaining a specie basis; to the elevation of labor; and, by a humane course, to bring the aborigines of the country under the benign influences of education and civilization. It is either this or war of extermination: Wars of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing commerce and all industrial pursuits, are expensive even against the weakest people, and are demoralizing and wicked. Our superiority of strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken into account and the balance placed to his credit. The moral view of the question should be considered and the question asked, Can not the Indian be made a useful and productive member of society by proper teaching and treatment? If the effort is made in good faith, we will stand better before the civilized nations of the earth and in our own consciences for having made it.
 All these things are not to be accomplished by one individual, but they will receive my support and such recommendations to Congress as will in my judgment best serve to carry them into effect. I beg your support and encouragement.
 It has been, and is, my earnest desire to correct abuses that have grown up in the civil service of the country. To secure this reformation rules regulating methods of appointment and promotions were established and have been tried. My efforts for such reformation shall be continued to the best of my judgment. The spirit of the rules adopted will be maintained.
 I acknowledge before this assemblage, representing, as it does, every section of our country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen for the great honor they have conferred on me by returning me to the highest office within their gift, and the further obligation resting on me to render to them the best services within my power. This I promise, looking forward with the greatest anxiety to the day when I shall be released from responsibilities that at times are almost overwhelming, and from which I have scarcely had a respite since the eventful firing upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present day. My services were then tendered and accepted under the first call for troops growing out of that event.
 I did not ask for place or position, and was entirely without influence or the acquaintance of persons of influence, but was resolved to perform my part in a struggle threatening the very existence of the nation. I performed a conscientious duty, without asking promotion or command, and without a revengeful feeling toward any section or individual.
 Notwithstanding this, throughout the war, and from my candidacy for my present office in 1868 to the close of the last Presidential campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication.

 

本杰明·哈里森
就职演讲
星期一,1889年3月4日

跨人第二个世纪
　　我已许下了我的诺言，你们的诺言虽未言明，但也同样真实与庄严，今天，这里有各州人民的代表。当我接受全体人民对我以及他们相互间的誓约的时候，这一典礼的精神在我看来是明确无误的； 就是支持与保卫宪法和联邦，自愿服从全部法律，以及每个公民都应以平等的公民权和政治权对待其他公民。既然我们已经庄严地订立了誓约，我们便能虔诚地祈求，并信心百倍地期待全能的上帝给我们以帮助——赐给我力量、智慧与忠诚，赐给人民博爱精神和对正义与和平的热爱。
　　这一时刻有其特殊的意义，因为从今天开始是根据宪法产生的第26届总统任期。华盛顿总统的首任就职典礼于1789年4月30日在国会的所在地纽约举行，这个日期由于出席国会及检查选票的耽搁已比原订日期有所推迟，今天，我们的人民已经来历了庆祝《独立宣言》、约克敦战役和正式通过宪法等100周年纪念活动，不久又将在纽约庆祝宪法所规定的政府第二个重要部门的成立。我深信，在最高法院的组织下，司法部门成立一百周年的纪念活动将会适当地举行，这时候，我们的国家也就正式进入第二个世纪了。一方面，我们的国家已经进入根据宪法建立起来的第二个世纪；另一方面，这个虽然稚弱，但管理得法的年轻民族，回顾它在第一个世纪中经历的岁月后毫不感到气馁。这两个方面的奇妙而令人十分愉快的对照，我就不必特别指明了。

　　在这一时刻，我们的人民下会忘记伴随着依据宪法成立政府机构所发生的事件；下会忘记从华盛顿和他那些伟大的同事的教诲和范例中获得鼓舞和指导，下会忘记从现在的人口众多，繁荣富庶的38个州同原来的13个州的对比中获得希望和勇气。这13个州当时分布在大西洋沿岸，它们除了勇气和对自由的热爱之外，原是一无所有的。

　　现在，达科他准州的人口已超过除弗吉尼亚州之外的原来的任何一州，而且多于1790年时的5个较小的州的总人口。当我们选定首都时，人口的中心是在巴尔的摩以东，许多有识之上曾议论过人口的中心将会东移而不是向西；1880年却发现人口中心已到了辛辛那提附近：而且即将进行的新的人口普查将会显示出这一中心又向西跨了一大步。过去的人口稠密地区已变成我们国家的富饶的边缘部分。但是，我们的成长并不限于土地；人口和财富的积累都有了惊人的成就，我们的人民比前辈有更好的饮食、衣着和住房。普及教育所品的各种设施已大量增加，遍及各地。近来已经证明，在人民的内心和生活之中，勇敢与爱国的美德正在不断增长，宗教的影响正在扩大与强化；慈善机构的数目大大增加；禁酒的益处已经得到重视。我们还没有达到理想的境界，并不是全体人民都已幸福富足与奉公守法。但总的说来，个人追求幸福生活的机会要多于其他各国，比100年以前的我国也多得多了。

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Rutherford B. Hayes
 MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1877
 Fellow-Citizens:
 We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a time- honored custom, which marks the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called to the duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage, to announce some of the leading principles, on the subjects that now chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or measures of administration, but rather to speak of the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions and essential to the welfare of our country.
 At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the example, and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my countrymen will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel assured that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends, under the Constitution and laws on the Chief Executive of the nation.
 The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens regard as of supreme importance.
 Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the threshold of this subject. The people of those States are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the progress of events the time has come when such government is the imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public and private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that only a local government which recognizes and maintains inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government.
 With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a government which submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the laws--the laws of the nation and the laws of the States themselves--accepting and obeying faithfully the whole Constitution as it is.
 Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure of beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all so-called party interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we have to consider for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the question of government or no government; of social order and all the peaceful industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a return to barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the nation is deeply interested, and with respect to which we ought not to be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but fellow-citizens and fellowmen, to whom the interests of a common country and a common humanity are dear.
 The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their former masters, and by the General Government, the author of the act of emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the country. That a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights of the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the enjoyment of those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is also generally admitted.
 The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in duty bound and fully determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional means at the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to use every legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local self-government as the true resource of those States for the promotion of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I shall make to accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all who cherish an interest in the welfare of the country, trusting that party ties and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in behalf of the great purpose to be accomplished. In the important work of restoring the South it is not the political situation alone that merits attention. The material development of that section of the country has been arrested by the social and political revolution through which it has passed, and now needs and deserves the considerate care of the National Government within the just limits prescribed by the Constitution and wise public economy.
 But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every other part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual and moral condition of the people. Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority.
 Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interest--the interests of the white and of the colored people both and equally--and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our political affairs the color line and the distinction between North and South, to the end that we may have not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country.
 I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of reform in our civil service--a reform not merely as to certain abuses and practices of so-called official patronage which have come to have the sanction of usage in the several Departments of our Government, but a change in the system of appointment itself; a reform that shall be thorough, radical, and complete; a return to the principles and practices of the founders of the Government. They neither expected nor desired from public officers any partisan service. They meant that public officers should owe their whole service to the Government and to the people. They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the performance of his duties satisfactory. They held that appointments to office were not to be made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan services, nor merely on the nomination of members of Congress, as being entitled in any respect to the control of such appointments.
 The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in declaring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent place to the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing and strongly urging its necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific import with those I have here employed, must be accepted as a conclusive argument in behalf of these measures. It must be regarded as the expression of the united voice and will of the whole country upon this subject, and both political parties are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved support.
 The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential importance the principles of their party organization; but he should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.
 In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important respects a change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to the Constitution prescribing a term of six years for the Presidential office and forbidding a reelection.
 With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall not attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and prostration which we have suffered during the past three years. The depression in all our varied commercial and manufacturing interests throughout the country, which began in September, 1873, still continues. It is very gratifying, however, to be able to say that there are indications all around us of a coming change to prosperous times.
 Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it is, with this topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made in my letter of acceptance, that in my judgment the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuation of values, is one of the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous times. The only safe paper currency is one which rests upon a coin basis and is at all times and promptly convertible into coin.
 I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of Congressional legislation in behalf of an early resumption of specie payments, and I am satisfied not only that this is wise, but that the interests, as well as the public sentiment, of the country imperatively demand it.
 Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country to consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the international complications abroad, threatening the peace of Europe, that our traditional rule of noninterference in the affairs of foreign nations has proved of great value in past times and ought to be strictly observed.
 The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor, President Grant, of submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between ourselves and foreign powers points to a new, and incomparably the best, instrumentality for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe, become a beneficent example of the course to be pursued in similar emergencies by other nations.
 If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the period of my Administration arise between the United States and any foreign government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope to aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus securing to our country the great blessings of peace and mutual good offices with all the nations of the world.
 Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest marked by the excitement which usually attends the contests between great political parties whose members espouse and advocate with earnest faith their respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no respect extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent uncertainty of the result.
 For the first time in the history of the country it has been deemed best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the objections and questions in dispute with reference to the counting of the electoral votes should be referred to the decision of a tribunal appointed for this purpose.
 That tribunal--established by law for this sole purpose; its members, all of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and intelligence, and, with the exception of those who are also members of the supreme judiciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its deliberations enlightened by the research and the arguments of able counsel--was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American people. Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as legally conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the present, opinion will widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions announced by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under the forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the contest.
 The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law no less than as to the proper course to be pursued in solving the question in controversy is an occasion for general rejoicing.
 Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment--that conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the nation ought surely to follow.
 It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right of suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in history of a great nation, in the midst of the struggle of opposing parties for power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to adjustment according to the forms of law.
 Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union--a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations."

 

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of James A. Garfield
 FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1881
 Fellow-Citizens:
 We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred years of national life--a century crowded with perils, but crowned with the triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing the onward march let us pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along which our people have traveled.
 It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adoption of the first written constitution of the United States--the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic was then beset with danger on every hand. It had not conquered a place in the family of nations. The decisive battle of the war for independence, whose centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully celebrated at Yorktown, had not yet been fought. The colonists were struggling not only against the armies of a great nation, but against the settled opinions of mankind; for the world did not then believe that the supreme authority of government could be safely intrusted to the guardianship of the people themselves.
 We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers made the great experiment of self-government. When they found, after a short trial, that the confederacy of States, was too weak to meet the necessities of a vigorous and expanding republic, they boldly set it aside, and in its stead established a National Union, founded directly upon the will of the people, endowed with full power of self-preservation and ample authority for the accomplishment of its great object.
 Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been enlarged, the foundations of order and peace have been strengthened, and the growth of our people in all the better elements of national life has indicated the wisdom of the founders and given new hope to their descendants. Under this Constitution our people long ago made themselves safe against danger from without and secured for their mariners and flag equality of rights on all the seas. Under this Constitution twenty-five States have been added to the Union, with constitutions and laws, framed and enforced by their own citizens, to secure the manifold blessings of local self-government.
 The jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty times greater than that of the original thirteen States and a population twenty times greater than that of 1780.
 The supreme trial of the Constitution came at last under the tremendous pressure of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses that the Union emerged from the blood and fire of that conflict purified and made stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good government.
 And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have lately reviewed the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon the conduct and opinions of political parties, and have registered their will concerning the future administration of the Government. To interpret and to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution is the paramount duty of the Executive.
 Even from this brief review it is manifest that the nation is resolutely facing to the front, resolved to employ its best energies in developing the great possibilities of the future. Sacredly preserving whatever has been gained to liberty and good government during the century, our people are determined to leave behind them all those bitter controversies concerning things which have been irrevocably settled, and the further discussion of which can only stir up strife and delay the onward march.
 The supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer a subject of debate. That discussion, which for half a century threatened the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the high court of war by a decree from which there is no appeal--that the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are and shall continue to be the supreme law of the land, binding alike upon the States and the people. This decree does not disturb the autonomy of the States nor interfere with any of their necessary rights of local self-government, but it does fix and establish the permanent supremacy of the Union.
 The will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise of 1776 by proclaiming "liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof."
 The elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights of citizenship is the most important political change we have known since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. NO thoughtful man can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and people. It has freed us from the perpetual danger of war and dissolution. It has added immensely to the moral and industrial forces of our people. It has liberated the master as well as the slave from a relation which wronged and enfeebled both. It has surrendered to their own guardianship the manhood of more than 5,000,000 people, and has opened to each one of them a career of freedom and usefulness. It has given new inspiration to the power of self-help in both races by making labor more honorable to the one and more necessary to the other. The influence of this force will grow greater and bear richer fruit with the coming years.
 No doubt this great change has caused serious disturbance to our Southern communities. This is to be deplored, though it was perhaps unavoidable. But those who resisted the change should remember that under our institutions there was no middle ground for the negro race between slavery and equal citizenship. There can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States. Freedom can never yield its fullness of blessings so long as the law or its administration places the smallest obstacle in the pathway of any virtuous citizen.
 The emancipated race has already made remarkable progress. With unquestioning devotion to the Union, with a patience and gentleness not born of fear, they have "followed the light as God gave them to see the light." They are rapidly laying the material foundations of self-support, widening their circle of intelligence, and beginning to enjoy the blessings that gather around the homes of the industrious poor. They deserve the generous encouragement of all good men. So far as my authority can lawfully extend they shall enjoy the full and equal protection of the Constitution and the laws.
 The free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and a frank statement of the issue may aid its solution. It is alleged that in many communities negro citizens are practically denied the freedom of the ballot. In so far as the truth of this allegation is admitted, it is answered that in many places honest local government is impossible if the mass of uneducated negroes are allowed to vote. These are grave allegations. So far as the latter is true, it is the only palliation that can be offered for opposing the freedom of the ballot. Bad local government is certainly a great evil, which ought to be prevented; but to violate the freedom and sanctities of the suffrage is more than an evil. It is a crime which, if persisted in, will destroy the Government itself. Suicide is not a remedy. If in other lands it be high treason to compass the death of the king, it shall be counted no less a crime here to strangle our sovereign power and stifle its voice.
 It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the repose of nations. It should be said with the utmost emphasis that this question of the suffrage will never give repose or safety to the States or to the nation until each, within its own jurisdiction, makes and keeps the ballot free and pure by the strong sanctions of the law.
 But the danger which arises from ignorance in the voter can not be denied. It covers a field far wider than that of negro suffrage and the present condition of the race. It is a danger that lurks and hides in the sources and fountains of power in every state. We have no standard by which to measure the disaster that may be brought upon us by ignorance and vice in the citizens when joined to corruption and fraud in the suffrage.
 The voters of the Union, who make and unmake constitutions, and upon whose will hang the destinies of our governments, can transmit their supreme authority to no successors save the coming generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of sovereign power. If that generation comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance and corrupted by vice, the fall of the Republic will be certain and remediless.
 The census has already sounded the alarm in the appalling figures which mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy has risen among our voters and their children.
 To the South this question is of supreme importance. But the responsibility for the existence of slavery did not rest upon the South alone. The nation itself is responsible for the extension of the suffrage, and is under special obligations to aid in removing the illiteracy which it has added to the voting population. For the North and South alike there is but one remedy. All the constitutional power of the nation and of the States and all the volunteer forces of the people should be surrendered to meet this danger by the savory influence of universal education.
 It is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living to educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence and virtue, for the inheritance which awaits them.
 In this beneficent work sections and races should be forgotten and partisanship should be unknown. Let our people find a new meaning in the divine oracle which declares that "a little child shall lead them," for our own little children will soon control the destinies of the Republic.
 My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our controversies. They will surely bless their fathers and their fathers' God that the Union was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the law. We may hasten or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the final reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to make a truce with time by anticipating and accepting its inevitable verdict?
 Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral and material well-being unite us and offer ample employment of our best powers. Let all our people, leaving behind them the battlefields of dead issues, move forward and in their strength of liberty and the restored Union win the grander victories of peace.
 The prosperity which now prevails is without parallel in our history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but they have not done all. The preservation of the public credit and the resumption of specie payments, so successfully attained by the Administration of my predecessors, have enabled our people to secure the blessings which the seasons brought.
 By the experience of commercial nations in all ages it has been found that gold and silver afford the only safe foundation for a monetary system. Confusion has recently been created by variations in the relative value of the two metals, but I confidently believe that arrangements can be made between the leading commercial nations which will secure the general use of both metals. Congress should provide that the compulsory coinage of silver now required by law may not disturb our monetary system by driving either metal out of circulation. If possible, such an adjustment should be made that the purchasing power of every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its debt-paying power in all the markets of the world.
 The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value. Grave doubts have been entertained whether Congress is authorized by the Constitution to make any form of paper money legal tender. The present issue of United States notes has been sustained by the necessities of war; but such paper should depend for its value and currency upon its convenience in use and its prompt redemption in coin at the will of the holder, and not upon its compulsory circulation. These notes are not money, but promises to pay money. If the holders demand it, the promise should be kept.
 The refunding of the national debt at a lower rate of interest should be accomplished without compelling the withdrawal of the national-bank notes, and thus disturbing the business of the country.
 I venture to refer to the position I have occupied on financial questions during a long service in Congress, and to say that time and experience have strengthened the opinions I have so often expressed on these subjects.
 The finances of the Government shall suffer no detriment which it may be possible for my Administration to prevent.
 The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the Government than they have yet received. The farms of the United States afford homes and employment for more than one-half our people, and furnish much the largest part of all our exports. As the Government lights our coasts for the protection of mariners and the benefit of commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the soil the best lights of practical science and experience.
 Our manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially independent, and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable fields of employment. Their steady and healthy growth should still be matured. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted by the continued improvement of our harbors and great interior waterways and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean.
 The development of the world's commerce has led to an urgent demand for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by constructing ship canals or railways across the isthmus which unites the continents. Various plans to this end have been suggested and will need consideration, but none of them has been sufficiently matured to warrant the United States in extending pecuniary aid. The subject, however, is one which will immediately engage the attention of the Government with a view to a thorough protection to American interests. We will urge no narrow policy nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges in any commercial route; but, in the language of my predecessor, I believe it to be the right "and duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus that connects North and South America as will protect our national interest."
 The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Congress is prohibited from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Territories of the United States are subject to the direct legislative authority of Congress, and hence the General Government is responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a reproach to the Government that in the most populous of the Territories the constitutional guaranty is not enjoyed by the people and the authority of Congress is set at naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration of justice through ordinary instrumentalities of law.
 In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal practices, especially of that class which destroy the family relations and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions and powers of the National Government.
 The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, for the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor offices of the several Executive Departments and prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed.
 Finally, acting always within the authority and limitations of the Constitution, invading neither the rights of the States nor the reserved rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my Administration to maintain the authority of the nation in all places within its jurisdiction; to enforce obedience to all the laws of the Union in the interests of the people; to demand rigid economy in all the expenditures of the Government, and to require the honest and faithful service of all executive officers, remembering that the offices were created, not for the benefit of incumbents or their supporters, but for the service of the Government.
 And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that earnest and thoughtful support which makes this Government in fact, as it is in law, a government of the people.
 I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress and of those who may share with me the responsibilities and duties of administration, and, above all, upon our efforts to promote the welfare of this great people and their Government I reverently invoke the support and blessings of Almighty God.

First Inaugural Address of Grover Cleveland
 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1885
 Fellow-Citizens:
 In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen I am about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall take the manifestation of the will of a great and free people. In the exercise of their power and right of self-government they have committed to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates himself to their service.
 This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolution to engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their welfare.
 Amid the din of party strife the people's choice was made, but its attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the strength and safety of a government by the people. In each succeeding year it more clearly appears that our democratic principle needs no apology, and that in its fearless and faithful application is to be found the surest guaranty of good government.
 But the best results in the operation of a government wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort and a correct appreciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be merged in the patriotism of the citizen.
 To-day the executive branch of the Government is transferred to new keeping. But this is still the Government of all the people, and it should be none the less an object of their affectionate solicitude. At this hour the animosities of political strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the popular will and a sober, conscientious concern for the general weal. Moreover, if from this hour we cheerfully and honestly abandon all sectional prejudice and distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another, to work out harmoniously the achievements of our national destiny, we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which our happy form of government can bestow.
 On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of our devotion to the Constitution, which, launched by the founders of the Republic and consecrated by their prayers and patriotic devotion, has for almost a century borne the hopes and the aspirations of a great people through prosperity and peace and through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of domestic strife and vicissitudes.
 By the Father of his Country our Constitution was commended for adoption as "the result of a spirit of amity and mutual concession." In that same spirit it should be administered, in order to promote the lasting welfare of the country and to secure the full measure of its priceless benefits to us and to those who will succeed to the blessings of our national life. The large variety of diverse and competing interests subject to Federal control, persistently seeking the recognition of their claims, need give us no fear that "the greatest good to the greatest number" will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of national legislation that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. If this involves the surrender or postponement of private interests and the abandonment of local advantages, compensation will be found in the assurance that the common interest is subserved and the general welfare advanced.
 In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, a careful observance of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions which by the Constitution and laws have been especially assigned to the executive branch of the Government.
 But he who takes the oath today to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn obligation which every patriotic citizen--on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere--should share with him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath, my countrymen, is yours; the Government you have chosen him to administer for a time is yours; the suffrage which executes the will of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity--municipal, State, and Federal; and this is the price of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the Republic.
 It is the duty of those serving the people in public place to closely limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the Government economically administered, because this bounds the right of the Government to exact tribute from the earnings of labor or the property of the citizen, and because public extravagance begets extravagance among the people. We should never be ashamed of the simplicity and prudential economies which are best suited to the operation of a republican form of government and most compatible with the mission of the American people. Those who are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are still of the people, and may do much by their example to encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain way of life which among their fellow- citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and prosperity.
 The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in their home life, and the attention which is demanded for the settlement and development of the resources of our vast territory dictate the scrupulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign policy commended by the history, the traditions, and the prosperity of our Republic. It is the policy of independence, favored by our position and defended by our known love of justice and by our power. It is the policy of peace suitable to our interests. It is the policy of neutrality, rejecting any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other continents and repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of Monroe and of Washington and Jefferson-- "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliance with none."
 A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people demands that our finances shall be established upon such a sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confidence of business interests and make the wage of labor sure and steady, and that our system of revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary taxation, having a due regard to the interests of capital invested and workingmen employed in American industries, and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury to tempt extravagance and waste.
 Care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should be protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupation.
 The conscience of the people demands that the Indians within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the Government and their education and civilization promoted with a view to their ultimate citizenship, and that polygamy in the Territories, destructive of the family relation and offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be repressed.
 The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.
 The people demand reform in the administration of the Government and the application of business principles to public affairs. As a means to this end, civil-service reform should be in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from the corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious methods of those who expect such rewards; and those who worthily seek public employment have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be recognized instead of party subserviency or the surrender of honest political belief.
 In the administration of a government pledged to do equal and exact justice to all men there should be no pretext for anxiety touching the protection of the freedmen in their rights or their security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the Constitution and its amendments. All discussion as to their fitness for the place accorded to them as American citizens is idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the necessity for their improvement. The fact that they are citizens entitles them to all the rights due to that relation and charges them with all its duties, obligations, and responsibilities.
 These topics and the constant and ever-varying wants of an active and enterprising population may well receive the attention and the patriotic endeavor of all who make and execute the Federal law. Our duties are practical and call for industrious application, an intelligent perception of the claims of public office, and, above all, a firm determination, by united action, to secure to all the people of the land the full benefits of the best form of government ever vouchsafed to man. And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledging the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over the destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in our country's history, let us invoke His aid and His blessings upon our labors.

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Benjamin Harrison
 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1889
 Fellow-Citizens:
 There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the President shall take the oath of office in the presence of the people, but there is so manifest an appropriateness in the public induction to office of the chief executive officer of the nation that from the beginning of the Government the people, to whose service the official oath consecrates the officer, have been called to witness the solemn ceremonial. The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a mutual covenant. The officer covenants to serve the whole body of the people by a faithful execution of the laws, so that they may be the unfailing defense and security of those who respect and observe them, and that neither wealth, station, nor the power of combinations shall be able to evade their just penalties or to wrest them from a beneficent public purpose to serve the ends of cruelty or selfishness.
 My promise is spoken; yours unspoken, but not the less real and solemn. The people of every State have here their representatives. Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I assume that the whole body of the people covenant with me and with each other to-day to support and defend the Constitution and the Union of the States, to yield willing obedience to all the laws and each to every other citizen his equal civil and political rights. Entering thus solemnly into covenant with each other, we may reverently invoke and confidently expect the favor and help of Almighty God--that He will give to me wisdom, strength, and fidelity, and to our people a spirit of fraternity and a love of righteousness and peace.
 This occasion derives peculiar interest from the fact that the Presidential term which begins this day is the twenty-sixth under our Constitution. The first inauguration of President Washington took place in New York, where Congress was then sitting, on the 30th day of April, 1789, having been deferred by reason of delays attending the organization of the Congress and the canvass of the electoral vote. Our people have already worthily observed the centennials of the Declaration of Independence, of the battle of Yorktown, and of the adoption of the Constitution, and will shortly celebrate in New York the institution of the second great department of our constitutional scheme of government. When the centennial of the institution of the judicial department, by the organization of the Supreme Court, shall have been suitably observed, as I trust it will be, our nation will have fully entered its second century.
 I will not attempt to note the marvelous and in great part happy contrasts between our country as it steps over the threshold into its second century of organized existence under the Constitution and that weak but wisely ordered young nation that looked undauntedly down the first century, when all its years stretched out before it.
 Our people will not fail at this time to recall the incidents which accompanied the institution of government under the Constitution, or to find inspiration and guidance in the teachings and example of Washington and his great associates, and hope and courage in the contrast which thirty-eight populous and prosperous States offer to the thirteen States, weak in everything except courage and the love of liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic seaboard.
 The Territory of Dakota has now a population greater than any of the original States (except Virginia) and greater than the aggregate of five of the smaller States in 1790. The center of population when our national capital was located was east of Baltimore, and it was argued by many well-informed persons that it would move eastward rather than westward; yet in 1880 it was found to be near Cincinnati, and the new census about to be taken will show another stride to the westward. That which was the body has come to be only the rich fringe of the nation's robe. But our growth has not been limited to territory, population and aggregate wealth, marvelous as it has been in each of those directions. The masses of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed than their fathers were. The facilities for popular education have been vastly enlarged and more generally diffused.
 The virtues of courage and patriotism have given recent proof of their continued presence and increasing power in the hearts and over the lives of our people. The influences of religion have been multiplied and strengthened. The sweet offices of charity have greatly increased. The virtue of temperance is held in higher estimation. We have not attained an ideal condition. Not all of our people are happy and prosperous; not all of them are virtuous and law-abiding. But on the whole the opportunities offered to the individual to secure the comforts of life are better than are found elsewhere and largely better than they were here one hundred years ago.
 The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the General Government, effected by the adoption of the Constitution, was not accomplished until the suggestions of reason were strongly reenforced by the more imperative voice of experience. The divergent interests of peace speedily demanded a "more perfect union." The merchant, the shipmaster, and the manufacturer discovered and disclosed to our statesmen and to the people that commercial emancipation must be added to the political freedom which had been so bravely won. The commercial policy of the mother country had not relaxed any of its hard and oppressive features. To hold in check the development of our commercial marine, to prevent or retard the establishment and growth of manufactures in the States, and so to secure the American market for their shops and the carrying trade for their ships, was the policy of European statesmen, and was pursued with the most selfish vigor.
 Petitions poured in upon Congress urging the imposition of discriminating duties that should encourage the production of needed things at home. The patriotism of the people, which no longer found afield of exercise in war, was energetically directed to the duty of equipping the young Republic for the defense of its independence by making its people self-dependent. Societies for the promotion of home manufactures and for encouraging the use of domestics in the dress of the people were organized in many of the States. The revival at the end of the century of the same patriotic interest in the preservation and development of domestic industries and the defense of our working people against injurious foreign competition is an incident worthy of attention. It is not a departure but a return that we have witnessed. The protective policy had then its opponents. The argument was made, as now, that its benefits inured to particular classes or sections.
 If the question became in any sense or at any time sectional, it was only because slavery existed in some of the States. But for this there was no reason why the cotton-producing States should not have led or walked abreast with the New England States in the production of cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the States that divide with Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the great southeastern and central mountain ranges should have been so tardy in bringing to the smelting furnace and to the mill the coal and iron from their near opposing hillsides. Mill fires were lighted at the funeral pile of slavery. The emancipation proclamation was heard in the depths of the earth as well as in the sky; men were made free, and material things became our better servants.
 The sectional element has happily been eliminated from the tariff discussion. We have no longer States that are necessarily only planting States. None are excluded from achieving that diversification of pursuits among the people which brings wealth and contentment. The cotton plantation will not be less valuable when the product is spun in the country town by operatives whose necessities call for diversified crops and create a home demand for garden and agricultural products. Every new mine, furnace, and factory is an extension of the productive capacity of the State more real and valuable than added territory.
 Shall the prejudices and paralysis of slavery continue to hang upon the skirts of progress? How long will those who rejoice that slavery no longer exists cherish or tolerate the incapacities it put upon their communities? I look hopefully to the continuance of our protective system and to the consequent development of manufacturing and mining enterprises in the States hitherto wholly given to agriculture as a potent influence in the perfect unification of our people. The men who have invested their capital in these enterprises, the farmers who have felt the benefit of their neighborhood, and the men who work in shop or field will not fail to find and to defend a community of interest.
 Is it not quite possible that the farmers and the promoters of the great mining and manufacturing enterprises which have recently been established in the South may yet find that the free ballot of the workingman, without distinction of race, is needed for their defense as well as for his own? I do not doubt that if those men in the South who now accept the tariff views of Clay and the constitutional expositions of Webster would courageously avow and defend their real convictions they would not find it difficult, by friendly instruction and cooperation, to make the black man their efficient and safe ally, not only in establishing correct principles in our national administration, but in preserving for their local communities the benefits of social order and economical and honest government. At least until the good offices of kindness and education have been fairly tried the contrary conclusion can not be plausibly urged.
 I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special Executive policy for any section of our country. It is the duty of the Executive to administer and enforce in the methods and by the instrumentalities pointed out and provided by the Constitution all the laws enacted by Congress. These laws are general and their administration should be uniform and equal. As a citizen may not elect what laws he will obey, neither may the Executive eject which he will enforce. The duty to obey and to execute embraces the Constitution in its entirety and the whole code of laws enacted under it. The evil example of permitting individuals, corporations, or communities to nullify the laws because they cross some selfish or local interest or prejudices is full of danger, not only to the nation at large, but much more to those who use this pernicious expedient to escape their just obligations or to obtain an unjust advantage over others. They will presently themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and those who would use the law as a defense must not deny that use of it to others.
 If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal limitations and duties, they would have less cause to complain of the unlawful limitations of their rights or of violent interference with their operations. The community that by concert, open or secret, among its citizens denies to a portion of its members their plain rights under the law has severed the only safe bond of social order and prosperity. The evil works from a bad center both ways. It demoralizes those who practice it and destroys the faith of those who suffer by it in the efficiency of the law as a safe protector. The man in whose breast that faith has been darkened is naturally the subject of dangerous and uncanny suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods, if moved by no higher motive than the selfishness that prompted them, may well stop and inquire what is to be the end of this.
 An unlawful expedient can not become a permanent condition of government. If the educated and influential classes in a community either practice or connive at the systematic violation of laws that seem to them to cross their convenience, what can they expect when the lesson that convenience or a supposed class interest is a sufficient cause for lawlessness has been well learned by the ignorant classes? A community where law is the rule of conduct and where courts, not mobs, execute its penalties is the only attractive field for business investments and honest labor.
 Our naturalization laws should be so amended as to make the inquiry into the character and good disposition of persons applying for citizenship more careful and searching. Our existing laws have been in their administration an unimpressive and often an unintelligible form. We accept the man as a citizen without any knowledge of his fitness, and he assumes the duties of citizenship without any knowledge as to what they are. The privileges of American citizenship are so great and its duties so grave that we may well insist upon a good knowledge of every person applying for citizenship and a good knowledge by him of our institutions. We should not cease to be hospitable to immigration, but we should cease to be careless as to the character of it. There are men of all races, even the best, whose coming is necessarily a burden upon our public revenues or a threat to social order. These should be identified and excluded.
 We have happily maintained a policy of avoiding all interference with European affairs. We have been only interested spectators of their contentions in diplomacy and in war, ready to use our friendly offices to promote peace, but never obtruding our advice and never attempting unfairly to coin the distresses of other powers into commercial advantage to ourselves. We have a just right to expect that our European policy will be the American policy of European courts.
 It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our peace and safety which all the great powers habitually observe and enforce in matters affecting them that a shorter waterway between our eastern and western seaboards should be dominated by any European Government that we may confidently expect that such a purpose will not be entertained by any friendly power.
 We shall in the future, as in the past, use every endeavor to maintain and enlarge our friendly relations with all the great powers, but they will not expect us to look kindly upon any project that would leave us subject to the dangers of a hostile observation or environment. We have not sought to dominate or to absorb any of our weaker neighbors, but rather to aid and encourage them to establish free and stable governments resting upon the consent of their own people. We have a clear right to expect, therefore, that no European Government will seek to establish colonial dependencies upon the territory of these independent American States. That which a sense of justice restrains us from seeking they may be reasonably expected willingly to forego.
 It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so exclusively American that our entire inattention to any events that may transpire elsewhere can be taken for granted. Our citizens domiciled for purposes of trade in all countries and in many of the islands of the sea demand and will have our adequate care in their personal and commercial rights. The necessities of our Navy require convenient coaling stations and dock and harbor privileges. These and other trading privileges we will feel free to obtain only by means that do not in any degree partake of coercion, however feeble the government from which we ask such concessions. But having fairly obtained them by methods and for purposes entirely consistent with the most friendly disposition toward all other powers, our consent will be necessary to any modification or impairment of the concession.
 We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation or the just rights of its citizens, nor to exact the like treatment for our own. Calmness, justice, and consideration should characterize our diplomacy. The offices of an intelligent diplomacy or of friendly arbitration in proper cases should be adequate to the peaceful adjustment of all international difficulties. By such methods we will make our contribution to the world's peace, which no nation values more highly, and avoid the opprobrium which must fall upon the nation that ruthlessly breaks it.
 The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all public officers whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in the Constitution or by act of Congress has become very burdensome and its wise and efficient discharge full of difficulty. The civil list is so large that a personal knowledge of any large number of the applicants is impossible. The President must rely upon the representations of others, and these are often made inconsiderately and without any just sense of responsibility. I have a right, I think, to insist that those who volunteer or are invited to give advice as to appointments shall exercise consideration and fidelity. A high sense of duty and an ambition to improve the service should characterize all public officers.
 There are many ways in which the convenience and comfort of those who have business with our public offices may be promoted by a thoughtful and obliging officer, and I shall expect those whom I may appoint to justify their selection by a conspicuous efficiency in the discharge of their duties. Honorable party service will certainly not be esteemed by me a disqualification for public office, but it will in no case be allowed to serve as a shield of official negligence, incompetency, or delinquency. It is entirely creditable to seek public office by proper methods and with proper motives, and all applicants will be treated with consideration; but I shall need, and the heads of Departments will need, time for inquiry and deliberation. Persistent importunity will not, therefore, be the best support of an application for office. Heads of Departments, bureaus, and all other public officers having any duty connected therewith will be expected to enforce the civil- service law fully and without evasion. Beyond this obvious duty I hope to do something more to advance the reform of the civil service. The ideal, or even my own ideal, I shall probably not attain. Retrospect will be a safer basis of judgment than promises. We shall not, however, I am sure, be able to put our civil service upon a nonpartisan basis until we have secured an incumbency that fair-minded men of the opposition will approve for impartiality and integrity. As the number of such in the civil list is increased removals from office will diminish.
 While a Treasury surplus is not the greatest evil, it is a serious evil. Our revenue should be ample to meet the ordinary annual demands upon our Treasury, with a sufficient margin for those extraordinary but scarcely less imperative demands which arise now and then. Expenditure should always be made with economy and only upon public necessity. Wastefulness, profligacy, or favoritism in public expenditures is criminal. But there is nothing in the condition of our country or of our people to suggest that anything presently necessary to the public prosperity, security, or honor should be unduly postponed.
 It will be the duty of Congress wisely to forecast and estimate these extraordinary demands, and, having added them to our ordinary expenditures, to so adjust our revenue laws that no considerable annual surplus will remain. We will fortunately be able to apply to the redemption of the public debt any small and unforeseen excess of revenue. This is better than to reduce our income below our necessary expenditures, with the resulting choice between another change of our revenue laws and an increase of the public debt. It is quite possible, I am sure, to effect the necessary reduction in our revenues without breaking down our protective tariff or seriously injuring any domestic industry.
 The construction of a sufficient number of modern war ships and of their necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is consistent with care and perfection in plans and workmanship. The spirit, courage, and skill of our naval officers and seamen have many times in our history given to weak ships and inefficient guns a rating greatly beyond that of the naval list. That they will again do so upon occasion I do not doubt; but they ought not, by premeditation or neglect, to be left to the risks and exigencies of an unequal combat. We should encourage the establishment of American steamship lines. The exchanges of commerce demand stated, reliable, and rapid means of communication, and until these are provided the development of our trade with the States lying south of us is impossible.
 Our pension laws should give more adequate and discriminating relief to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such occasions as this should remind us that we owe everything to their valor and sacrifice.
 It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of the admission into the Union of the Dakotas and Montana and Washington Territories. This act of justice has been unreasonably delayed in the case of some of them. The people who have settled these Territories are intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic, and the accession these new States will add strength to the nation. It is due to the settlers in the Territories who have availed themselves of the invitations of our land laws to make homes upon the public domain that their titles should be speedily adjusted and their honest entries confirmed by patent.
 It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being manifested in the reform of our election laws. Those who have been for years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing about the ballot box and about the elector further safeguards, in order that our elections might not only be free and pure, but might clearly appear to be so, will welcome the accession of any who did not so soon discover the need of reform. The National Congress has not as yet taken control of elections in that case over which the Constitution gives it jurisdiction, but has accepted and adopted the election laws of the several States, provided penalties for their violation and a method of supervision. Only the inefficiency of the State laws or an unfair partisan administration of them could suggest a departure from this policy.
 It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the framers of the Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and provision was wisely made for it. The freedom of the ballot is a condition of our national life, and no power vested in Congress or in the Executive to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon occasion. The people of all the Congressional districts have an equal interest that the election in each shall truly express the views and wishes of a majority of the qualified electors residing within it. The results of such elections are not local, and the insistence of electors residing in other districts that they shall be pure and free does not savor at all of impertinence.
 If in any of the States the public security is thought to be threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is education. The sympathy and help of our people will not be withheld from any community struggling with special embarrassments or difficulties connected with the suffrage if the remedies proposed proceed upon lawful lines and are promoted by just and honorable methods. How shall those who practice election frauds recover that respect for the sanctity of the ballot which is the first condition and obligation of good citizenship? The man who has come to regard the ballot box as a juggler's hat has renounced his allegiance.
 Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a better proof of their patriotism and a higher glory to their country by promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that is achieved by unfair methods or by practices that partake of revolution is hurtful and evanescent even from a party standpoint. We should hold our differing opinions in mutual respect, and, having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if the decision had been in our favor.
 No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God has placed upon our head a diadem and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power and that the upward avenues of hope shall be free to all the people.
 I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all. Passion has swept some of our communities, but only to give us a new demonstration that the great body of our people are stable, patriotic, and law-abiding. No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honor or by rude and indecent methods without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. The peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the necessary unity of all our communities, and the increasing intercourse of our people is promoting mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which our next census will make of the swift development of the great resources of some of the States. Each State will bring its generous contribution to the great aggregate of the nation's increase. And when the harvests from the fields, the cattle from the hills, and the ores of the earth shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will turn from them all to crown with the highest honor the State that has most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism among its people.

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Grover Cleveland
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1893
 My Fellow-Citizens:
 In obedience of the mandate of my countrymen I am about to dedicate myself to their service under the sanction of a solemn oath. Deeply moved by the expression of confidence and personal attachment which has called me to this service, I am sure my gratitude can make no better return than the pledge I now give before God and these witnesses of unreserved and complete devotion to the interests and welfare of those who have honored me.
 I deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the opinion I hold concerning public questions of present importance, to also briefly refer to the existence of certain conditions and tendencies among our people which seem to menace the integrity and usefulness of their Government.
 While every American citizen must contemplate with the utmost pride and enthusiasm the growth and expansion of our country, the sufficiency of our institutions to stand against the rudest shocks of violence, the wonderful thrift and enterprise of our people, and the demonstrated superiority of our free government, it behooves us to constantly watch for every symptom of insidious infirmity that threatens our national vigor.
 The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.
 It can not be doubted that,our stupendous achievements as a people and our country's robust strength have given rise to heedlessness of those laws governing our national health which we can no more evade than human life can escape the laws of God and nature.
 Manifestly nothing is more vital to our supremacy as a nation and to the beneficent purposes of our Government than a sound and stable currency. Its exposure to degradation should at once arouse to activity the most enlightened statesmanship, and the danger of depreciation in the purchasing power of the wages paid to toil should furnish the strongest incentive to prompt and conservative precaution.
 In dealing with our present embarrassing situation as related to this subject we will be wise if we temper our confidence and faith in our national strength and resources with the frank concession that even these will not permit us to defy with impunity the inexorable laws of finance and trade. At the same time, in our efforts to adjust differences of opinion we should be free from intolerance or passion, and our judgments should be unmoved by alluring phrases and unvexed by selfish interests.
 I am confident that such an approach to the subject will result in prudent and effective remedial legislation. In the meantime, so far as the executive branch of the Government can intervene, none of the powers with which it is invested will be withheld when their exercise is deemed necessary to maintain our national credit or avert financial disaster.
 Closely related to the exaggerated confidence in our country's greatness which tends to a disregard of the rules of national safety, another danger confronts us not less serious. I refer to the prevalence of a popular disposition to expect from the operation of the Government especial and direct individual advantages.
 The verdict of our voters which condemned the injustice of maintaining protection for protection's sake enjoins upon the people's servants the duty of exposing and destroying the brood of kindred evils which are the unwholesome progeny of paternalism. This is the bane of republican institutions and the constant peril of our government by the people. It degrades to the purposes of wily craft the plan of rule our fathers established and bequeathed to us as an object of our love and veneration. It perverts the patriotic sentiments of our countrymen and tempts them to pitiful calculation of the sordid gain to be derived from their Government's maintenance. It undermines the self-reliance of our people and substitutes in its place dependence upon governmental favoritism. It stifles the spirit of true Americanism and stupefies every ennobling trait of American citizenship.
 The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their Government its functions do not include the support of the people.
 The acceptance of this principle leads to a refusal of bounties and subsidies, which burden the labor and thrift of a portion of our citizens to aid ill-advised or languishing enterprises in which they have no concern. It leads also to a challenge of wild and reckless pension expenditure, which overleaps the bounds of grateful recognition of patriotic service and prostitutes to vicious uses the people's prompt and generous impulse to aid those disabled in their country's defense.
 Every thoughtful American must realize the importance of checking at its beginning any tendency in public or private station to regard frugality and economy as virtues which we may safely outgrow. The toleration of this idea results in the waste of the people's money by their chosen servants and encourages prodigality and extravagance in the home life of our countrymen.
 Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen, and the contempt of our people for economy and frugality in their personal affairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our national character.
 It is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that public expenditures should be limited by public necessity, and that this should be measured by the rules of strict economy; and it is equally clear that frugality among the people is the best guaranty of a contented and strong support of free institutions.
 One mode of the misappropriation of public funds is avoided when appointments to office, instead of being the rewards of partisan activity, are awarded to those whose efficiency promises a fair return of work for the compensation paid to them. To secure the fitness and competency of appointees to office and remove from political action the demoralizing madness for spoils, civil- service reform has found a place in our public policy and laws. The benefits already gained through this instrumentality and the further usefulness it promises entitle it to the hearty support and encouragement of all who desire to see our public service well performed or who hope for the elevation of political sentiment and the purification of political methods.
 The existence of immense aggregations of kindred enterprises and combinations of business interests formed for the purpose of limiting production and fixing prices is inconsistent with the fair field which ought to be open to every independent activity. Legitimate strife in business should not be superseded by an enforced concession to the demands of combinations that have the power to destroy, nor should the people to be served lose the benefit of cheapness which usually results from wholesome competition. These aggregations and combinations frequently constitute conspiracies against the interests of the people, and in all their phases they are unnatural and opposed to our American sense of fairness. To the extent that they can be reached and restrained by Federal power the General Government should relieve our citizens from their interference and exactions.
 Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government rests positively demands that the equality before the law which it guarantees to every citizen should be justly and in good faith conceded in all parts of the land. The enjoyment of this right follows the badge of citizenship wherever found, and, unimpaired by race or color, it appeals for recognition to American manliness and fairness.
 Our relations with the Indians located within our border impose upon us responsibilities we can not escape. Humanity and consistency require us to treat them with forbearance and in our dealings with them to honestly and considerately regard their rights and interests. Every effort should be made to lead them, through the paths of civilization and education, to self- supporting and independent citizenship. In the meantime, as the nation's wards, they should be promptly defended against the cupidity of designing men and shielded from every influence or temptation that retards their advancement.
 The people of the United States have decreed that on this day the control of their Government in its legislative and executive branches shall be given to a political party pledged in the most positive terms to the accomplishment of tariff reform. They have thus determined in favor of a more just and equitable system of Federal taxation. The agents they have chosen to carry out their purposes are bound by their promises not less than by the command of their masters to devote themselves unremittingly to this service.
 While there should be no surrender of principle, our task must be undertaken wisely and without heedless vindictiveness. Our mission is not punishment, but the rectification of wrong. If in lifting burdens from the daily life of our people we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages too long enjoyed, this is but a necessary incident of our return to right and justice. If we exact from unwilling minds acquiescence in the theory of an honest distribution of the fund of the governmental beneficence treasured up for all, we but insist upon a principle which underlies our free institutions. When we tear aside the delusions and misconceptions which have blinded our countrymen to their condition under vicious tariff laws, we but show them how far they have been led away from the paths of contentment and prosperity. When we proclaim that the necessity for revenue to support the Government furnishes the only justification for taxing the people, we announce a truth so plain that its denial would seem to indicate the extent to which judgment may be influenced by familiarity with perversions of the taxing power. And when we seek to reinstate the self-confidence and business enterprise of our citizens by discrediting an abject dependence upon governmental favor, we strive to stimulate those elements of American character which support the hope of American achievement.
 Anxiety for the redemption of the pledges which my party has made and solicitude for the complete justification of the trust the people have reposed in us constrain me to remind those with whom I am to cooperate that we can succeed in doing the work which has been especially set before us only by the most sincere, harmonious, and disinterested effort. Even if insuperable obstacles and opposition prevent the consummation of our task, we shall hardly be excused; and if failure can be traced to our fault or neglect we may be sure the people will hold us to a swift and exacting accountability.
 The oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States not only impressively defines the great responsibility I assume, but suggests obedience to constitutional commands as the rule by which my official conduct must be guided. I shall to the best of my ability and within my sphere of duty preserve the Constitution by loyally protecting every grant of Federal power it contains, by defending all its restraints when attacked by impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing its limitations and reservations in favor of the States and the people.
 Fully impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me and mindful of my weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot to bear unaided the responsibilities which await me. I am, however, saved from discouragement when I remember that I shall have the support and the counsel and cooperation of wise and patriotic men who will stand at my side in Cabinet places or will represent the people in their legislative halls.
 I find also much comfort in remembering that my countrymen are just and generous and in the assurance that they will not condemn those who by sincere devotion to their service deserve their forbearance and approval.
 Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently seek His powerful aid.

 

格罗弗·克利夫兰
第二次就职演讲
星期六,1893年3月4日

我们面临的危险
　　遵照全国人民的嘱托，我庄严宣誓，准备献身为人民效力。由于你们对我所表示的信任与戴使我得以就任，为此我深受感动。我相信，表达我感激之情的最好报答，只能是像现在这样，站在上帝与人民面前宣誓，要毫无保刘地、全心全意地为给予我如此来誉的人民谋福利。
　　我觉得在这一场合，除了阐述我对目前一些重大公共事务的观点以外，略为说明存在于民众之间的某些状况和倾向是适当的，这些现象看来已威胁到政府的完整与效能。

　　当每一位美国公民怀着极大的自豪感与热情注视着国家的成长与发展，政府各个机构足够抵御暴力的力量，我国人民所具有的美好的节俭与进取精神，我们的自由政府所具有的优越性时，我们有义务时刻注意那些有害干我们国家实力的隐患的每一个症状。再强壮的人，无论自信体质如何强健，精力如伺充沛，虽终日辛劳而乐在其中，仍不免有潜伏的、并为他听忽视的疾病，危及他的生命，使他骤然死亡。 毫无疑问，我们民族的巨大成就和国家的雄厚力量，已经使我们开始忽视那些影响我们民族健康的法则了。我们无法逃避那些法则，就像人类的生命无法抗拒上帝和自然的法则一样。

　　 十分明显，一个健全而稳定的货币制度，对于我们国家的强盛和政府的良好目标是最为宜要的。货币的贬值，应该唤起我们立即采取最有见识的政治行动；劳动工资购买力的降低，则应激起我们采取果断而又稳妥的措施。

　　 今天，在处理与上述问题有关的困难局面时，如果我们能抑制对于国家力量和资源的过分自信，坦率承认即使拥有这些优势，也不能无视那不可抗拒的金融与贸易法则而不受惩罚，才是明智之举，同时，在我们努力协调意见的分歧时，应当抛弃偏执与意气用事；我们的判断不应当被花言巧语蒙骗，也不应被个人私利扰乱。

　　 我深信按这一方法处理问题，将会导致谨慎而有效的补救性立法。同时，就政府行政部门所能干预的范围来说，只要是维护我国的信誉或避免金融危机所必需，就决不可拒绝行使法律所授予它的权力。我们面临曹的另一危险是忽视国家安全的法则，它与夸大国家强盛的盲目自信密切相关而且同样严重。我指的是公众的一种普遍心理，期望从政府的行动中得到特殊的、直接的利益。选民们遣责政府奉行为保护而保护的不公正行为，他们要求人民的公仆承担起揭露与铲除一系列互有关连的恶劣行径的责任，它们都是腐朽的家长式管理的产物，这是共和制度中的毒瘤，也是民治政府常有的危险，它把我们先辈所创立的法规设想，我们视作挚爱与荣誉的遗产，贬低成手段狡诈的图谋。它歪曲同胞们的爱国憎感，引诱他们斤斤计较于可向政府索取的蝇头小利：它削弱人民的自立精神，而使之依赖政府的不公正照顾，它抑制真正的美国精神，使公民的一切高尚品性归于湮灭。

 

 

 

 

 

First Inaugural Address of William McKinley
 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1897
 Fellow-Citizens:
 In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.
 The responsibilities of the high trust to which I have been called--always of grave importance--are augmented by the prevailing business conditions entailing idleness upon willing labor and loss to useful enterprises. The country is suffering from industrial disturbances from which speedy relief must be had. Our financial system needs some revision; our money is all good now, but its value must not further be threatened. It should all be put upon an enduring basis, not subject to easy attack, nor its stability to doubt or dispute. Our currency should continue under the supervision of the Government. The several forms of our paper money offer, in my judgment, a constant embarrassment to the Government and a safe balance in the Treasury. Therefore I believe it necessary to devise a system which, without diminishing the circulating medium or offering a premium for its contraction, will present a remedy for those arrangements which, temporary in their nature, might well in the years of our prosperity have been displaced by wiser provisions. With adequate revenue secured, but not until then, we can enter upon such changes in our fiscal laws as will, while insuring safety and volume to our money, no longer impose upon the Government the necessity of maintaining so large a gold reserve, with its attendant and inevitable temptations to speculation. Most of our financial laws are the outgrowth of experience and trial, and should not be amended without investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed changes. We must be both "sure we are right" and "make haste slowly." If, therefore, Congress, in its wisdom, shall deem it expedient to create a commission to take under early consideration the revision of our coinage, banking and currency laws, and give them that exhaustive, careful and dispassionate examination that their importance demands, I shall cordially concur in such action. If such power is vested in the President, it is my purpose to appoint a commission of prominent, well-informed citizens of different parties, who will command public confidence, both on account of their ability and special fitness for the work. Business experience and public training may thus be combined, and the patriotic zeal of the friends of the country be so directed that such a report will be made as to receive the support of all parties, and our finances cease to be the subject of mere partisan contention. The experiment is, at all events, worth a trial, and, in my opinion, it can but prove beneficial to the entire country.
 The question of international bimetallism will have early and earnest attention. It will be my constant endeavor to secure it by co-operation with the other great commercial powers of the world. Until that condition is realized when the parity between our gold and silver money springs from and is supported by the relative value of the two metals, the value of the silver already coined and of that which may hereafter be coined, must be kept constantly at par with gold by every resource at our command. The credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the inviolability of its obligations must be preserved. This was the commanding verdict of the people, and it will not be unheeded.
 Economy is demanded in every branch of the Government at all times, but especially in periods, like the present, of depression in business and distress among the people. The severest economy must be observed in all public expenditures, and extravagance stopped wherever it is found, and prevented wherever in the future it may be developed. If the revenues are to remain as now, the only relief that can come must be from decreased expenditures. But the present must not become the permanent condition of the Government. It has been our uniform practice to retire, not increase our outstanding obligations, and this policy must again be resumed and vigorously enforced. Our revenues should always be large enough to meet with ease and promptness not only our current needs and the principal and interest of the public debt, but to make proper and liberal provision for that most deserving body of public creditors, the soldiers and sailors and the widows and orphans who are the pensioners of the United States.
 The Government should not be permitted to run behind or increase its debt in times like the present. Suitably to provide against this is the mandate of duty--the certain and easy remedy for most of our financial difficulties. A deficiency is inevitable so long as the expenditures of the Government exceed its receipts. It can only be met by loans or an increased revenue. While a large annual surplus of revenue may invite waste and extravagance, inadequate revenue creates distrust and undermines public and private credit. Neither should be encouraged. Between more loans and more revenue there ought to be but one opinion. We should have more revenue, and that without delay, hindrance, or postponement. A surplus in the Treasury created by loans is not a permanent or safe reliance. It will suffice while it lasts, but it can not last long while the outlays of the Government are greater than its receipts, as has been the case during the past two years. Nor must it be forgotten that however much such loans may temporarily relieve the situation, the Government is still indebted for the amount of the surplus thus accrued, which it must ultimately pay, while its ability to pay is not strengthened, but weakened by a continued deficit. Loans are imperative in great emergencies to preserve the Government or its credit, but a failure to supply needed revenue in time of peace for the maintenance of either has no justification.
 The best way for the Government to maintain its credit is to pay as it goes--not by resorting to loans, but by keeping out of debt--through an adequate income secured by a system of taxation, external or internal, or both. It is the settled policy of the Government, pursued from the beginning and practiced by all parties and Administrations, to raise the bulk of our revenue from taxes upon foreign productions entering the United States for sale and consumption, and avoiding, for the most part, every form of direct taxation, except in time of war. The country is clearly opposed to any needless additions to the subject of internal taxation, and is committed by its latest popular utterance to the system of tariff taxation. There can be no misunderstanding, either, about the principle upon which this tariff taxation shall be levied. Nothing has ever been made plainer at a general election than that the controlling principle in the raising of revenue from duties on imports is zealous care for American interests and American labor. The people have declared that such legislation should be had as will give ample protection and encouragement to the industries and the development of our country. It is, therefore, earnestly hoped and expected that Congress will, at the earliest practicable moment, enact revenue legislation that shall be fair, reasonable, conservative, and just, and which, while supplying sufficient revenue for public purposes, will still be signally beneficial and helpful to every section and every enterprise of the people. To this policy we are all, of whatever party, firmly bound by the voice of the people--a power vastly more potential than the expression of any political platform. The paramount duty of Congress is to stop deficiencies by the restoration of that protective legislation which has always been the firmest prop of the Treasury. The passage of such a law or laws would strengthen the credit of the Government both at home and abroad, and go far toward stopping the drain upon the gold reserve held for the redemption of our currency, which has been heavy and well-nigh constant for several years.
 In the revision of the tariff especial attention should be given to the re-enactment and extension of the reciprocity principle of the law of 1890, under which so great a stimulus was given to our foreign trade in new and advantageous markets for our surplus agricultural and manufactured products. The brief trial given this legislation amply justifies a further experiment and additional discretionary power in the making of commercial treaties, the end in view always to be the opening up of new markets for the products of our country, by granting concessions to the products of other lands that we need and cannot produce ourselves, and which do not involve any loss of labor to our own people, but tend to increase their employment.
 The depression of the past four years has fallen with especial severity upon the great body of toilers of the country, and upon none more than the holders of small farms. Agriculture has languished and labor suffered. The revival of manufacturing will be a relief to both. No portion of our population is more devoted to the institution of free government nor more loyal in their support, while none bears more cheerfully or fully its proper share in the maintenance of the Government or is better entitled to its wise and liberal care and protection. Legislation helpful to producers is beneficial to all. The depressed condition of industry on the farm and in the mine and factory has lessened the ability of the people to meet the demands upon them, and they rightfully expect that not only a system of revenue shall be established that will secure the largest income with the least burden, but that every means will be taken to decrease, rather than increase, our public expenditures. Business conditions are not the most promising. It will take time to restore the prosperity of former years. If we cannot promptly attain it, we can resolutely turn our faces in that direction and aid its return by friendly legislation. However troublesome the situation may appear, Congress will not, I am sure, be found lacking in disposition or ability to relieve it as far as legislation can do so. The restoration of confidence and the revival of business, which men of all parties so much desire, depend more largely upon the prompt, energetic, and intelligent action of Congress than upon any other single agency affecting the situation.
 It is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency in the one hundred and eight years of our eventful national life has ever arisen that has not been met with wisdom and courage by the American people, with fidelity to their best interests and highest destiny, and to the honor of the American name. These years of glorious history have exalted mankind and advanced the cause of freedom throughout the world, and immeasurably strengthened the precious free institutions which we enjoy. The people love and will sustain these institutions. The great essential to our happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles upon which the Government was established and insist upon their faithful observance. Equality of rights must prevail, and our laws be always and everywhere respected and obeyed. We may have failed in the discharge of our full duty as citizens of the great Republic, but it is consoling and encouraging to realize that free speech, a free press, free thought, free schools, the free and unmolested right of religious liberty and worship, and free and fair elections are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than ever before. These guaranties must be sacredly preserved and wisely strengthened. The constituted authorities must be cheerfully and vigorously upheld. Lynchings must not be tolerated in a great and civilized country like the United States; courts, not mobs, must execute the penalties of the law. The preservation of public order, the right of discussion, the integrity of courts, and the orderly administration of justice must continue forever the rock of safety upon which our Government securely rests.
 One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all can rejoice in, is that the citizens of the United States are both law-respecting and law-abiding people, not easily swerved from the path of patriotism and honor. This is in entire accord with the genius of our institutions, and but emphasizes the advantages of inculcating even a greater love for law and order in the future. Immunity should be granted to none who violate the laws, whether individuals, corporations, or communities; and as the Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of both its own execution, and of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its provisions, I shall endeavor carefully to carry them into effect. The declaration of the party now restored to power has been in the past that of "opposition to all combinations of capital organized in trusts, or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens," and it has supported "such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the transportation of their products to the market." This purpose will be steadily pursued, both by the enforcement of the laws now in existence and the recommendation and support of such new statutes as may be necessary to carry it into effect.
 Our naturalization and immigration laws should be further improved to the constant promotion of a safer, a better, and a higher citizenship. A grave peril to the Republic would be a citizenship too ignorant to understand or too vicious to appreciate the great value and beneficence of our institutions and laws, and against all who come here to make war upon them our gates must be promptly and tightly closed. Nor must we be unmindful of the need of improvement among our own citizens, but with the zeal of our forefathers encourage the spread of knowledge and free education. Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve.
 Reforms in the civil service must go on; but the changes should be real and genuine, not perfunctory, or prompted by a zeal in behalf of any party simply because it happens to be in power. As a member of Congress I voted and spoke in favor of the present law, and I shall attempt its enforcement in the spirit in which it was enacted. The purpose in view was to secure the most efficient service of the best men who would accept appointment under the Government, retaining faithful and devoted public servants in office, but shielding none, under the authority of any rule or custom, who are inefficient, incompetent, or unworthy. The best interests of the country demand this, and the people heartily approve the law wherever and whenever it has been thus administrated.
 Congress should give prompt attention to the restoration of our American merchant marine, once the pride of the seas in all the great ocean highways of commerce. To my mind, few more important subjects so imperatively demand its intelligent consideration. The United States has progressed with marvelous rapidity in every field of enterprise and endeavor until we have become foremost in nearly all the great lines of inland trade, commerce, and industry. Yet, while this is true, our American merchant marine has been steadily declining until it is now lower, both in the percentage of tonnage and the number of vessels employed, than it was prior to the Civil War. Commendable progress has been made of late years in the upbuilding of the American Navy, but we must supplement these efforts by providing as a proper consort for it a merchant marine amply sufficient for our own carrying trade to foreign countries. The question is one that appeals both to our business necessities and the patriotic aspirations of a great people.
 It has been the policy of the United States since the foundation of the Government to cultivate relations of peace and amity with all the nations of the world, and this accords with my conception of our duty now. We have cherished the policy of non-interference with affairs of foreign governments wisely inaugurated by Washington, keeping ourselves free from entanglement, either as allies or foes, content to leave undisturbed with them the settlement of their own domestic concerns. It will be our aim to pursue a firm and dignified foreign policy, which shall be just, impartial, ever watchful of our national honor, and always insisting upon the enforcement of the lawful rights of American citizens everywhere. Our diplomacy should seek nothing more and accept nothing less than is due us. We want no wars of conquest; we must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed; peace is preferable to war in almost every contingency. Arbitration is the true method of settlement of international as well as local or individual differences. It was recognized as the best means of adjustment of differences between employers and employees by the Forty-ninth Congress, in 1886, and its application was extended to our diplomatic relations by the unanimous concurrence of the Senate and House of the Fifty-first Congress in 1890. The latter resolution was accepted as the basis of negotiations with us by the British House of Commons in 1893, and upon our invitation a treaty of arbitration between the United States and Great Britain was signed at Washington and transmitted to the Senate for its ratification in January last. Since this treaty is clearly the result of our own initiative; since it has been recognized as the leading feature of our foreign policy throughout our entire national history--the adjustment of difficulties by judicial methods rather than force of arms--and since it presents to the world the glorious example of reason and peace, not passion and war, controlling the relations between two of the greatest nations in the world, an example certain to be followed by others, I respectfully urge the early action of the Senate thereon, not merely as a matter of policy, but as a duty to mankind. The importance and moral influence of the ratification of such a treaty can hardly be overestimated in the cause of advancing civilization. It may well engage the best thought of the statesmen and people of every country, and I cannot but consider it fortunate that it was reserved to the United States to have the leadership in so grand a work.
 It has been the uniform practice of each President to avoid, as far as possible, the convening of Congress in extraordinary session. It is an example which, under ordinary circumstances and in the absence of a public necessity, is to be commended. But a failure to convene the representatives of the people in Congress in extra session when it involves neglect of a public duty places the responsibility of such neglect upon the Executive himself. The condition of the public Treasury, as has been indicated, demands the immediate consideration of Congress. It alone has the power to provide revenues for the Government. Not to convene it under such circumstances I can view in no other sense than the neglect of a plain duty. I do not sympathize with the sentiment that Congress in session is dangerous to our general business interests. Its members are the agents of the people, and their presence at the seat of Government in the execution of the sovereign will should not operate as an injury, but a benefit. There could be no better time to put the Government upon a sound financial and economic basis than now. The people have only recently voted that this should be done, and nothing is more binding upon the agents of their will than the obligation of immediate action. It has always seemed to me that the postponement of the meeting of Congress until more than a year after it has been chosen deprived Congress too often of the inspiration of the popular will and the country of the corresponding benefits. It is evident, therefore, that to postpone action in the presence of so great a necessity would be unwise on the part of the Executive because unjust to the interests of the people. Our action now will be freer from mere partisan consideration than if the question of tariff revision was postponed until the regular session of Congress. We are nearly two years from a Congressional election, and politics cannot so greatly distract us as if such contest was immediately pending. We can approach the problem calmly and patriotically, without fearing its effect upon an early election.
 Our fellow-citizens who may disagree with us upon the character of this legislation prefer to have the question settled now, even against their preconceived views, and perhaps settled so reasonably, as I trust and believe it will be, as to insure great permanence, than to have further uncertainty menacing the vast and varied business interests of the United States. Again, whatever action Congress may take will be given a fair opportunity for trial before the people are called to pass judgment upon it, and this I consider a great essential to the rightful and lasting settlement of the question. In view of these considerations, I shall deem it my duty as President to convene Congress in extraordinary session on Monday, the 15th day of March, 1897.
 In conclusion, I congratulate the country upon the fraternal spirit of the people and the manifestations of good will everywhere so apparent. The recent election not only most fortunately demonstrated the obliteration of sectional or geographical lines, but to some extent also the prejudices which for years have distracted our councils and marred our true greatness as a nation. The triumph of the people, whose verdict is carried into effect today, is not the triumph of one section, nor wholly of one party, but of all sections and all the people. The North and the South no longer divide on the old lines, but upon principles and policies; and in this fact surely every lover of the country can find cause for true felicitation.
 Let us rejoice in and cultivate this spirit; it is ennobling and will be both a gain and a blessing to our beloved country. It will be my constant aim to do nothing, and permit nothing to be done, that will arrest or disturb this growing sentiment of unity and cooperation, this revival of esteem and affiliation which now animates so many thousands in both the old antagonistic sections, but I shall cheerfully do everything possible to promote and increase it. Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by the Chief Justice which, in their respective spheres, so far as applicable, I would have all my countrymen observe: "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer; and I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.

 

威廉·麦金莱
第一次就职演讲
星期四,1897年3月4日

人民的意见
　　政府维持其信誉的最好方法是量人为出，不是求助于货款，而是置身于债务之外，并通过一种税制——对外税制或对内税制，或两者兼而有之——来获取充足的收益。我国从一开始起就推行的，并且为各个政党、各届政府所实施的既定政策是：向进入美国销售和消费的外国产品课税以筹集大部分岁入；除战争时期外．通常避免征集各种形式的直接税。国家明确反对增加不必要的国内税收，并且有责任施行关税制度，因为这是最近的一种普遍的呼声。我们对这一关税的课税原则也不能产生误解，在普选中，下面这个问题说得最为清楚，那就是，从进口税中筹集国家岁人，这一控制原则乃是对美国利益和美国劳工的热诚关怀。人民已经宣布，应该制定一种法律，以便充分保护和鼓励我国的工业发展。因此，热切希望并期待国会及早在切实可行的时候制定公正、合理、稳健、正确的岁入法规，这项法规在为公共目的提供充分岁入的同时，依然对各界人士和各项人民事业大有裨益、大有帮助。人民的意见——比任何一个政纲的表述都有力得多的力量——责成我们大家，无论属于哪一个党派，都要严格执行这项政策。国会的最高职责是恢复始终是国家财政最坚实支柱的保护性立法，以制止财政赤字。这样一条或诸条法律的通过，将增强政府在国内外的信行，并且大大有助于阻止为回收货币而储存的黄金外流，因为这些年来，这些黄金一直在大量地、源源不断地外流。
　　在修改关税时，我们应特别注意1890年法案的互惠原则的再制定与扩大，根据这一原则，能大大推动我国剩余农产品和工业品在新的、有利的市场上所进行的对外贸易。对这项立法进行的短暂考验充分证实，在缔结商业协议中作进一步实验并授予处理权是正确的，其目的始终在于为我国产品开辟新市场，对其他国家生产的、我们需要但又不能生产的产品作出让步，这不会给我国人民的劳动带来任何损失，而往往会增加就业机会。

　　过去4年的萧条特别严重地落到国内劳苦大众和小农场主的身上。农业已衰退，工人则遭受损失。制造业的复兴可以为两者解难。目前我国人口中没有哪一郡分人比制造商们更致力于、更忠实地支持自由政府的制度了，也没有哪一部分人更乐于，更全面地承担自己应该承担的义务来维护政府，或更值得政府明智而慷慨地给予关怀与保护了。有助于制造商的立法，必然有益于全体人民，农场，矿山和工厂的不景气，削弱了人民满足政府要求的能力，他们有理由期望，不仅应建立一个负担最少而收益最大的税收制度，而且应采取一切措施，削减而不是增加公共开支。商业情况并非最有希望。恢复到从前的繁荣需要一定的时间，即使我们不能迅速达到这一目的，我们也要坚决转到这个方向，并且要采取有利的立法措施。无论形势如何困难，我深信，国会不会缺乏采取立法措施以摆脱困境的意向与能力。各党派人士如此热切期望恢复信任与复兴企业，这主要取决于国会迅速、有力、明智地采取行动，而不是由其他任何一个机构来影响局势。

 

Second Inaugural Address of William McKinley
 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1901
 My Fellow-Citizens:
 When we assembled here on the 4th of March, 1897, there was great anxiety with regard to our currency and credit. None exists now. Then our Treasury receipts were inadequate to meet the current obligations of the Government. Now they are sufficient for all public needs, and we have a surplus instead of a deficit. Then I felt constrained to convene the Congress in extraordinary session to devise revenues to pay the ordinary expenses of the Government. Now I have the satisfaction to announce that the Congress just closed has reduced taxation in the sum of $41,000,000. Then there was deep solicitude because of the long depression in our manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and mercantile industries and the consequent distress of our laboring population. Now every avenue of production is crowded with activity, labor is well employed, and American products find good markets at home and abroad.
 Our diversified productions, however, are increasing in such unprecedented volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still further enlarging our foreign markets by broader commercial relations. For this purpose reciprocal trade arrangements with other nations should in liberal spirit be carefully cultivated and promoted.
 The national verdict of 1896 has for the most part been executed. Whatever remains unfulfilled is a continuing obligation resting with undiminished force upon the Executive and the Congress. But fortunate as our condition is, its permanence can only be assured by sound business methods and strict economy in national administration and legislation. We should not permit our great prosperity to lead us to reckless ventures in business or profligacy in public expenditures. While the Congress determines the objects and the sum of appropriations, the officials of the executive departments are responsible for honest and faithful disbursement, and it should be their constant care to avoid waste and extravagance.
 Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more indispensable than in public employment. These should be fundamental requisites to original appointment and the surest guaranties against removal.
 Four years ago we stood on the brink of war without the people knowing it and without any preparation or effort at preparation for the impending peril. I did all that in honor could be done to avert the war, but without avail. It became inevitable; and the Congress at its first regular session, without party division, provided money in anticipation of the crisis and in preparation to meet it. It came. The result was signally favorable to American arms and in the highest degree honorable to the Government. It imposed upon us obligations from which we cannot escape and from which it would be dishonorable to seek escape. We are now at peace with the world, and it is my fervent prayer that if differences arise between us and other powers they may be settled by peaceful arbitration and that hereafter we may be spared the horrors of war.
 Intrusted by the people for a second time with the office of President, I enter upon its administration appreciating the great responsibilities which attach to this renewed honor and commission, promising unreserved devotion on my part to their faithful discharge and reverently invoking for my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God. I should shrink from the duties this day assumed if I did not feel that in their performance I should have the co-operation of the wise and patriotic men of all parties. It encourages me for the great task which I now undertake to believe that those who voluntarily committed to me the trust imposed upon the Chief Executive of the Republic will give to me generous support in my duties to "preserve, protect, and defend, the Constitution of the United States" and to "care that the laws be faithfully executed." The national purpose is indicated through a national election. It is the constitutional method of ascertaining the public will. When once it is registered it is a law to us all, and faithful observance should follow its decrees.
 Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and, fortunately, we have them in every part of our beloved country. We are reunited. Sectionalism has disappeared. Division on public questions can no longer be traced by the war maps of 1861. These old differences less and less disturb the judgment. Existing problems demand the thought and quicken the conscience of the country, and the responsibility for their presence, as well as for their righteous settlement, rests upon us all--no more upon me than upon you. There are some national questions in the solution of which patriotism should exclude partisanship. Magnifying their difficulties will not take them off our hands nor facilitate their adjustment. Distrust of the capacity, integrity, and high purposes of the American people will not be an inspiring theme for future political contests. Dark pictures and gloomy forebodings are worse than useless. These only becloud, they do not help to point the way of safety and honor. "Hope maketh not ashamed." The prophets of evil were not the builders of the Republic, nor in its crises since have they saved or served it. The faith of the fathers was a mighty force in its creation, and the faith of their descendants has wrought its progress and furnished its defenders. They are obstructionists who despair, and who would destroy confidence in the ability of our people to solve wisely and for civilization the mighty problems resting upon them. The American people, intrenched in freedom at home, take their love for it with them wherever they go, and they reject as mistaken and unworthy the doctrine that we lose our own liberties by securing the enduring foundations of liberty to others. Our institutions will not deteriorate by extension, and our sense of justice will not abate under tropic suns in distant seas. As heretofore, so hereafter will the nation demonstrate its fitness to administer any new estate which events devolve upon it, and in the fear of God will "take occasion by the hand and make the bounds of freedom wider yet." If there are those among us who would make our way more difficult, we must not be disheartened, but the more earnestly dedicate ourselves to the task upon which we have rightly entered. The path of progress is seldom smooth. New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. They are inconvenient. They cost us something. But are we not made better for the effort and sacrifice, and are not those we serve lifted up and blessed?
 We will be consoled, to, with the fact that opposition has confronted every onward movement of the Republic from its opening hour until now, but without success. The Republic has marched on and on, and its step has exalted freedom and humanity. We are undergoing the same ordeal as did our predecessors nearly a century ago. We are following the course they blazed. They triumphed. Will their successors falter and plead organic impotency in the nation? Surely after 125 years of achievement for mankind we will not now surrender our equality with other powers on matters fundamental and essential to nationality. With no such purpose was the nation created. In no such spirit has it developed its full and independent sovereignty. We adhere to the principle of equality among ourselves, and by no act of ours will we assign to ourselves a subordinate rank in the family of nations.
 My fellow-citizens, the public events of the past four years have gone into history. They are too near to justify recital. Some of them were unforeseen; many of them momentous and far-reaching in their consequences to ourselves and our relations with the rest of the world. The part which the United States bore so honorably in the thrilling scenes in China, while new to American life, has been in harmony with its true spirit and best traditions, and in dealing with the results its policy will be that of moderation and fairness.
 We face at this moment a most important question that of the future relations of the United States and Cuba. With our near neighbors we must remain close friends. The declaration of the purposes of this Government in the resolution of April 20, 1898, must be made good. Ever since the evacuation of the island by the army of Spain, the Executive, with all practicable speed, has been assisting its people in the successive steps necessary to the establishment of a free and independent government prepared to assume and perform the obligations of international law which now rest upon the United States under the treaty of Paris. The convention elected by the people to frame a constitution is approaching the completion of its labors. The transfer of American control to the new government is of such great importance, involving an obligation resulting from our intervention and the treaty of peace, that I am glad to be advised by the recent act of Congress of the policy which the legislative branch of the Government deems essential to the best interests of Cuba and the United States. The principles which led to our intervention require that the fundamental law upon which the new government rests should be adapted to secure a government capable of performing the duties and discharging the functions of a separate nation, of observing its international obligations of protecting life and property, insuring order, safety, and liberty, and conforming to the established and historical policy of the United States in its relation to Cuba.
 The peace which we are pledged to leave to the Cuban people must carry with it the guaranties of permanence. We became sponsors for the pacification of the island, and we remain accountable to the Cubans, no less than to our own country and people, for the reconstruction of Cuba as a free commonwealth on abiding foundations of right, justice, liberty, and assured order. Our enfranchisement of the people will not be completed until free Cuba shall "be a reality, not a name; a perfect entity, not a hasty experiment bearing within itself the elements of failure."
 While the treaty of peace with Spain was ratified on the 6th of February, 1899, and ratifications were exchanged nearly two years ago, the Congress has indicated no form of government for the Philippine Islands. It has, however, provided an army to enable the Executive to suppress insurrection, restore peace, give security to the inhabitants, and establish the authority of the United States throughout the archipelago. It has authorized the organization of native troops as auxiliary to the regular force. It has been advised from time to time of the acts of the military and naval officers in the islands, of my action in appointing civil commissions, of the instructions with which they were charged, of their duties and powers, of their recommendations, and of their several acts under executive commission, together with the very complete general information they have submitted. These reports fully set forth the conditions, past and present, in the islands, and the instructions clearly show the principles which will guide the Executive until the Congress shall, as it is required to do by the treaty, determine "the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants." The Congress having added the sanction of its authority to the powers already possessed and exercised by the Executive under the Constitution, thereby leaving with the Executive the responsibility for the government of the Philippines, I shall continue the efforts already begun until order shall be restored throughout the islands, and as fast as conditions permit will establish local governments, in the formation of which the full co-operation of the people has been already invited, and when established will encourage the people to administer them. The settled purpose, long ago proclaimed, to afford the inhabitants of the islands self- government as fast as they were ready for it will be pursued with earnestness and fidelity. Already something has been accomplished in this direction. The Government's representatives, civil and military, are doing faithful and noble work in their mission of emancipation and merit the approval and support of their countrymen. The most liberal terms of amnesty have already been communicated to the insurgents, and the way is still open for those who have raised their arms against the Government for honorable submission to its authority. Our countrymen should not be deceived. We are not waging war against the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. A portion of them are making war against the United States. By far the greater part of the inhabitants recognize American sovereignty and welcome it as a guaranty of order and of security for life, property, liberty, freedom of conscience, and the pursuit of happiness. To them full protection will be given. They shall not be abandoned. We will not leave the destiny of the loyal millions the islands to the disloyal thousands who are in rebellion against the United States. Order under civil institutions will come as soon as those who now break the peace shall keep it. Force will not be needed or used when those who make war against us shall make it no more. May it end without further bloodshed, and there be ushered in the reign of peace to be made permanent by a government of liberty under law!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1905
 My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race; and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed; and the success which we have had in the past, the success which we confidently believe the future will bring, should cause in us no feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us; a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours; and a fixed determination to show that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best, alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul.
 Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities. Toward all other nations, large and small, our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must show not only in our words, but in our deeds, that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong. While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully and justly should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent aggression.
 Our relations with the other powers of the world are important; but still more important are our relations among ourselves. Such growth in wealth, in population, and in power as this nation has seen during the century and a quarter of its national life is inevitably accompanied by a like growth in the problems which are ever before every nation that rises to greatness. Power invariably means both responsibility and danger. Our forefathers faced certain perils which we have outgrown. We now face other perils, the very existence of which it was impossible that they should foresee. Modern life is both complex and intense, and the tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary industrial development of the last half century are felt in every fiber of our social and political being. Never before have men tried so vast and formidable an experiment as that of administering the affairs of a continent under the forms of a Democratic republic. The conditions which have told for our marvelous material well-being, which have developed to a very high degree our energy, self-reliance, and individual initiative, have also brought the care and anxiety inseparable from the accumulation of great wealth in industrial centers. Upon the success of our experiment much depends, not only as regards our own welfare, but as regards the welfare of mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government throughout the world will rock to its foundations, and therefore our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.
 Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though the tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before our fathers who founded and preserved this Republic, the spirit in which these tasks must be undertaken and these problems faced, if our duty is to be well done, remains essentially unchanged. We know that self-government is difficult. We know that no people needs such high traits of character as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright through the freely expressed will of the freemen who compose it. But we have faith that we shall not prove false to the memories of the men of the mighty past. They did their work, they left us the splendid heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an assured confidence that we shall be able to leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our children and our children's children. To do so we must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood, and endurance, and above all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded this Republic in the days of Washington, which made great the men who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln.

 

西奥多·罗斯福
就职演讲
星期六,1905年3月4日

我们负有重大的责任
同胞们：
　　世界上没有哪一个民族比我们更有理由感到欣慰了，这样说是谦恭的，绝无夸耀我们的力量之意，而是怀着对赐福于我们、使我们能够有条件获得如此巨大的幸福康乐的上帝的感激之情，作为一个民族，我们获得上帝的许可，在新大陆上奠下国民生活的基础。我们是时代的继承者，然而我们无需像在古老的国家里那样，承受以往文明的遗留影响所强加的惩罚。我们不必为了自己的生存而去同任何异族抗衡；然而，我们的生活要求活力和勤奋，没有这些，雄健刚毅的美德就会消失殆尽。在这种条件下，倘若我们失败了，那便是我们自己的过错；我们在过去获得的成功，我们深信未来将带给我们的成功，不应使我们目空一切，而是要深刻地长久地认识到生活为我们提供的一切，充分认识我们肩负的责任，并矢志表明；在自由政府的领导下，一个强大的民族能够繁荣昌盛，物质生活如此，精神生活必也如此。

　　我们被赋予的很多，期望于我们的自然也很多。我们对他人负有义务，对自己也负有义务；两者都不能逃避。我们已成为一个伟大的国家，这一事实迫使我们在同世界上其他国家交往时，行为举止必须与负有这种责任的民族相称。对于其他一切国家，无论大国还是小国，我们的态度都必须热诚真挚友好。我们必须不仅用语言，而且以行动表明，我们公正、宽宏地承认他们的一切权利，用这种精神对待他们，我们热切希望能从而获得他们的善意。但是，一个国象的公正与宽宏，如同一个人的公正与宽宏一样，不是由弱者而是由强者表现出来时，才为人推崇。在我们极其审慎地避免损害别人时，我们必须同样地坚持自己不受伤害。我们希望和平，但是我们希望的是公正的和平，正义的和平。我们这样希望是因为我们认为这是正确的，而不是因为我们怯懦胆小。行事果敢正义的弱国决无理由畏惧我们，强国则永远不能挑选我们作为蛮横入侵的对象。

　　我们同世界上其他强国的关系是重要的，但更为重要的是我们内部之间的关系。随着国家在过去125年中所经历的财富、人口和实力的增长，就像每一个逐步壮大起来的国家所遇到的情况一样，各种问题也都不可遗免地相应增长了。实力永远意味着责任和危险。先辈们曾面临某些我们这个时代不复存在的危险。我们现在面临的则是其他危险，这些危险的出现是先人所无法预见的。现代生活既复杂又紧张，我们的社会和政治肌体的每一根纤维，都能感觉到过去半个世纪里工业的异常发展所引起的巨大变化。人们以前从来没有尝试过诸如在民主共和国的形式下管理一个大陆的事务这般庞大而艰巨的实验。创造了奇迹般的物质幸福，并将我们的活力、自立能力和个人能动性发展到很高程度的那些条件，也带来了与工业中心巨大的财富积累不可分开的烦恼与焦虑，许多事情取决于我们的实验成功与否，这不仅关系到我们自己的幸福，而且关系到人类的幸福。倘若我们失败了，就会动摇全世界自由的自治政府的事业的基础，因此，对于我们自己，对于当今世界，对于尚未出生的后代，我们负有重大责任。我们没有什么理由畏惧未来，但是有充分理由认真地面对未来，既不对自己隐瞒摆在面前的问题的严重性，也不怕以百折不挠的意志处理这些问题，正确予以解决。然而，要知道，虽然这些是新问题，虽然摆在我们面前的任务不同于摆在创建并维护这个共和国的先辈面前的任务，但是，如果要很好地履行我们的责任，那么，承担这些任务和正视这些问题所必须发扬的精神依然根本没有改变。我们知道，自治是困难的。我们知道，我们力求以组成本民族的自由人所自由表达的意愿来正确地管理自己的事务，没有哪一个民族需要像我们所需要的这样高尚的特性。但我们相信，我们会背离先人们在辉煌的过去所创立的事业。他们干了他们的工作，他们为我们留下了我们如今所享受的辉煌的遗产。我们也坚信，我们一定不会浪费这份遗产，而且要进一步充实增加，留给我们的孩子，留给孩子们的后代。为此，我们不仅必须在重大危机中，而且要在日常事务中，都表现出注重实际的智慧、勇敢、刚毅和忍耐，尤其是献身于崇高理想的力量等优秀品质，而这些品质曾使亚伯拉罕·林肯时代维护这个共和国的人们名垂青史。

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of William Howard Taft
 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909
 My Fellow-Citizens:
 Anyone who has taken the oath I have just taken must feel a heavy weight of responsibility. If not, he has no conception of the powers and duties of the office upon which he is about to enter, or he is lacking in a proper sense of the obligation which the oath imposes.
 The office of an inaugural address is to give a summary outline of the main policies of the new administration, so far as they can be anticipated. I have had the honor to be one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor, and, as such, to hold up his hands in the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform upon which I was elected to office, if I did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my administration. They were directed to the suppression of the lawlessness and abuses of power of the great combinations of capital invested in railroads and in industrial enterprises carrying on interstate commerce. The steps which my predecessor took and the legislation passed on his recommendation have accomplished much, have caused a general halt in the vicious policies which created popular alarm, and have brought about in the business affected a much higher regard for existing law.
 To render the reforms lasting, however, and to secure at the same time freedom from alarm on the part of those pursuing proper and progressive business methods, further legislative and executive action are needed. Relief of the railroads from certain restrictions of the antitrust law have been urged by my predecessor and will be urged by me. On the other hand, the administration is pledged to legislation looking to a proper federal supervision and restriction to prevent excessive issues of bonds and stock by companies owning and operating interstate commerce railroads.
 Then, too, a reorganization of the Department of Justice, of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, looking to effective cooperation of these agencies, is needed to secure a more rapid and certain enforcement of the laws affecting interstate railroads and industrial combinations.
 I hope to be able to submit at the first regular session of the incoming Congress, in December next, definite suggestions in respect to the needed amendments to the antitrust and the interstate commerce law and the changes required in the executive departments concerned in their enforcement.
 It is believed that with the changes to be recommended American business can be assured of that measure of stability and certainty in respect to those things that may be done and those that are prohibited which is essential to the life and growth of all business. Such a plan must include the right of the people to avail themselves of those methods of combining capital and effort deemed necessary to reach the highest degree of economic efficiency, at the same time differentiating between combinations based upon legitimate economic reasons and those formed with the intent of creating monopolies and artificially controlling prices.
 The work of formulating into practical shape such changes is creative word of the highest order, and requires all the deliberation possible in the interval. I believe that the amendments to be proposed are just as necessary in the protection of legitimate business as in the clinching of the reforms which properly bear the name of my predecessor.
 A matter of most pressing importance is the revision of the tariff. In accordance with the promises of the platform upon which I was elected, I shall call Congress into extra session to meet on the 15th day of March, in order that consideration may be at once given to a bill revising the Dingley Act. This should secure an adequate revenue and adjust the duties in such a manner as to afford to labor and to all industries in this country, whether of the farm, mine or factory, protection by tariff equal to the difference between the cost of production abroad and the cost of production here, and have a provision which shall put into force, upon executive determination of certain facts, a higher or maximum tariff against those countries whose trade policy toward us equitably requires such discrimination. It is thought that there has been such a change in conditions since the enactment of the Dingley Act, drafted on a similarly protective principle, that the measure of the tariff above stated will permit the reduction of rates in certain schedules and will require the advancement of few, if any.
 The proposal to revise the tariff made in such an authoritative way as to lead the business community to count upon it necessarily halts all those branches of business directly affected; and as these are most important, it disturbs the whole business of the country. It is imperatively necessary, therefore, that a tariff bill be drawn in good faith in accordance with promises made before the election by the party in power, and as promptly passed as due consideration will permit. It is not that the tariff is more important in the long run than the perfecting of the reforms in respect to antitrust legislation and interstate commerce regulation, but the need for action when the revision of the tariff has been determined upon is more immediate to avoid embarrassment of business. To secure the needed speed in the passage of the tariff bill, it would seem wise to attempt no other legislation at the extra session. I venture this as a suggestion only, for the course to be taken by Congress, upon the call of the Executive, is wholly within its discretion.
 In the mailing of a tariff bill the prime motive is taxation and the securing thereby of a revenue. Due largely to the business depression which followed the financial panic of 1907, the revenue from customs and other sources has decreased to such an extent that the expenditures for the current fiscal year will exceed the receipts by $100,000,000. It is imperative that such a deficit shall not continue, and the framers of the tariff bill must, of course, have in mind the total revenues likely to be produced by it and so arrange the duties as to secure an adequate income. Should it be impossible to do so by import duties, new kinds of taxation must be adopted, and among these I recommend a graduated inheritance tax as correct in principle and as certain and easy of collection.
 The obligation on the part of those responsible for the expenditures made to carry on the Government, to be as economical as possible, and to make the burden of taxation as light as possible, is plain, and should be affirmed in every declaration of government policy. This is especially true when we are face to face with a heavy deficit. But when the desire to win the popular approval leads to the cutting off of expenditures really needed to make the Government effective and to enable it to accomplish its proper objects, the result is as much to be condemned as the waste of government funds in unnecessary expenditure. The scope of a modern government in what it can and ought to accomplish for its people has been widened far beyond the principles laid down by the old "laissez faire" school of political writers, and this widening has met popular approval.
 In the Department of Agriculture the use of scientific experiments on a large scale and the spread of information derived from them for the improvement of general agriculture must go on.
 The importance of supervising business of great railways and industrial combinations and the necessary investigation and prosecution of unlawful business methods are another necessary tax upon Government which did not exist half a century ago.
 The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, so far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the most important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed. While some of them, like the reclamation of and lands, are made to pay for themselves, others are of such an indirect benefit that this cannot be expected of them. A permanent improvement, like the Panama Canal, should be treated as a distinct enterprise, and should be paid for by the proceeds of bonds, the issue of which will distribute its cost between the present and future generations in accordance with the benefits derived. It may well be submitted to the serious consideration of Congress whether the deepening and control of the channel of a great river system, like that of the Ohio or of the Mississippi, when definite and practical plans for the enterprise have been approved and determined upon, should not be provided for in the same way.
 Then, too, there are expenditures of Government absolutely necessary if our country is to maintain its proper place among the nations of the world, and is to exercise its proper influence in defense of its own trade interests in the maintenance of traditional American policy against the colonization of European monarchies in this hemisphere, and in the promotion of peace and international morality. I refer to the cost of maintaining a proper army, a proper navy, and suitable fortifications upon the mainland of the United States and in its dependencies.
 We should have an army so organized and so officered as to be capable in time of emergency, in cooperation with the national militia and under the provisions of a proper national volunteer law, rapidly to expand into a force sufficient to resist all probable invasion from abroad and to furnish a respectable expeditionary force if necessary in the maintenance of our traditional American policy which bears the name of President Monroe.
 Our fortifications are yet in a state of only partial completeness, and the number of men to man them is insufficient. In a few years however, the usual annual appropriations for our coast defenses, both on the mainland and in the dependencies, will make them sufficient to resist all direct attack, and by that time we may hope that the men to man them will be provided as a necessary adjunct. The distance of our shores from Europe and Asia of course reduces the necessity for maintaining under arms a great army, but it does not take away the requirement of mere prudence-- that we should have an army sufficiently large and so constituted as to form a nucleus out of which a suitable force can quickly grow.
 What has been said of the army may be affirmed in even a more emphatic way of the navy. A modern navy can not be improvised. It must be built and in existence when the emergency arises which calls for its use and operation. My distinguished predecessor has in many speeches and messages set out with great force and striking language the necessity for maintaining a strong navy commensurate with the coast line, the governmental resources, and the foreign trade of our Nation; and I wish to reiterate all the reasons which he has presented in favor of the policy of maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our peace with other nations, and the best means of securing respect for the assertion of our rights, the defense of our interests, and the exercise of our influence in international matters.
 Our international policy is always to promote peace. We shall enter into any war with a full consciousness of the awful consequences that it always entails, whether successful or not, and we, of course, shall make every effort consistent with national honor and the highest national interest to avoid a resort to arms. We favor every instrumentality, like that of the Hague Tribunal and arbitration treaties made with a view to its use in all international controversies, in order to maintain peace and to avoid war. But we should be blind to existing conditions and should allow ourselves to become foolish idealists if we did not realize that, with all the nations of the world armed and prepared for war, we must be ourselves in a similar condition, in order to prevent other nations from taking advantage of us and of our inability to defend our interests and assert our rights with a strong hand.
 In the international controversies that are likely to arise in the Orient growing out of the question of the open door and other issues the United States can maintain her interests intact and can secure respect for her just demands. She will not be able to do so, however, if it is understood that she never intends to back up her assertion of right and her defense of her interest by anything but mere verbal protest and diplomatic note. For these reasons the expenses of the army and navy and of coast defenses should always be considered as something which the Government must pay for, and they should not be cut off through mere consideration of economy. Our Government is able to afford a suitable army and a suitable navy. It may maintain them without the slightest danger to the Republic or the cause of free institutions, and fear of additional taxation ought not to change a proper policy in this regard.
 The policy of the United States in the Spanish war and since has given it a position of influence among the nations that it never had before, and should be constantly exerted to securing to its bona fide citizens, whether native or naturalized, respect for them as such in foreign countries. We should make every effort to prevent humiliating and degrading prohibition against any of our citizens wishing temporarily to sojourn in foreign countries because of race or religion.
 The admission of Asiatic immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our population has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulation secured by diplomatic negotiation. I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments. Meantime we must take every precaution to prevent, or failing that, to punish outbursts of race feeling among our people against foreigners of whatever nationality who have by our grant a treaty right to pursue lawful business here and to be protected against lawless assault or injury.
 This leads me to point out a serious defect in the present federal jurisdiction, which ought to be remedied at once. Having assured to other countries by treaty the protection of our laws for such of their subjects or citizens as we permit to come within our jurisdiction, we now leave to a state or a city, not under the control of the Federal Government, the duty of performing our international obligations in this respect. By proper legislation we may, and ought to, place in the hands of the Federal Executive the means of enforcing the treaty rights of such aliens in the courts of the Federal Government. It puts our Government in a pusillanimous position to make definite engagements to protect aliens and then to excuse the failure to perform those engagements by an explanation that the duty to keep them is in States or cities, not within our control. If we would promise we must put ourselves in a position to perform our promise. We cannot permit the possible failure of justice, due to local prejudice in any State or municipal government, to expose us to the risk of a war which might be avoided if federal jurisdiction was asserted by suitable legislation by Congress and carried out by proper proceedings instituted by the Executive in the courts of the National Government.
 One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change of our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic. The monetary commission, lately appointed, is giving full consideration to existing conditions and to all proposed remedies, and will doubtless suggest one that will meet the requirements of business and of public interest.
 We may hope that the report will embody neither the narrow dew of those who believe that the sole purpose of the new system should be to secure a large return on banking capital or of those who would have greater expansion of currency with little regard to provisions for its immediate redemption or ultimate security. There is no subject of economic discussion so intricate and so likely to evoke differing views and dogmatic statements as this one. The commission, in studying the general influence of currency on business and of business on currency, have wisely extended their investigations in European banking and monetary methods. The information that they have derived from such experts as they have found abroad will undoubtedly be found helpful in the solution of the difficult problem they have in hand.
 The incoming Congress should promptly fulfill the promise of the Republican platform and pass a proper postal savings bank bill. It will not be unwise or excessive paternalism. The promise to repay by the Government will furnish an inducement to savings deposits which private enterprise can not supply and at such a low rate of interest as not to withdraw custom from existing banks. It will substantially increase the funds available for investment as capital in useful enterprises. It will furnish absolute security which makes the proposed scheme of government guaranty of deposits so alluring, without its pernicious results.
 I sincerely hope that the incoming Congress will be alive, as it should be, to the importance of our foreign trade and of encouraging it in every way feasible. The possibility of increasing this trade in the Orient, in the Philippines, and in South America are known to everyone who has given the matter attention. The direct effect of free trade between this country and the Philippines will be marked upon our sales of cottons, agricultural machinery, and other manufactures. The necessity of the establishment of direct lines of steamers between North and South America has been brought to the attention of Congress by my predecessor and by Mr. Root before and after his noteworthy visit to that continent, and I sincerely hope that Congress may be induced to see the wisdom of a tentative effort to establish such lines by the use of mail subsidies.
 The importance of the part which the Departments of Agriculture and of Commerce and Labor may play in ridding the markets of Europe of prohibitions and discriminations against the importation of our products is fully understood, and it is hoped that the use of the maximum and minimum feature of our tariff law to be soon passed will be effective to remove many of those restrictions.
 The Panama Canal will have a most important bearing upon the trade between the eastern and far western sections of our country, and will greatly increase the facilities for transportation between the eastern and the western seaboard, and may possibly revolutionize the transcontinental rates with respect to bulky merchandise. It will also have a most beneficial effect to increase the trade between the eastern seaboard of the United States and the western coast of South America, and, indeed, with some of the important ports on the east coast of South America reached by rail from the west coast.
 The work on the canal is making most satisfactory progress. The type of the canal as a lock canal was fixed by Congress after a full consideration of the conflicting reports of the majority and minority of the consulting board, and after the recommendation of the War Department and the Executive upon those reports. Recent suggestion that something had occurred on the Isthmus to make the lock type of the canal less feasible than it was supposed to be when the reports were made and the policy determined on led to a visit to the Isthmus of a board of competent engineers to examine the Gatun dam and locks, which are the key of the lock type. The report of that board shows nothing has occurred in the nature of newly revealed evidence which should change the views once formed in the original discussion. The construction will go on under a most effective organization controlled by Colonel Goethals and his fellow army engineers associated with him, and will certainly be completed early in the next administration, if not before.
 Some type of canal must be constructed. The lock type has been selected. We are all in favor of having it built as promptly as possible. We must not now, therefore, keep up a fire in the rear of the agents whom we have authorized to do our work on the Isthmus. We must hold up their hands, and speaking for the incoming administration I wish to say that I propose to devote all the energy possible and under my control to pushing of this work on the plans which have been adopted, and to stand behind the men who are doing faithful, hard work to bring about the early completion of this, the greatest constructive enterprise of modern times.
 The governments of our dependencies in Porto Rico and the Philippines are progressing as favorably as could be desired. The prosperity of Porto Rico continues unabated. The business conditions in the Philippines are not all that we could wish them to be, but with the passage of the new tariff bill permitting free trade between the United States and the archipelago, with such limitations on sugar and tobacco as shall prevent injury to domestic interests in those products, we can count on an improvement in business conditions in the Philippines and the development of a mutually profitable trade between this country and the islands. Meantime our Government in each dependency is upholding the traditions of civil liberty and increasing popular control which might be expected under American auspices. The work which we are doing there redounds to our credit as a nation.
 I look forward with hope to increasing the already good feeling between the South and the other sections of the country. My chief purpose is not to effect a change in the electoral vote of the Southern States. That is a secondary consideration. What I look forward to is an increase in the tolerance of political views of all kinds and their advocacy throughout the South, and the existence of a respectable political opposition in every State; even more than this, to an increased feeling on the part of all the people in the South that this Government is their Government, and that its officers in their states are their officers.
 The consideration of this question can not, however, be complete and full without reference to the negro race, its progress and its present condition. The thirteenth amendment secured them freedom; the fourteenth amendment due process of law, protection of property, and the pursuit of happiness; and the fifteenth amendment attempted to secure the negro against any deprivation of the privilege to vote because he was a negro. The thirteenth and fourteenth amendments have been generally enforced and have secured the objects for which they are intended. While the fifteenth amendment has not been generally observed in the past, it ought to be observed, and the tendency of Southern legislation today is toward the enactment of electoral qualifications which shall square with that amendment. Of course, the mere adoption of a constitutional law is only one step in the right direction. It must be fairly and justly enforced as well. In time both will come. Hence it is clear to all that the domination of an ignorant, irresponsible element can be prevented by constitutional laws which shall exclude from voting both negroes and whites not having education or other qualifications thought to be necessary for a proper electorate. The danger of the control of an ignorant electorate has therefore passed. With this change, the interest which many of the Southern white citizens take in the welfare of the negroes has increased. The colored men must base their hope on the results of their own industry, self-restraint, thrift, and business success, as well as upon the aid and comfort and sympathy which they may receive from their white neighbors of the South.
 There was a time when Northerners who sympathized with the negro in his necessary struggle for better conditions sought to give him the suffrage as a protection to enforce its exercise against the prevailing sentiment of the South. The movement proved to be a failure. What remains is the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution and the right to have statutes of States specifying qualifications for electors subjected to the test of compliance with that amendment. This is a great protection to the negro. It never will be repealed, and it never ought to be repealed. If it had not passed, it might be difficult now to adopt it; but with it in our fundamental law, the policy of Southern legislation must and will tend to obey it, and so long as the statutes of the States meet the test of this amendment and are not otherwise in conflict with the Constitution and laws of the United States, it is not the disposition or within the province of the Federal Government to interfere with the regulation by Southern States of their domestic affairs. There is in the South a stronger feeling than ever among the intelligent well-to-do, and influential element in favor of the industrial education of the negro and the encouragement of the race to make themselves useful members of the community. The progress which the negro has made in the last fifty years, from slavery, when its statistics are reviewed, is marvelous, and it furnishes every reason to hope that in the next twenty-five years a still greater improvement in his condition as a productive member of society, on the farm, and in the shop, and in other occupations may come.
 The negroes are now Americans. Their ancestors came here years ago against their will, and this is their only country and their only flag. They have shown themselves anxious to live for it and to die for it. Encountering the race feeling against them, subjected at times to cruel injustice growing out of it, they may well have our profound sympathy and aid in the struggle they are making. We are charged with the sacred duty of making their path as smooth and easy as we can. Any recognition of their distinguished men, any appointment to office from among their number, is properly taken as an encouragement and an appreciation of their progress, and this just policy should be pursued when suitable occasion offers.
 But it may well admit of doubt whether, in the case of any race, an appointment of one of their number to a local office in a community in which the race feeling is so widespread and acute as to interfere with the ease and facility with which the local government business can be done by the appointee is of sufficient benefit by way of encouragement to the race to outweigh the recurrence and increase of race feeling which such an appointment is likely to engender. Therefore the Executive, in recognizing the negro race by appointments, must exercise a careful discretion not thereby to do it more harm than good. On the other hand, we must be careful not to encourage the mere pretense of race feeling manufactured in the interest of individual political ambition.
 Personally, I have not the slightest race prejudice or feeling, and recognition of its existence only awakens in my heart a deeper sympathy for those who have to bear it or suffer from it, and I question the wisdom of a policy which is likely to increase it. Meantime, if nothing is done to prevent it, a better feeling between the negroes and the whites in the South will continue to grow, and more and more of the white people will come to realize that the future of the South is to be much benefited by the industrial and intellectual progress of the negro. The exercise of political franchises by those of this race who are intelligent and well to do will be acquiesced in, and the right to vote will be withheld only from the ignorant and irresponsible of both races.
 There is one other matter to which I shall refer. It was made the subject of great controversy during the election and calls for at least a passing reference now. My distinguished predecessor has given much attention to the cause of labor, with whose struggle for better things he has shown the sincerest sympathy. At his instance Congress has passed the bill fixing the liability of interstate carriers to their employees for injury sustained in the course of employment, abolishing the rule of fellow-servant and the common-law rule as to contributory negligence, and substituting therefor the so-called rule of "comparative negligence." It has also passed a law fixing the compensation of government employees for injuries sustained in the employ of the Government through the negligence of the superior. It has also passed a model child-labor law for the District of Columbia. In previous administrations an arbitration law for interstate commerce railroads and their employees, and laws for the application of safety devices to save the lives and limbs of employees of interstate railroads had been passed. Additional legislation of this kind was passed by the outgoing Congress.
 I wish to say that insofar as I can I hope to promote the enactment of further legislation of this character. I am strongly convinced that the Government should make itself as responsible to employees injured in its employ as an interstate-railway corporation is made responsible by federal law to its employees; and I shall be glad, whenever any additional reasonable safety device can be invented to reduce the loss of life and limb among railway employees, to urge Congress to require its adoption by interstate railways.
 Another labor question has arisen which has awakened the most excited discussion. That is in respect to the power of the federal courts to issue injunctions in industrial disputes. As to that, my convictions are fixed. Take away from the courts, if it could be taken away, the power to issue injunctions in labor disputes, and it would create a privileged class among the laborers and save the lawless among their number from a most needful remedy available to all men for the protection of their business against lawless invasion. The proposition that business is not a property or pecuniary right which can be protected by equitable injunction is utterly without foundation in precedent or reason. The proposition is usually linked with one to make the secondary boycott lawful. Such a proposition is at variance with the American instinct, and will find no support, in my judgment, when submitted to the American people. The secondary boycott is an instrument of tyranny, and ought not to be made legitimate.
 The issue of a temporary restraining order without notice has in several instances been abused by its inconsiderate exercise, and to remedy this the platform upon which I was elected recommends the formulation in a statute of the conditions under which such a temporary restraining order ought to issue. A statute can and ought to be framed to embody the best modern practice, and can bring the subject so closely to the attention of the court as to make abuses of the process unlikely in the future. The American people, if I understand them, insist that the authority of the courts shall be sustained, and are opposed to any change in the procedure by which the powers of a court may be weakened and the fearless and effective administration of justice be interfered with.
 Having thus reviewed the questions likely to recur during my administration, and having expressed in a summary way the position which I expect to take in recommendations to Congress and in my conduct as an Executive, I invoke the considerate sympathy and support of my fellow-citizens and the aid of the Almighty God in the discharge of my responsible duties.

First Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson

 

 

 

TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1913
 There has been a change of government. It began two years ago, when the House of Representatives became Democratic by a decisive majority. It has now been completed. The Senate about to assemble will also be Democratic. The offices of President and Vice-President have been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the change mean? That is the question that is uppermost in our minds to-day. That is the question I am going to try to answer, in order, if I may, to interpret the occasion.
 It means much more than the mere success of a party. The success of a party means little except when the Nation is using that party for a large and definite purpose. No one can mistake the purpose for which the Nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party. It seeks to use it to interpret a change in its own plans and point of view. Some old things with which we had grown familiar, and which had begun to creep into the very habit of our thought and of our lives, have altered their aspect as we have latterly looked critically upon them, with fresh, awakened eyes; have dropped their disguises and shown themselves alien and sinister. Some new things, as we look frankly upon them, willing to comprehend their real character, have come to assume the aspect of things long believed in and familiar, stuff of our own convictions. We have been refreshed by a new insight into our own life.
 We see that in many things that life is very great. It is incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body of wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the industries which have been conceived and built up by the genius of individual men and the limitless enterprise of groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its moral force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope. We have built up, moreover, a great system of government, which has stood through a long age as in many respects a model for those who seek to set liberty upon foundations that will endure against fortuitous change, against storm and accident. Our life contains every great thing, and contains it in rich abundance.
 But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been corroded. With riches has come inexcusable waste. We have squandered a great part of what we might have used, and have not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature, without which our genius for enterprise would have been worthless and impotent, scorning to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as admirably efficient. We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but we have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies overtaxed and broken, the fearful physical and spiritual cost to the men and women and children upon whom the dead weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the years through. The groans and agony of it all had not yet reached our ears, the solemn, moving undertone of our life, coming up out of the mines and factories, and out of every home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. With the great Government went many deep secret things which we too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, fearless eyes. The great Government we loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people.
 At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole. We see the bad with the good, the debased and decadent with the sound and vital. With this vision we approach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without impairing the good, to purify and humanize every process of our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it. There has been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. Our thought has been "Let every man look out for himself, let every generation look out for itself," while we reared giant machinery which made it impossible that any but those who stood at the levers of control should have a chance to look out for themselves. We had not forgotten our morals. We remembered well enough that we had set up a policy which was meant to serve the humblest as well as the most powerful, with an eye single to the standards of justice and fair play, and remembered it with pride. But we were very heedless and in a hurry to be great.
 We have come now to the sober second thought. The scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have made up our minds to square every process of our national life again with the standards we so proudly set up at the beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our work is a work of restoration.
 We have itemized with some degree of particularity the things that ought to be altered and here are some of the chief items: A tariff which cuts us off from our proper part in the commerce of the world, violates the just principles of taxation, and makes the Government a facile instrument in the hand of private interests; a banking and currency system based upon the necessity of the Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and restricting credits; an industrial system which, take it on all its sides, financial as well as administrative, holds capital in leading strings, restricts the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, and exploits without renewing or conserving the natural resources of the country; a body of agricultural activities never yet given the efficiency of great business undertakings or served as it should be through the instrumentality of science taken directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its practical needs; watercourses undeveloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests untended, fast disappearing without plan or prospect of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at every mine. We have studied as perhaps no other nation has the most effective means of production, but we have not studied cost or economy as we should either as organizers of industry, as statesmen, or as individuals.
 Nor have we studied and perfected the means by which government may be put at the service of humanity, in safeguarding the health of the Nation, the health of its men and its women and its children, as well as their rights in the struggle for existence. This is no sentimental duty. The firm basis of government is justice, not pity. These are matters of justice. There can be no equality or opportunity, the first essential of justice in the body politic, if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they can not alter, control, or singly cope with. Society must see to it that it does not itself crush or weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The first duty of law is to keep sound the society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure food laws, and laws determining conditions of labor which individuals are powerless to determine for themselves are intimate parts of the very business of justice and legal efficiency.
 These are some of the things we ought to do, and not leave the others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be-neglected, fundamental safeguarding of property and of individual right. This is the high enterprise of the new day: To lift everything that concerns our life as a Nation to the light that shines from the hearthfire of every man's conscience and vision of the right. It is inconceivable that we should do this as partisans; it is inconceivable we should do it in ignorance of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not destroy. We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon; and step by step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions whither they can not tell. Justice, and only justice, shall always be our motto.
 And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The Nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often debauched and made an instrument of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge and the brother are one. We know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task which shall search us through and through, whether we be able to understand our time and the need of our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high course of action.
 This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me!

 

伍德罗·威尔逊
第一次就职演讲
星期二,1913年3月4日

一种新的眼光
　　政府发生了变化。这种变化开始于两年前民主党在众议院取得决定性多数席位的时候，现在已告完成。即将组成的参议院也将由民主党占据多数席位。总统和副总统的职务都已交与民主党人执掌。这种变化意味着什么呢？这是如今盘旋于我们脑海中的最主要的问题。这也是今天我要试图回答的问题，如果可以的话，我要阑明其中的缘由。
　　这种变化何止意味着一个政党的胜利。一个政党的胜利是不足称道的，除非国家要利用这个政党达到一个重大而明确的目标，谁都不会误解国家现在想利用民主党所要达到的目的。它要利用民主党来阐明国家的规划和立场中的某种变化。某些陈旧的事物虽已为我们所熟悉，并已开始不知不觉地进入我们的思想习惯和生活习惯，但是，当我们后来以新的、觉醒的眼光批判地看待这些事物时，它们却面目全非，卸下了伪装，显得陌生而又邪恶。而某些新生事物，当我们实事求是地看待井愿意了解它们的实质时，便开始呈现出我们久已相信和熟悉的事物特征，即我们自己坚信不移的那些东西。我们以一种新的眼光来洞察自己的生活，从而我们的精神也为之一振。从许多方面来看，生活是非常伟大的。它在物质方面，在财富数量方面，在能量的多样性和威力方面，在以个人天赋和群体的无限创造力所构想、建立起来的工业方面，都是无比伟大的，它在道德力量方面是伟大的，而且同样是极其伟大的。世界上再没有什么地方有这样高尚的男女能如此出色地表现出同情、互助、协商的美妙境界和巨大能量。他们努力补偏救弊、弥患纾难，扶助弱者以增加力量和希望。不仅如此，我们还建立起了一个伟大的政治体制，这个政治体制在很长一段时期中经受了考验，在很多方面成为那些试图把自由建立在经得起偶然变故、狂风暴雨和意外事件的基础上的人们的楷模。我们的生活拥有一切伟大事物，丰富而充足。但是，罪恶与善良俱来，纯金常被腐蚀。不可原谅的浪费与富足并至。我们浪费了一大部分本来可资利用的东西，我们至今还没有停止挥霍浪费，来保存大自然的慷慨恩赐。如果没有这些恩赐，我们的创业天赋很可能变得毫无价值和无所作为。我们鄙视谨慎行事，我们的生产效率固然值得赞美，我们的浪费却十分可耻。我们一向对我国的工业成就引以为豪，但我们至今仍没有缜密计算一下人类为此付出的代价：包括人们所献出的生命的代价；由于辛劳过度、心力交瘁所付出的精力的代价；以及男人、女人和儿童——工业生产的全部重担成年累月地无情地压在这些人的身上——所付出的骇人听闻的体力代价和精神代价。这些人的痛楚呻吟尚未完全传到我们的耳际，而由矿山、工厂，由每一个痛苦挣扎的家庭传来的这些呻吟则构成了我们生活中的庄严而感人的和声。伴随伟大政体而来的，还有我们长期以来一直不愿以坦率无畏的眼光去探索、去审视的许多讳莫如深的事物。我们所热爱的伟大政体经常被人们用来为个人谋私利，而利用这个政体的那些人则早已把人民大众忘记得一千二净。我们终于得以看到了生活的全貌。我们看到恶与善、丑与美、颓唐堕落与活力生机并生共存。我们是以这种眼光来处理新生事物的。我们的责任是清除、审察、纠偏、匡正邪恶而不损害善与美，使我们日常生活的每一个过程得以净化、人性化而不使之衰弱伤感。但我们往往急于求成，有些事憎难免做得粗鲁、无情而冷酷。我们一向认为要“让每一个人自己照管自己，让每一代人自己照管自己”，同时，我们却建立起了庞大的政府机器、使除了那些掌握操纵杆的人之外，任何人都不可能有机会照管自己。我们没有忘记我们的道德准则。我们清楚地记得，我们曾经制定过一项政策，说明我们既要为权贵效劳，也要为地位地下者服务，而且我们特别着眼于公正合理的准则，一想到这一点，我们就会感到自豪。但是，我们太不谨慎，太急于求成了。现在我们已经在冷静地重新思考。我们的眼睛已经去除了因考虑不周而造成的翳障。我们决心要以我们当初自豪地建立起来的、并且始终牢记在心中的准则，重新调整国民生活的每一个过程。我们所要做的工作是一项正本清源的工作。

　　……

 

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson
 MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1917
 My Fellow Citizens:
 The four years which have elapsed since last I stood in this place have been crowded with counsel and action of the most vital interest and consequence. Perhaps no equal period in our history has been so fruitful of important reforms in our economic and industrial life or so full of significant changes in the spirit and purpose of our political action. We have sought very thoughtfully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken the processes of our national genius and energy, and lift our politics to a broader view of the people's essential interests.
 It is a record of singular variety and singular distinction. But I shall not attempt to review it. It speaks for itself and will be of increasing influence as the years go by. This is not the time for retrospect. It is time rather to speak our thoughts and purposes concerning the present and the immediate future.
 Although we have centered counsel and action with such unusual concentration and success upon the great problems of domestic legislation to which we addressed ourselves four years ago, other matters have more and more forced themselves upon our attention-- matters lying outside our own life as a nation and over which we had no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of them, have drawn us more and more irresistibly into their own current and influence.
 It has been impossible to avoid them. They have affected the life of the whole world. They have shaken men everywhere with a passion and an apprehension they never knew before. It has been hard to preserve calm counsel while the thought of our own people swayed this way and that under their influence. We are a composite and cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood of all the nations that are at war. The currents of our thoughts as well as the currents of our trade run quick at all seasons back and forth between us and them. The war inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics and our social action. To be indifferent to it, or independent of it, was out of the question.
 And yet all the while we have been conscious that we were not part of it. In that consciousness, despite many divisions, we have drawn closer together. We have been deeply wronged upon the seas, but we have not wished to wrong or injure in return; have retained throughout the consciousness of standing in some sort apart, intent upon an interest that transcended the immediate issues of the war itself.
 As some of the injuries done us have become intolerable we have still been clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were not ready to demand for all mankind--fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and to be at ease against organized wrong.
 It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have grown more and more aware, more and more certain that the part we wished to play was the part of those who mean to vindicate and fortify peace. We have been obliged to arm ourselves to make good our claim to a certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. We stand firm in armed neutrality since it seems that in no other way we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon and cannot forget. We may even be drawn on, by circumstances, not by our own purpose or desire, to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them and a more immediate association with the great struggle itself. But nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. They are too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in the principles of our national life to be altered. We desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of another people. We always professed unselfish purpose and we covet the opportunity to prove our professions are sincere.
 There are many things still to be done at home, to clarify our own politics and add new vitality to the industrial processes of our own life, and we shall do them as time and opportunity serve, but we realize that the greatest things that remain to be done must be done with the whole world for stage and in cooperation with the wide and universal forces of mankind, and we are making our spirits ready for those things.
 We are provincials no longer. The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we would have it so or not.
 And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be the more American if we but remain true to the principles in which we have been bred. They are not the principles of a province or of a single continent. We have known and boasted all along that they were the principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace:
 That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally responsible for their maintenance; that the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege; that peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of power; that governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common thought, purpose or power of the family of nations; that the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and consent, and that, so far as practicable, they should be accessible to all upon equal terms; that national armaments shall be limited to the necessities of national order and domestic safety; that the community of interest and of power upon which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citizens meant to encourage or assist revolution in other states should be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented.
 I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow countrymen; they are your own part and parcel of your own thinking and your own motives in affairs. They spring up native amongst us. Upon this as a platform of purpose and of action we can stand together. And it is imperative that we should stand together. We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires that now blaze throughout the world. In their ardent heat we shall, in God's Providence, let us hope, be purged of faction and division, purified of the errant humors of party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in the days to come with a new dignity of national pride and spirit. Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his own heart, the high purpose of the nation in his own mind, ruler of his own will and desire.
 I stand here and have taken the high and solemn oath to which you have been audience because the people of the United States have chosen me for this august delegation of power and have by their gracious judgment named me their leader in affairs.
 I know now what the task means. I realize to the full the responsibility which it involves. I pray God I may be given the wisdom and the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this great people. I am their servant and can succeed only as they sustain and guide me by their confidence and their counsel. The thing I shall count upon, the thing without which neither counsel nor action will avail, is the unity of America--an America united in feeling, in purpose and in its vision of duty, of opportunity and of service.
 We are to beware of all men who would turn the tasks and the necessities of the nation to their own private profit or use them for the building up of private power.
 United alike in the conception of our duty and in the high resolve to perform it in the face of all men, let us dedicate ourselves to the great task to which we must now set our hand. For myself I beg your tolerance, your countenance and your united aid.
 The shadows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be dispelled, and we shall walk with the light all about us if we be but true to ourselves--to ourselves as we have wished to be known in the counsels of the world and in the thought of all those who love liberty and justice and the right exalted.

 

伍德罗·威尔逊
第二次就职演讲
星期一,1917年3月5日

共同的原则
　　我们不再狭隘了。我们刚刚经过的历时30个月的大骚乱所造成的悲惨事件，已经使我们成为世界公民。回转的余地是没有的。作为一个民族，我们的命运就在于愿否接受这一事实。
　　但是，我们并不由于这个原因就下太像美国人了。如果我们仍然忠于培育我们的那些原则，我们就会更像真正的美国人，这些原则不属于某个地区或某个大陆。我们一向知道并引以为荣的是，这些原则是解放了的人类的原则。国此，无论在战争时期还是在和平时期，我们都将赞成这些原则：

　　所有国家对世界和平与自由民族的政治稳定同样感兴趣，并且对两者的维护都负有同样的责任；和平的基本原则是各国在有关权利或特权的一切问题上的实际平等，和平不可能安全地或公正地建立在武装力量的平衡上；政府的一切正当权力来自被统治者的同意，任何其他权力都不应得到国际大家庭的共同思想，共同目标或共同力量的支持，根据共同协议并一致同意的规则，各国人民可以同样自由、安全地使用海洋，而且只要切实可行，都能平等地使用海洋；国家武装力量必须限于维持国家秩序和国内安全的需要；今后，和平所仰赖的利益和力量的共同体，必须迫使每一个国家负起责任，务必严厉而有效地镇压和制止其本国公民企图鼓励或援助别国革命的一切势力。

　　 同胞们，我无需说服你们接受这些原则；这些原则是你们自己的、是你们在处埋各项事务中自己的思想和自己的动机的重要组成部分。这些原则是在我们中间自然而然地萌主出来的。这是我们目标与行动的纲领，在此基础上，我们可以站在一起，而且我们必须站在一起。我们正在目前这场燃遍整个世界的烈火中熔成一个新的整体。我们希望，在上帝的福佑下，我们将在炽热的烈焰中，摒除党派纷争，清除错误的党派情绪和私利观念，并且在将来以国家的骄做和精神的新的尊产立足于世。我们要使每一个人务必懂得：献身是他自己的心愿，国家的崇高目标是他自己的思念，他是自己的意志和愿望的主宰。

 

 

Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding
 FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1921
 My Countrymen:
 When one surveys the world about him after the great storm, noting the marks of destruction and yet rejoicing in the ruggedness of the things which withstood it, if he is an American he breathes the clarified atmosphere with a strange mingling of regret and new hope. We have seen a world passion spend its fury, but we contemplate our Republic unshaken, and hold our civilization secure. Liberty--liberty within the law--and civilization are inseparable, and though both were threatened we find them now secure; and there comes to Americans the profound assurance that our representative government is the highest expression and surest guaranty of both.
 Standing in this presence, mindful of the solemnity of this occasion, feeling the emotions which no one may know until he senses the great weight of responsibility for himself, I must utter my belief in the divine inspiration of the founding fathers. Surely there must have been God's intent in the making of this new-world Republic. Ours is an organic law which had but one ambiguity, and we saw that effaced in a baptism of sacrifice and blood, with union maintained, the Nation supreme, and its concord inspiring. We have seen the world rivet its hopeful gaze on the great truths on which the founders wrought. We have seen civil, human, and religious liberty verified and glorified. In the beginning the Old World scoffed at our experiment; today our foundations of political and social belief stand unshaken, a precious inheritance to ourselves, an inspiring example of freedom and civilization to all mankind. Let us express renewed and strengthened devotion, in grateful reverence for the immortal beginning, and utter our confidence in the supreme fulfillment.
 The recorded progress of our Republic, materially and spiritually, in itself proves the wisdom of the inherited policy of noninvolvement in Old World affairs. Confident of our ability to work out our own destiny, and jealously guarding our right to do so, we seek no part in directing the destinies of the Old World. We do not mean to be entangled. We will accept no responsibility except as our own conscience and judgment, in each instance, may determine.
 Our eyes never will be blind to a developing menace, our ears never deaf to the call of civilization. We recognize the new order in the world, with the closer contacts which progress has wrought. We sense the call of the human heart for fellowship, fraternity, and cooperation. We crave friendship and harbor no hate. But America, our America, the America builded on the foundation laid by the inspired fathers, can be a party to no permanent military alliance. It can enter into no political commitments, nor assume any economic obligations which will subject our decisions to any other than our own authority.
 I am sure our own people will not misunderstand, nor will the world misconstrue. We have no thought to impede the paths to closer relationship. We wish to promote understanding. We want to do our part in making offensive warfare so hateful that Governments and peoples who resort to it must prove the righteousness of their cause or stand as outlaws before the bar of civilization.
 We are ready to associate ourselves with the nations of the world, great and small, for conference, for counsel; to seek the expressed views of world opinion; to recommend a way to approximate disarmament and relieve the crushing burdens of military and naval establishments. We elect to participate in suggesting plans for mediation, conciliation, and arbitration, and would gladly join in that expressed conscience of progress, which seeks to clarify and write the laws of international relationship, and establish a world court for the disposition of such justiciable questions as nations are agreed to submit thereto. In expressing aspirations, in seeking practical plans, in translating humanity's new concept of righteousness and justice and its hatred of war into recommended action we are ready most heartily to unite, but every commitment must be made in the exercise of our national sovereignty. Since freedom impelled, and independence inspired, and nationality exalted, a world supergovernment is contrary to everything we cherish and can have no sanction by our Republic. This is not selfishness, it is sanctity. It is not aloofness, it is security. It is not suspicion of others, it is patriotic adherence to the things which made us what we are.
 Today, better than ever before, we know the aspirations of humankind, and share them. We have come to a new realization of our place in the world and a new appraisal of our Nation by the world. The unselfishness of these United States is a thing proven; our devotion to peace for ourselves and for the world is well established; our concern for preserved civilization has had its impassioned and heroic expression. There was no American failure to resist the attempted reversion of civilization; there will be no failure today or tomorrow.
 The success of our popular government rests wholly upon the correct interpretation of the deliberate, intelligent, dependable popular will of America. In a deliberate questioning of a suggested change of national policy, where internationality was to supersede nationality, we turned to a referendum, to the American people. There was ample discussion, and there is a public mandate in manifest understanding.
 America is ready to encourage, eager to initiate, anxious to participate in any seemly program likely to lessen the probability of war, and promote that brotherhood of mankind which must be God's highest conception of human relationship. Because we cherish ideals of justice and peace, because we appraise international comity and helpful relationship no less highly than any people of the world, we aspire to a high place in the moral leadership of civilization, and we hold a maintained America, the proven Republic, the unshaken temple of representative democracy, to be not only an inspiration and example, but the highest agency of strengthening good will and promoting accord on both continents.
 Mankind needs a world-wide benediction of understanding. It is needed among individuals, among peoples, among governments, and it will inaugurate an era of good feeling to make the birth of a new order. In such understanding men will strive confidently for the promotion of their better relationships and nations will promote the comities so essential to peace.
 We must understand that ties of trade bind nations in closest intimacy, and none may receive except as he gives. We have not strengthened ours in accordance with our resources or our genius, notably on our own continent, where a galaxy of Republics reflects the glory of new-world democracy, but in the new order of finance and trade we mean to promote enlarged activities and seek expanded confidence.
 Perhaps we can make no more helpful contribution by example than prove a Republic's capacity to emerge from the wreckage of war. While the world's embittered travail did not leave us devastated lands nor desolated cities, left no gaping wounds, no breast with hate, it did involve us in the delirium of expenditure, in expanded currency and credits, in unbalanced industry, in unspeakable waste, and disturbed relationships. While it uncovered our portion of hateful selfishness at home, it also revealed the heart of America as sound and fearless, and beating in confidence unfailing.
 Amid it all we have riveted the gaze of all civilization to the unselfishness and the righteousness of representative democracy, where our freedom never has made offensive warfare, never has sought territorial aggrandizement through force, never has turned to the arbitrament of arms until reason has been exhausted. When the Governments of the earth shall have established a freedom like our own and shall have sanctioned the pursuit of peace as we have practiced it, I believe the last sorrow and the final sacrifice of international warfare will have been written.
 Let me speak to the maimed and wounded soldiers who are present today, and through them convey to their comrades the gratitude of the Republic for their sacrifices in its defense. A generous country will never forget the services you rendered, and you may hope for a policy under Government that will relieve any maimed successors from taking your places on another such occasion as this.
 Our supreme task is the resumption of our onward, normal way. Reconstruction, readjustment, restoration all these must follow. I would like to hasten them. If it will lighten the spirit and add to the resolution with which we take up the task, let me repeat for our Nation, we shall give no people just cause to make war upon us; we hold no national prejudices; we entertain no spirit of revenge; we do not hate; we do not covet; we dream of no conquest, nor boast of armed prowess.
 If, despite this attitude, war is again forced upon us, I earnestly hope a way may be found which will unify our individual and collective strength and consecrate all America, materially and spiritually, body and soul, to national defense. I can vision the ideal republic, where every man and woman is called under the flag for assignment to duty for whatever service, military or civic, the individual is best fitted; where we may call to universal service every plant, agency, or facility, all in the sublime sacrifice for country, and not one penny of war profit shall inure to the benefit of private individual, corporation, or combination, but all above the normal shall flow into the defense chest of the Nation. There is something inherently wrong, something out of accord with the ideals of representative democracy, when one portion of our citizenship turns its activities to private gain amid defensive war while another is fighting, sacrificing, or dying for national preservation.
 Out of such universal service will come a new unity of spirit and purpose, a new confidence and consecration, which would make our defense impregnable, our triumph assured. Then we should have little or no disorganization of our economic, industrial, and commercial systems at home, no staggering war debts, no swollen fortunes to flout the sacrifices of our soldiers, no excuse for sedition, no pitiable slackerism, no outrage of treason. Envy and jealousy would have no soil for their menacing development, and revolution would be without the passion which engenders it.
 A regret for the mistakes of yesterday must not, however, blind us to the tasks of today. War never left such an aftermath. There has been staggering loss of life and measureless wastage of materials. Nations are still groping for return to stable ways. Discouraging indebtedness confronts us like all the war-torn nations, and these obligations must be provided for. No civilization can survive repudiation.
 We can reduce the abnormal expenditures, and we will. We can strike at war taxation, and we must. We must face the grim necessity, with full knowledge that the task is to be solved, and we must proceed with a full realization that no statute enacted by man can repeal the inexorable laws of nature. Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same time do for it too little. We contemplate the immediate task of putting our public household in order. We need a rigid and yet sane economy, combined with fiscal justice, and it must be attended by individual prudence and thrift, which are so essential to this trying hour and reassuring for the future.
 The business world reflects the disturbance of war's reaction. Herein flows the lifeblood of material existence. The economic mechanism is intricate and its parts interdependent, and has suffered the shocks and jars incident to abnormal demands, credit inflations, and price upheavals. The normal balances have been impaired, the channels of distribution have been clogged, the relations of labor and management have been strained. We must seek the readjustment with care and courage. Our people must give and take. Prices must reflect the receding fever of war activities. Perhaps we never shall know the old levels of wages again, because war invariably readjusts compensations, and the necessaries of life will show their inseparable relationship, but we must strive for normalcy to reach stability. All the penalties will not be light, nor evenly distributed. There is no way of making them so. There is no instant step from disorder to order. We must face a condition of grim reality, charge off our losses and start afresh. It is the oldest lesson of civilization. I would like government to do all it can to mitigate; then, in understanding, in mutuality of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be solved. No altered system will work a miracle. Any wild experiment will only add to the confusion. Our best assurance lies in efficient administration of our proven system.
 The forward course of the business cycle is unmistakable. Peoples are turning from destruction to production. Industry has sensed the changed order and our own people are turning to resume their normal, onward way. The call is for productive America to go on. I know that Congress and the Administration will favor every wise Government policy to aid the resumption and encourage continued progress.
 I speak for administrative efficiency, for lightened tax burdens, for sound commercial practices, for adequate credit facilities, for sympathetic concern for all agricultural problems, for the omission of unnecessary interference of Government with business, for an end to Government's experiment in business, and for more efficient business in Government administration. With all of this must attend a mindfulness of the human side of all activities, so that social, industrial, and economic justice will be squared with the purposes of a righteous people.
 With the nation-wide induction of womanhood into our political life, we may count upon her intuitions, her refinements, her intelligence, and her influence to exalt the social order. We count upon her exercise of the full privileges and the performance of the duties of citizenship to speed the attainment of the highest state.
 I wish for an America no less alert in guarding against dangers from within than it is watchful against enemies from without. Our fundamental law recognizes no class, no group, no section; there must be none in legislation or administration. The supreme inspiration is the common weal. Humanity hungers for international peace, and we crave it with all mankind. My most reverent prayer for America is for industrial peace, with its rewards, widely and generally distributed, amid the inspirations of equal opportunity. No one justly may deny the equality of opportunity which made us what we are. We have mistaken unpreparedness to embrace it to be a challenge of the reality, and due concern for making all citizens fit for participation will give added strength of citizenship and magnify our achievement.
 If revolution insists upon overturning established order, let other peoples make the tragic experiment. There is no place for it in America. When World War threatened civilization we pledged our resources and our lives to its preservation, and when revolution threatens we unfurl the flag of law and order and renew our consecration. Ours is a constitutional freedom where the popular will is the law supreme and minorities are sacredly protected. Our revisions, reformations, and evolutions reflect a deliberate judgment and an orderly progress, and we mean to cure our ills, but never destroy or permit destruction by force.
 I had rather submit our industrial controversies to the conference table in advance than to a settlement table after conflict and suffering. The earth is thirsting for the cup of good will, understanding is its fountain source. I would like to acclaim an era of good feeling amid dependable prosperity and all the blessings which attend.
 It has been proved again and again that we cannot, while throwing our markets open to the world, maintain American standards of living and opportunity, and hold our industrial eminence in such unequal competition. There is a luring fallacy in the theory of banished barriers of trade, but preserved American standards require our higher production costs to be reflected in our tariffs on imports. Today, as never before, when peoples are seeking trade restoration and expansion, we must adjust our tariffs to the new order. We seek participation in the world's exchanges, because therein lies our way to widened influence and the triumphs of peace. We know full well we cannot sell where we do not buy, and we cannot sell successfully where we do not carry. Opportunity is calling not alone for the restoration, but for a new era in production, transportation and trade. We shall answer it best by meeting the demand of a surpassing home market, by promoting self- reliance in production, and by bidding enterprise, genius, and efficiency to carry our cargoes in American bottoms to the marts of the world.
 We would not have an America living within and for herself alone, but we would have her self-reliant, independent, and ever nobler, stronger, and richer. Believing in our higher standards, reared through constitutional liberty and maintained opportunity, we invite the world to the same heights. But pride in things wrought is no reflex of a completed task. Common welfare is the goal of our national endeavor. Wealth is not inimical to welfare; it ought to be its friendliest agency. There never can be equality of rewards or possessions so long as the human plan contains varied talents and differing degrees of industry and thrift, but ours ought to be a country free from the great blotches of distressed poverty. We ought to find a way to guard against the perils and penalties of unemployment. We want an America of homes, illumined with hope and happiness, where mothers, freed from the necessity for long hours of toil beyond their own doors, may preside as befits the hearthstone of American citizenship. We want the cradle of American childhood rocked under conditions so wholesome and so hopeful that no blight may touch it in its development, and we want to provide that no selfish interest, no material necessity, no lack of opportunity shall prevent the gaining of that education so essential to best citizenship.
 There is no short cut to the making of these ideals into glad realities. The world has witnessed again and again the futility and the mischief of ill-considered remedies for social and economic disorders. But we are mindful today as never before of the friction of modern industrialism, and we must learn its causes and reduce its evil consequences by sober and tested methods. Where genius has made for great possibilities, justice and happiness must be reflected in a greater common welfare.
 Service is the supreme commitment of life. I would rejoice to acclaim the era of the Golden Rule and crown it with the autocracy of service. I pledge an administration wherein all the agencies of Government are called to serve, and ever promote an understanding of Government purely as an expression of the popular will.
 One cannot stand in this presence and be unmindful of the tremendous responsibility. The world upheaval has added heavily to our tasks. But with the realization comes the surge of high resolve, and there is reassurance in belief in the God-given destiny of our Republic. If I felt that there is to be sole responsibility in the Executive for the America of tomorrow I should shrink from the burden. But here are a hundred millions, with common concern and shared responsibility, answerable to God and country. The Republic summons them to their duty, and I invite co-operation.
 I accept my part with single-mindedness of purpose and humility of spirit, and implore the favor and guidance of God in His Heaven. With these I am unafraid, and confidently face the future.
 I have taken the solemn oath of office on that passage of Holy Writ wherein it is asked: "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" This I plight to God and country.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Herbert Hoover
 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1929
 My Countrymen:
 This occasion is not alone the administration of the most sacred oath which can be assumed by an American citizen. It is a dedication and consecration under God to the highest office in service of our people. I assume this trust in the humility of knowledge that only through the guidance of Almighty Providence can I hope to discharge its ever-increasing burdens.
 It is in keeping with tradition throughout our history that I should express simply and directly the opinions which I hold concerning some of the matters of present importance.
 OUR PROGRESS
 If we survey the situation of our Nation both at home and abroad, we find many satisfactions; we find some causes for concern. We have emerged from the losses of the Great War and the reconstruction following it with increased virility and strength. From this strength we have contributed to the recovery and progress of the world. What America has done has given renewed hope and courage to all who have faith in government by the people. In the large view, we have reached a higher degree of comfort and security than ever existed before in the history of the world. Through liberation from widespread poverty we have reached a higher degree of individual freedom than ever before. The devotion to and concern for our institutions are deep and sincere. We are steadily building a new race--a new civilization great in its own attainments. The influence and high purposes of our Nation are respected among the peoples of the world. We aspire to distinction in the world, but to a distinction based upon confidence in our sense of justice as well as our accomplishments within our own borders and in our own lives. For wise guidance in this great period of recovery the Nation is deeply indebted to Calvin Coolidge.
 But all this majestic advance should not obscure the constant dangers from which self-government must be safeguarded. The strong man must at all times be alert to the attack of insidious disease.
 THE FAILURE OF OUR SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
 The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and speedy justice is decreasing. I am not prepared to believe that this indicates any decay in the moral fiber of the American people. I am not prepared to believe that it indicates an impotence of the Federal Government to enforce its laws.
 It is only in part due to the additional burdens imposed upon our judicial system by the eighteenth amendment. The problem is much wider than that. Many influences had increasingly complicated and weakened our law enforcement organization long before the adoption of the eighteenth amendment.
 To reestablish the vigor and effectiveness of law enforcement we must critically consider the entire Federal machinery of justice, the redistribution of its functions, the simplification of its procedure, the provision of additional special tribunals, the better selection of juries, and the more effective organization of our agencies of investigation and prosecution that justice may be sure and that it may be swift. While the authority of the Federal Government extends to but part of our vast system of national, State, and local justice, yet the standards which the Federal Government establishes have the most profound influence upon the whole structure.
 We are fortunate in the ability and integrity of our Federal judges and attorneys. But the system which these officers are called upon to administer is in many respects ill adapted to present-day conditions. Its intricate and involved rules of procedure have become the refuge of both big and little criminals. There is a belief abroad that by invoking technicalities, subterfuge, and delay, the ends of justice may be thwarted by those who can pay the cost.
 Reform, reorganization and strengthening of our whole judicial and enforcement system, both in civil and criminal sides, have been advocated for years by statesmen, judges, and bar associations. First steps toward that end should not longer be delayed. Rigid and expeditious justice is the first safeguard of freedom, the basis of all ordered liberty, the vital force of progress. It must not come to be in our Republic that it can be defeated by the indifference of the citizen, by exploitation of the delays and entanglements of the law, or by combinations of criminals. Justice must not fail because the agencies of enforcement are either delinquent or inefficiently organized. To consider these evils, to find their remedy, is the most sore necessity of our times.
 ENFORCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT
 Of the undoubted abuses which have grown up under the eighteenth amendment, part are due to the causes I have just mentioned; but part are due to the failure of some States to accept their share of responsibility for concurrent enforcement and to the failure of many State and local officials to accept the obligation under their oath of office zealously to enforce the laws. With the failures from these many causes has come a dangerous expansion in the criminal elements who have found enlarged opportunities in dealing in illegal liquor.
 But a large responsibility rests directly upon our citizens. There would be little traffic in illegal liquor if only criminals patronized it. We must awake to the fact that this patronage from large numbers of law-abiding citizens is supplying the rewards and stimulating crime.
 I have been selected by you to execute and enforce the laws of the country. I propose to do so to the extent of my own abilities, but the measure of success that the Government shall attain will depend upon the moral support which you, as citizens, extend. The duty of citizens to support the laws of the land is coequal with the duty of their Government to enforce the laws which exist. No greater national service can be given by men and women of good will--who, I know, are not unmindful of the responsibilities of citizenship--than that they should, by their example, assist in stamping out crime and outlawry by refusing participation in and condemning all transactions with illegal liquor. Our whole system of self-government will crumble either if officials elect what laws they will enforce or citizens elect what laws they will support. The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law. For our citizens to patronize the violation of a particular law on the ground that they are opposed to it is destructive of the very basis of all that protection of life, of homes and property which they rightly claim under other laws. If citizens do not like a law, their duty as honest men and women is to discourage its violation; their right is openly to work for its repeal.
 To those of criminal mind there can be no appeal but vigorous enforcement of the law. Fortunately they are but a small percentage of our people. Their activities must be stopped.
 A NATIONAL INVESTIGATION
 I propose to appoint a national commission for a searching investigation of the whole structure of our Federal system of jurisprudence, to include the method of enforcement of the eighteenth amendment and the causes of abuse under it. Its purpose will be to make such recommendations for reorganization of the administration of Federal laws and court procedure as may be found desirable. In the meantime it is essential that a large part of the enforcement activities be transferred from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice as a beginning of more effective organization.
 THE RELATION OF GOVERNMENT TO BUSINESS
 The election has again confirmed the determination of the American people that regulation of private enterprise and not Government ownership or operation is the course rightly to be pursued in our relation to business. In recent years we have established a differentiation in the whole method of business regulation between the industries which produce and distribute commodities on the one hand and public utilities on the other. In the former, our laws insist upon effective competition; in the latter, because we substantially confer a monopoly by limiting competition, we must regulate their services and rates. The rigid enforcement of the laws applicable to both groups is the very base of equal opportunity and freedom from domination for all our people, and it is just as essential for the stability and prosperity of business itself as for the protection of the public at large. Such regulation should be extended by the Federal Government within the limitations of the Constitution and only when the individual States are without power to protect their citizens through their own authority. On the other hand, we should be fearless when the authority rests only in the Federal Government.
 COOPERATION BY THE GOVERNMENT
 The larger purpose of our economic thought should be to establish more firmly stability and security of business and employment and thereby remove poverty still further from our borders. Our people have in recent years developed a new-found capacity for cooperation among themselves to effect high purposes in public welfare. It is an advance toward the highest conception of self- government. Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community--not from governmental restraints. The Government should assist and encourage these movements of collective self- help by itself cooperating with them. Business has by cooperation made great progress in the advancement of service, in stability, in regularity of employment and in the correction of its own abuses. Such progress, however, can continue only so long as business manifests its respect for law.
 There is an equally important field of cooperation by the Federal Government with the multitude of agencies, State, municipal and private, in the systematic development of those processes which directly affect public health, recreation, education, and the home. We have need further to perfect the means by which Government can be adapted to human service.
 EDUCATION
 Although education is primarily a responsibility of the States and local communities, and rightly so, yet the Nation as a whole is vitally concerned in its development everywhere to the highest standards and to complete universality. Self-government can succeed only through an instructed electorate. Our objective is not simply to overcome illiteracy. The Nation has marched far beyond that. The more complex the problems of the Nation become, the greater is the need for more and more advanced instruction. Moreover, as our numbers increase and as our life expands with science and invention, we must discover more and more leaders for every walk of life. We can not hope to succeed in directing this increasingly complex civilization unless we can draw all the talent of leadership from the whole people. One civilization after another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient leadership from a single group or class. If we would prevent the growth of class distinctions and would constantly refresh our leadership with the ideals of our people, we must draw constantly from the general mass. The full opportunity for every boy and girl to rise through the selective processes of education can alone secure to us this leadership.
 PUBLIC HEALTH
 In public health the discoveries of science have opened a new era. Many sections of our country and many groups of our citizens suffer from diseases the eradication of which are mere matters of administration and moderate expenditure. Public health service should be as fully organized and as universally incorporated into our governmental system as is public education. The returns are a thousand fold in economic benefits, and infinitely more in reduction of suffering and promotion of human happiness.
 WORLD PEACE
 The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity. The whole world is at peace. The dangers to a continuation of this peace to-day are largely the fear and suspicion which still haunt the world. No suspicion or fear can be rightly directed toward our country.
 Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom. Our form of government is ill adapted to the responsibilities which inevitably follow permanent limitation of the independence of other peoples. Superficial observers seem to find no destiny for our abounding increase in population, in wealth and power except that of imperialism. They fail to see that the American people are engrossed in the building for themselves of a new economic system, a new social system, a new political system all of which are characterized by aspirations of freedom of opportunity and thereby are the negation of imperialism. They fail to realize that because of our abounding prosperity our youth are pressing more and more into our institutions of learning; that our people are seeking a larger vision through art, literature, science, and travel; that they are moving toward stronger moral and spiritual life--that from these things our sympathies are broadening beyond the bounds of our Nation and race toward their true expression in a real brotherhood of man. They fail to see that the idealism of America will lead it to no narrow or selfish channel, but inspire it to do its full share as a nation toward the advancement of civilization. It will do that not by mere declaration but by taking a practical part in supporting all useful international undertakings. We not only desire peace with the world, but to see peace maintained throughout the world. We wish to advance the reign of justice and reason toward the extinction of force.
 The recent treaty for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy sets an advanced standard in our conception of the relations of nations. Its acceptance should pave the way to greater limitation of armament, the offer of which we sincerely extend to the world. But its full realization also implies a greater and greater perfection in the instrumentalities for pacific settlement of controversies between nations. In the creation and use of these instrumentalities we should support every sound method of conciliation, arbitration, and judicial settlement. American statesmen were among the first to propose and they have constantly urged upon the world, the establishment of a tribunal for the settlement of controversies of a justiciable character. The Permanent Court of International Justice in its major purpose is thus peculiarly identified with American ideals and with American statesmanship. No more potent instrumentality for this purpose has ever been conceived and no other is practicable of establishment. The reservations placed upon our adherence should not be misinterpreted. The United States seeks by these reservations no special privilege or advantage but only to clarify our relation to advisory opinions and other matters which are subsidiary to the major purpose of the court. The way should, and I believe will, be found by which we may take our proper place in a movement so fundamental to the progress of peace.
 Our people have determined that we should make no political engagements such as membership in the League of Nations, which may commit us in advance as a nation to become involved in the settlements of controversies between other countries. They adhere to the belief that the independence of America from such obligations increases its ability and availability for service in all fields of human progress.
 I have lately returned from a journey among our sister Republics of the Western Hemisphere. I have received unbounded hospitality and courtesy as their expression of friendliness to our country. We are held by particular bonds of sympathy and common interest with them. They are each of them building a racial character and a culture which is an impressive contribution to human progress. We wish only for the maintenance of their independence, the growth of their stability, and their prosperity. While we have had wars in the Western Hemisphere, yet on the whole the record is in encouraging contrast with that of other parts of the world. Fortunately the New World is largely free from the inheritances of fear and distrust which have so troubled the Old World. We should keep it so.
 It is impossible, my countrymen, to speak of peace without profound emotion. In thousands of homes in America, in millions of homes around the world, there are vacant chairs. It would be a shameful confession of our unworthiness if it should develop that we have abandoned the hope for which all these men died. Surely civilization is old enough, surely mankind is mature enough so that we ought in our own lifetime to find a way to permanent peace. Abroad, to west and east, are nations whose sons mingled their blood with the blood of our sons on the battlefields. Most of these nations have contributed to our race, to our culture, our knowledge, and our progress. From one of them we derive our very language and from many of them much of the genius of our institutions. Their desire for peace is as deep and sincere as our own.
 Peace can be contributed to by respect for our ability in defense. Peace can be promoted by the limitation of arms and by the creation of the instrumentalities for peaceful settlement of controversies. But it will become a reality only through self- restraint and active effort in friendliness and helpfulness. I covet for this administration a record of having further contributed to advance the cause of peace.
 PARTY RESPONSIBILITIES
 In our form of democracy the expression of the popular will can be effected only through the instrumentality of political parties. We maintain party government not to promote intolerant partisanship but because opportunity must be given for expression of the popular will, and organization provided for the execution of its mandates and for accountability of government to the people. It follows that the government both in the executive and the legislative branches must carry out in good faith the platforms upon which the party was entrusted with power. But the government is that of the whole people; the party is the instrument through which policies are determined and men chosen to bring them into being. The animosities of elections should have no place in our Government, for government must concern itself alone with the common weal.
 SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CONGRESS
 Action upon some of the proposals upon which the Republican Party was returned to power, particularly further agricultural relief and limited changes in the tariff, cannot in justice to our farmers, our labor, and our manufacturers be postponed. I shall therefore request a special session of Congress for the consideration of these two questions. I shall deal with each of them upon the assembly of the Congress.
 OTHER MANDATES FROM THE ELECTION
 It appears to me that the more important further mandates from the recent election were the maintenance of the integrity of the Constitution; the vigorous enforcement of the laws; the continuance of economy in public expenditure; the continued regulation of business to prevent domination in the community; the denial of ownership or operation of business by the Government in competition with its citizens; the avoidance of policies which would involve us in the controversies of foreign nations; the more effective reorganization of the departments of the Federal Government; the expansion of public works; and the promotion of welfare activities affecting education and the home.
 These were the more tangible determinations of the election, but beyond them was the confidence and belief of the people that we would not neglect the support of the embedded ideals and aspirations of America. These ideals and aspirations are the touchstones upon which the day-to-day administration and legislative acts of government must be tested. More than this, the Government must, so far as lies within its proper powers, give leadership to the realization of these ideals and to the fruition of these aspirations. No one can adequately reduce these things of the spirit to phrases or to a catalogue of definitions. We do know what the attainments of these ideals should be: The preservation of self-government and its full foundations in local government; the perfection of justice whether in economic or in social fields; the maintenance of ordered liberty; the denial of domination by any group or class; the building up and preservation of equality of opportunity; the stimulation of initiative and individuality; absolute integrity in public affairs; the choice of officials for fitness to office; the direction of economic progress toward prosperity for the further lessening of poverty; the freedom of public opinion; the sustaining of education and of the advancement of knowledge; the growth of religious spirit and the tolerance of all faiths; the strengthening of the home; the advancement of peace.
 There is no short road to the realization of these aspirations. Ours is a progressive people, but with a determination that progress must be based upon the foundation of experience. Ill- considered remedies for our faults bring only penalties after them. But if we hold the faith of the men in our mighty past who created these ideals, we shall leave them heightened and strengthened for our children.
 CONCLUSION
 This is not the time and place for extended discussion. The questions before our country are problems of progress to higher standards; they are not the problems of degeneration. They demand thought and they serve to quicken the conscience and enlist our sense of responsibility for their settlement. And that responsibility rests upon you, my countrymen, as much as upon those of us who have been selected for office.
 Ours is a land rich in resources; stimulating in its glorious beauty; filled with millions of happy homes; blessed with comfort and opportunity. In no nation are the institutions of progress more advanced. In no nation are the fruits of accomplishment more secure. In no nation is the government more worthy of respect. No country is more loved by its people. I have an abiding faith in their capacity, integrity and high purpose. I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope.
 In the presence of my countrymen, mindful of the solemnity of this occasion, knowing what the task means and the responsibility which it involves, I beg your tolerance, your aid, and your cooperation. I ask the help of Almighty God in this service to my country to which you have called me.

 

 

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
 SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1933
 I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
 In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
 More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
 Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
 True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
 The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
 Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
 Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
 Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.
 Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.
 Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
 Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.
 There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.
 Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.
 The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.
 In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others-- the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.
 If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.
 With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.
 Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.
 It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.
 I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.
 But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
 For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.
 We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
 We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
 In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

 

富兰克林·罗斯福
第一次就职演讲
星期六,1933年3月4日

我们唯一不得不害怕的就是害怕本身
　　我肯定，同胞们都期待我在就任总统时，会像我国目前形势所要求的那样，坦率而果断地向他们讲话。现在正是但白、勇敢地说出实话，说出全部实话的最好时刻，我们不必畏首畏尾，不着老实实面对我国今天的情况，这个伟大的国家会一如既住地坚持下去，它会复兴和繁荣起来。因此，让我首先表明我的坚定信念：我们唯一下得不害怕的就是害怕本身——一种莫明其妙的、丧失理智的、毫无根据的恐惧，它会把转退为进所需的种种努力化为泡影。凡在我国生活阴云密布的时刻，坦率而有活力的领导都得到过人民的理解和支持，从而为胜利准备了必不可少的条件。我相信，在目前危急时刻，大家会再次给予同样的支持。我和你们都要以这种槽神，来面对我们共同的困难。感谢上帝，这些困难只是物质方面的。价值难以想象地贬缩了；课税增加了，我们的支付能力下降了；各级政府面临着严重的收入短缺；交换手段在贸易过程中遭到了冻结；工业企业枯萎的落叶到处可见；农场主的产品找不到销路；千家万户多年的积蓄付之东流。
　　更重要的是，大批失业公民正面临严峻的生育问题，还有大批公民正以艰辛的劳动换取微薄的报酬。只有愚蠢的乐天派会否认当前这些阴暗的现实。但是，我们的苦恼决不是因为缺乏物资。我们没有遭到什么蝗虫灾害。我们的先辈曾以信念和无畏一次次转危为安，比起他们经历过的险阻，我们仍大可感到欣慰。大自然仍在给予我们恩惠，人类的努力已使之倍增。富足的憎景近在咫尺，但就在我们见到这种情景的时候，宽裕的生活却悄然离去。这主要是因为主宰人类物资交换的统治者们失败了，他们固执己见而又无能为力，因而已经认定失败，并撒手不管了，贪得无厌的货币兑换商的种种行径，将受到舆论法庭的起诉，将受到人类心灵和理智的唾弃。

　　幸福并不在于单纯地占有主钱；幸福还在于取得成就后的喜悦，在于创造性努力时的激情。务必不能再忘记劳动带来的喜悦和激励，而去疯狂地追逐那转瞬即逝的利润。如果这些暗淡的时日能使我们认识到，我们真正的夭命不是要别人侍奉，而是为自己和同胞们服务，那么，我们付出的代价就完全是值得的。认识到把物质财富当作成功的标准是错误的，我们就会抛弃以地位尊严和个人收益为唯一标准。来衡量公职和高级政治地位的错误信念，我们必须制止银行界和企业界的一种行为，它常常使神圣的委托混同于无情和自私的不正当行为，难怪信心在减弱，因为增强信心只有靠诚实、荣誉感、神圣的责任感，忠实地加以维护和无私地履行职责，而没有这些，就不可能有信心。

　　但是，复兴不仅仅要求改变伦理观念。这个国家要求行动起来，现在就行动起来。

　　根据宪法赋予我的职责、我准备提出一些措施，而一个受灾世界上的受灾国家也许需要这些措施。对于这些措施，以及国会根据本身的经验和智慧可能制订的其他类似措施，我将在宪法赋予我的权限内，设法迅速地予以采纳。

　　但是，如果国会拒不采纳这两条路线中的一条，如果国家紧急情况依然如故，我将下回避我所面临的明确的尽责方向。我将要求国会准许我使用唯一剩下的手殷来应付危机——向非常情况开战的广泛的行政权，就像我们真的遭到外敌人侵时授予我那样的广泛权力。

　　对大家寄予我的信任，我一定报以时代所要求的勇气和献身精神，我会竭尽全力。

　　让我们正视面前的严峻岁月，怀着举国一致给我们带来的热情和勇气，怀着寻求传统的、珍贵的道德观念的明确意识，怀着老老少少都能通过克尽职守而得到的问心无愧的满足。我们的国标是要保证国民生活的圆满和长治久安。

　　我们并不怀疑基本民主制度的未来。合众国人民并没有失败。他们在困难中表达了自己的委托，即要求采取直接而有力的行动。他们要求有领导的纪律和方向。他们现在选择了我作为实现他们的愿望的工具。我接受这份厚赠。

　　在此举国奉献之际，我们谦卑地请求上帝赐福。愿上帝保佑我们大家和每一个人，愿上帝在未来的日子里指引我。

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1937
 When four years ago we met to inaugurate a President, the Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here. We dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision--to speed the time when there would be for all the people that security and peace essential to the pursuit of happiness. We of the Republic pledged ourselves to drive from the temple of our ancient faith those who had profaned it; to end by action, tireless and unafraid, the stagnation and despair of that day. We did those first things first.
 Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there. Instinctively we recognized a deeper need--the need to find through government the instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a complex civilization. Repeated attempts at their solution without the aid of government had left us baffled and bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable to create those moral controls over the services of science which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we must find practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish men.
 We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable. We would not admit that we could not find a way to master economic epidemics just as, after centuries of fatalistic suffering, we had found a way to master epidemics of disease. We refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disaster.
 In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new truth; we were writing a new chapter in our book of self-government.
 This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Constitutional Convention which made us a nation. At that Convention our forefathers found the way out of the chaos which followed the Revolutionary War; they created a strong government with powers of united action sufficient then and now to solve problems utterly beyond individual or local solution. A century and a half ago they established the Federal Government in order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to the American people.
 Today we invoke those same powers of government to achieve the same objectives.
 Four years of new experience have not belied our historic instinct. They hold out the clear hope that government within communities, government within the separate States, and government of the United States can do the things the times require, without yielding its democracy. Our tasks in the last four years did not force democracy to take a holiday.
 Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human relationships increase, so power to govern them also must increase--power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend not upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with those whom the people can change or continue at stated intervals through an honest and free system of elections. The Constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy impotent.
 In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public's government. The legend that they were invincible--above and beyond the processes of a democracy--has been shattered. They have been challenged and beaten.
 Our progress out of the depression is obvious. But that is not all that you and I mean by the new order of things. Our pledge was not merely to do a patchwork job with secondhand materials. By using the new materials of social justice we have undertaken to erect on the old foundations a more enduring structure for the better use of future generations.
 In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of mind and spirit. Old truths have been relearned; untruths have been unlearned. We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays. We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally better world.
 This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly success as such. We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life.
 In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be so easily condoned. Hard-headedness will not so easily excuse hardheartedness. We are moving toward an era of good feeling. But we realize that there can be no era of good feeling save among men of good will.
 For these reasons I am justified in believing that the greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate of America.
 Among men of good will, science and democracy together offer an ever-richer life and ever-larger satisfaction to the individual. With this change in our moral climate and our rediscovered ability to improve our economic order, we have set our feet upon the road of enduring progress.
 Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall we continue on our way? For "each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth."
 Many voices are heard as we face a great decision. Comfort says, "Tarry a while." Opportunism says, "This is a good spot." Timidity asks, "How difficult is the road ahead?"
 True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and despair. Vitality has been preserved. Courage and confidence have been restored. Mental and moral horizons have been extended.
 But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than ordinary circumstances. Advance became imperative under the goad of fear and suffering. The times were on the side of progress.
 To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose.
 Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that fourth day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley?
 I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.
 But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens--a substantial part of its whole population--who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.
 I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.
 I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago.
 I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.
 I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions.
 I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
 It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope--because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
 If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry on.
 Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will; men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular government use effective instruments to carry out their will.
 Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does.
 If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that these conditions of effective government shall be created and maintained. They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example of the will to peace.
 Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals in a suddenly changed civilization. In every land there are always at work forces that drive men apart and forces that draw men together. In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all go down, as one people.
 To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of humility. But out of the confusion of many voices rises an understanding of dominant public need. Then political leadership can voice common ideals, and aid in their realization.
 In taking again the oath of office as President of the United States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the American people forward along the road over which they have chosen to advance.
 While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to speak their purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine guidance to help us each and every one to give light to them that sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

 

富兰克林·罗斯福
第二次就职演讲
星期三,1937年1月20日

持久进步之路
　　4年前，当我们聚在一起举行总统就职典礼，合众国忧心如焚，群情激奋。我们致力于实现一个理想——让全体人民为追求幸福所必不可少的安全与和平环境早日到来。我们合众国人民立下誓言：要把玷污我们传统信仰的人赶出庙堂；要坚韧不拔地、无所畏惧地用行动来结束当时的萧条和失望，我们首先解决了这些当务之急。
　　我们的誓约没有就此止步。我们本能地认识到更深一层的需要——需要通过政府找到实现共同目标的手段，为每个人去解决复杂文明社会所日益产生的问题。试图不要政府的帮助来解决这些问题，已使我们屡屡碰壁和一筹莫展。囵为，没有这种帮助，我们就无法从道德上来控制科学的使用；有了这种必要的控制，才能把科学变成人类的有用的仆人，而不是无情的主人。为了做到这一点。我们知道必须找到切实可行的办法，控制那些盲目的经济力量和利令智昏的人。

　　 我们合众国人民认识到一条真理：民主政府生来就有能力保护人民，使他们免遭一度认为是不可避免的灾难，解决一度认为是不可解决的问题。我们听天由命地忍受了几个世纪之后，找到了控制瘟疫的办法，所以，我们不承认找不到控制经济瘟疫的办法。我们拒绝把我们的共同福利问题交给机会的阵风和灾难的狂飙去摆布。

　　 在这方面，我们美国人不是在发明全新的真理。而是在为我们的自治史册写下新的篇章。

　　今年是制宪会议召开150周年，那次会议使我们成为一个国家。在那次会议上，我们的前辈为摆脱革命战争后的混乱局面我到了出路；他们创立了步调一致、坚强有力的政府，使我们足以在当时和现在都能解决个人或地方根本无法解决的问题，他们在一个半世纪以前建立起联邦政府，目的就是要增进美国人民的普遍福利，确保美国人民的自由幸福。

　　 今天，我们要同样运用政府的力量来达到同样的目标。

　　 4年来的新经验并没有使我们的历史直觉落空。这4年清楚地展现了一条希望之路，即地方政府、州政府和合众国政府都能按时代的要求行事而无需放弃民主。我们过去4年的任务并没有迫使民主去休假。

　　 我们几乎所有的人都认识到，由于人类关系日趋复杂，支配这种关系的权力也必须加强——包括抑恶的权力和扬善的权力，我国的基本民主和人民安全的依据不是不要权力，而是通过诚实和自由的选举制度，把权力交给可以由人民定期更换或连任的人。1787年的宪法并没有使我们的民主软弱无力。

　　事实上，在过去4年中，我们使一切权力的行使都变得更加民主；因为我们已经开始使私人专断的种种权力恰当地服从于大众的政府。所谓它们不可战胜——凌驾于民主程序之上面又超脱于民主程序之外——这个神话已经被粉碎，它们遭到了挑战，并且已经被击败。

　　 我们摆脱萧条所取得的进步是显而易见的。但是，那还不是你们和我所说的事物新秩序的全部，我们的誓言并非仅仅用旧材料做些修补工作。我们已经在用社会公正这种新材料，开始从原有基础上建立更持久的结构，以便未来几代人更好地利用。

　　在这方面，我们已经得益于思想和精神上所取得的成就。古老的真理得到了重温；假话虚话遭到了抛弃。我们一直知道，无动于衷的自私自利是不道德的，我们现在还知道，它是不利于经济的。经济繁荣的建筑师们曾自诩符合实际，但随着繁荣的破灭，人们都已经深信，从长远来看经济道德会带来效益。我们正在开始消除实际与理想之间的界线；通过这种做法，我们正在为建立道德更高尚的世界，制作一件力大无比的工具。

　　 这种新的认识，打破了以追名逐利为荣的传统观念。我们开始不再容忍某些人滥用权力，这些人为了利润而背弃了起码的生活准则。　　 在这个过程中，以前得到认可的歪风邪气不会那么轻易地得到宽恕，冷静的头脑下会那么轻易地原谅冷酷的心肝。我们正在走向一个好心肠时代，但是，我们认识到，除非在有善良愿望的人之间，是不可能存在好心肠时代的。

　　 出于这些原因，我理所当然地认为，我们所目睹的最重大变化就是美国道德风尚的变化。

　　在有善良愿望的人之间，科学加之民主，为个人提供了日益丰富的生活和日益增大的满足。随着道德风尚的这种变化，随着我们重新发现了改进经济秩序的能力，我们已经踏上了持久的进步之路。

　　 我们现在就停下来，从前进的道路上向后转吗？我们要把现在的美国称为希望之乡吗？或者，我们要继续走自己的路吗？因为侍云：“每一个时代都是一场梦，不是在消逝，就是在诞生。”

　　 我们在面临重大抉择时听到了许多声音。贪图安逸者说：“歇一会吧。”机会主义者说：“这是个好地方。”胆小怕事者问：“前面的路有多难走？”

　　不错，我们已经把萧条和沮丧的日子远远甩到了后面。我们维持了活力。我们恢复了勇气和信心。我们扩大了思想和道德领域的疆界。

　　但是，我们目前的成绩是在超常形势的压力下取得的。在恐惧和痛苦的刺激下，前进是迫不得已的。当时的形势是有利于进步的。

　　 然而，今天要坚持进步就比较困难了，麻木不仁、不负责任、冷酷无情的自私自利已经重新抬头。这类繁荣的症状可能成为灾难的征兆！繁荣已经在考验我们进步的决心能否持久。

　　 让我们再问一问：我们已经达到1933年3月4日那天幢憬的目标了吗？我们已经找到快乐之谷了吗？

　　 我看到一个伟大的国家，地处辽阔的大陆，天赐富饶的自然资源。它的一亿三千万人民和睦相处；他们正在使自己的国家威为各国的好邻居，我看到一个合众国，它能够作出示范，即采用民主管理的方法，可以把国家财富转变成日益广泛的、闻所未闻的人类生活情趣，可以把最低生活标准提高到远远超过仅仅糊口的水平。

　　 但是，我们的民主正面临种种挑战：在这个国家，我看到几千万公民——占人口总数相当大一部分——此时此刻得不到按目前最低标准所规定的大部分生活必需品。

　　 我看到几百万个家庭以微薄收入勉强度日，日复一日处于家庭灾难的威胁之下。我看到几百万城乡居民，他们的日常生活仍处于半个世纪以前被所谓上流社会称作的不体面状况。

　　 我看到几百万人得不到教育和娱乐，得不到改善自己及其子女命运的机会。

　　 我看到几百万人无力购买工农业产品，而他们的贫困又使其他成千上万人无法投人工作和生产。

　　 我看到全国三分之一的人住不好，穿不好，吃不好。

　　 我不是怀着失望向你们描绘这幅图景的。我是怀着希望来描绘的——因为，当全国都看到并认识到这是不公正现象，就会建议把它消除掉。我们决心使每个美国公民都成为国家注意和关心的对象；我们决下会把境内任何忠诚守法的群体看作是多余的。检验我们进步的标准，不是看我们是否为富裕者锦上添花，而是看我们是否使贫困者丰衣足食。

　　如果我对我国的精神和目标有所了解，那么，我们一定不会去理睬贪图安逸者、机会主义者和胆小怕事者，我们一定会继续前进。

　　我们合众国绝大多数人都是善良的人，不论男人还是女人；他们不仅都有热诚的奉献之心，而且还有为达到实际目的所需要的冷静的头脑和勤劳的双手。他们会坚持认为，民众政府的各个机构都要运用有效的手段来执行人民的意志。

　　政府的各个成员都作为全体人民的委托人那样去工作，这个政府就是称职的政府，政府随时了解所有情况，它就能不断前进，人民了解到政府所作所为的真实情况，政府就能得到应有的支持和合理的批评。如果我对我国人民的意志有所了解，那么，他们会要求务必创造并维持使政府有效的上述条件。他们会要求我国不为不公正的致命弊病所败坏，从而在决心实现和平方面为各国树立起坚强的榜样。今天，我们在突然发生变化的文明世界上、再一次把我们的国家奉献给珍视已久的理想。世界各地历来存在使人们分离或聚合的力量。从个人抱负而言，我们是个人主义者。但是，当我们作为一个国家去谋求经济和政治进步时，我们就是一个整体，要么共同兴旺起来，要么一起衰落下去。

　　要维持民主的力量，需要以极大的耐心来处理方法上的分歧，而要有虚怀若谷的气度，但是，在众说纷纭之中，可以了解到公众需要的主流。于是，政治领导人就能够指出共同的理想，井帮助实现这些理想。

　　值此再度宣誓就任台众国总统之际，我担当起领导美国人民沿着他们选定的前进道路奔向前方的庄严职责。

　　在担任这个职务朗间，我要尽最大努力按照人民的意图说话，按照人民的意志办事，我要析求上帝的指引，来帮助我们大家把光亮送给黑暗中的人，并引导大家走向和平之路。

 

 

 

 

Third Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
 MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1941
 On each national day of inauguration since 1789, the people have renewed their sense of dedication to the United States.
 In Washington's day the task of the people was to create and weld together a nation.
 In Lincoln's day the task of the people was to preserve that Nation from disruption from within.
 In this day the task of the people is to save that Nation and its institutions from disruption from without.
 To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to pause for a moment and take stock--to recall what our place in history has been, and to rediscover what we are and what we may be. If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.
 Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of the human spirit. The life of a man is three-score years and ten: a little more, a little less. The life of a nation is the fullness of the measure of its will to live.
 There are men who doubt this. There are men who believe that democracy, as a form of Government and a frame of life, is limited or measured by a kind of mystical and artificial fate that, for some unexplained reason, tyranny and slavery have become the surging wave of the future--and that freedom is an ebbing tide.
 But we Americans know that this is not true.
 Eight years ago, when the life of this Republic seemed frozen by a fatalistic terror, we proved that this is not true. We were in the midst of shock--but we acted. We acted quickly, boldly, decisively.
 These later years have been living years--fruitful years for the people of this democracy. For they have brought to us greater security and, I hope, a better understanding that life's ideals are to be measured in other than material things.
 Most vital to our present and our future is this experience of a democracy which successfully survived crisis at home; put away many evil things; built new structures on enduring lines; and, through it all, maintained the fact of its democracy.
 For action has been taken within the three-way framework of the Constitution of the United States. The coordinate branches of the Government continue freely to function. The Bill of Rights remains inviolate. The freedom of elections is wholly maintained. Prophets of the downfall of American democracy have seen their dire predictions come to naught.
 Democracy is not dying.
 We know it because we have seen it revive--and grow.
 We know it cannot die--because it is built on the unhampered initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise--an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority.
 We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men's enlightened will.
 We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited civilization capable of infinite progress in the improvement of human life.
 We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on every continent--for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms of human society.
 A nation, like a person, has a body--a body that must be fed and clothed and housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that measures up to the objectives of our time.
 A nation, like a person, has a mind--a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the hopes and the needs of its neighbors--all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world.
 And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts. It is that something which matters most to its future--which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its present.
 It is a thing for which we find it difficult--even impossible--to hit upon a single, simple word.
 And yet we all understand what it is--the spirit--the faith of America. It is the product of centuries. It was born in the multitudes of those who came from many lands--some of high degree, but mostly plain people, who sought here, early and late, to find freedom more freely.
 The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history. It permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It blazed anew in the middle ages. It was written in Magna Charta.
 In the Americas its impact has been irresistible. America has been the New World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this continent was a new-found land, but because all those who came here believed they could create upon this continent a new life--a life that should be new in freedom.
 Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the Declaration of Independence, into the Constitution of the United States, into the Gettysburg Address.
 Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their spirit, and the millions who followed, and the stock that sprang from them--all have moved forward constantly and consistently toward an ideal which in itself has gained stature and clarity with each generation.
 The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.
 We know that we still have far to go; that we must more greatly build the security and the opportunity and the knowledge of every citizen, in the measure justified by the resources and the capacity of the land.
 But it is not enough to achieve these purposes alone. It is not enough to clothe and feed the body of this Nation, and instruct and inform its mind. For there is also the spirit. And of the three, the greatest is the spirit.
 Without the body and the mind, as all men know, the Nation could not live.
 But if the spirit of America were killed, even though the Nation's body and mind, constricted in an alien world, lived on, the America we know would have perished.
 That spirit--that faith--speaks to us in our daily lives in ways often unnoticed, because they seem so obvious. It speaks to us here in the Capital of the Nation. It speaks to us through the processes of governing in the sovereignties of 48 States. It speaks to us in our counties, in our cities, in our towns, and in our villages. It speaks to us from the other nations of the hemisphere, and from those across the seas--the enslaved, as well as the free. Sometimes we fail to hear or heed these voices of freedom because to us the privilege of our freedom is such an old, old story.
 The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken by our first President in his first inaugural in 1789--words almost directed, it would seem, to this year of 1941: "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered ... deeply, ... finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people."
 If we lose that sacred fire--if we let it be smothered with doubt and fear--then we shall reject the destiny which Washington strove so valiantly and so triumphantly to establish. The preservation of the spirit and faith of the Nation does, and will, furnish the highest justification for every sacrifice that we may make in the cause of national defense.
 In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong purpose is to protect and to perpetuate the integrity of democracy.
 For this we muster the spirit of America, and the faith of America.
 We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.

Fourth Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
 SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1945
 Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends, you will understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief.
 We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage--of our resolve--of our wisdom--our essential democracy.
 If we meet that test--successfully and honorably--we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time.
 As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen--in the presence of our God-- I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail.
 In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war.
 We can and we will achieve such a peace.
 We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately--but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes--but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.
 I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said, in days that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled: "Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights--then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend."
 Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy.
 And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons-- at a fearful cost--and we shall profit by them.
 We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.
 We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.
 We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that "The only way to have a friend is to be one." We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear.
 We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.
 The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world.
 So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly--to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men--to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.

 

富兰克林·罗斯福
第三次就职演讲
星期一,1941年1月20日

民主不是在死亡
　　1789年起，每逢总统就职典礼的全国性日子，人民都要赋予为合众国作出奉献以新的意义。
　　在华盛顿就职时，人民的任务是创立和熔铸成为一个国家。

　　在林肯就职时，人民的任务是维护这个国家，使它避免从内部发生分裂。

　　今天，人民的任务是挽救这个国家及其制度，使它避免因外部因素而瓦解。

　　对我们来说，由于事态的急剧发展，现在已经到了稍停片刻和作一番审查的时候——重新想一想我们在历史上占据了什么地位，重新看一看我们现在和可能扮演什么角色。如果我们不这佯做，我们将因迟钝而冒真正的危险。国家的寿命并不是用年数的多少来确定的，而是用人类精神的生命力来确定的。人的寿命一般是70岁：有的人活得稍微长一些，有的人稍微短一些。国家的寿命则完全取决于官的生存意志。有些人怀疑这一条。有些人认为：民主作为一种政体和生活制度，受到神秘的和人为的命运的限制或制约；出于某种无法解释的原因，暴政和奴隶制已成为未宋的汹桶潮流，自由正在退潮。

　　但是，我们美国人知道这不是真的。

　　8年前，当这个共和国的生命似乎由于命中注定的恐惧而停止时，我们已经证明这不是真的，我们曾处于恐惧之中——但是我们采取了行动。我们迅速、大胆、果断地采取了行动。

　　后来的这若千年一直是生气勃勃的年代——是这个民主国家的人民获得丰收的年代。因为这些年给我们带来了更大的安全，而且我希望，也带来了更好的认识，即生活的理想是用物质以外的东西来衡量的。

　　对我们的现在和未来而言，一个民主国家的这段经历是最重要的：它成功地度过了国内危机，它抛弃了许多邪恶的东西；它根据持久的路线建立了新的结构；通过所有这些，它坚持了民主制的实际。

　　这是因为，我们是在合众国宪法规定的三权分立的范围内采取行动的，与政府井列的各个部门继续在自由地履行职能，权利法案依然不可侵犯。选举自由完全得到了坚持，预言美国民主制即将崩溃的人已经发现，他们耸人听闻的预测变成了泡影。

　　民主不是在死亡。

　　我们了解这一点，因为我们已经目睹它复苏过来——而且成长起来。我们知道它不会死亡——因为它是建立在男男女女的不受压抑的主动精神上的，他们携手并肩地投入了一项共同的事业——一项由享有自由的多数人通过自由表达来承担和完成的事业。

　　我们知道民主不会死亡，因为在各种形式的政体中，唯独民主政体能充分发挥人类进步意志的力量。

　　我们知道民主不会死亡，因为唯独民主制确立了没有任何约束的文明，它能在改善人类生活方面取得永无止境的进步。

　　我们知道民主下会死亡，因为如果我们透过表面看问题，就会感觉到它仍在每一片大陆上扩展——因为它是最人道、最先进，说到底也是最不可征服的人类社会形式。

　　国家像人一样有一个身体——它必须以我们时代的目标为标准，得到吃、穿、住、活动和休息。

　　国家位人一样有一个脑袋——它必须了解憎况和处于戒备状态，它必须了解自己，了解邻居的希望和需要，而邻居就是生活在这个狭小世界范围内的所有其他国家。

　　国家像人一样不止是各个部分的总和，还有更深、更广、更持久的东西，这件东西最关系到国家的前途——它唤起民众最神圣地保卫其现在。

　　对这作东西，我们发觉很难，甚至不可能用一句简单的话来表达。

　　不过，我们都了解它是什么——它是精神——它是美国的信念。它是好几个世纪的结晶。它是在大批群众中产生的，他们来自世界上的许多地方——有些人层次较高，但大多数是普通人，他们在此致力于总有一天能更不受约束地寻找自由。

　　在人类历史上，渴望民主并不是最近阶段的事情。它本身就是一部人类史。这样的例子在古代各国人民的生活中俯拾即是。它在中世纪重新燃起了火炬。它被载人了英国大宪章。

　　民主在美洲一直有曹不可抗拒的影响。美国历来是操不同语言的各国人民心中的新世界，这倒不是因为它是一片新发现的大陆，而是因为所有来到这里的人都相信，他们能够在这片大陆上创造出新的生活——而且应当是自由的新生活。

　　民主的生命力被记载在我们自己的五月花号公约中，被记载在独立宣言、合众国宪法和葛底斯堡演说中。

　　那些最先来到这里实现其精神追求的人们，那些成千上万的后继者，以及这些人的子孙后代——都在坚定不移地、始终如一地奔向一个理想，而这个理想在每一代人中逐渐成长和明确起来。

　　为了实现共和国的希望，既不能永无休止地容忍不该有的贫穷，也不能水无休止地容忍自私自利的财富。

　　我们知道，我们还要走很长的一段路，我们必须根据国家资源和能力的条件，为每一个公民创造出更大的安全、更好的机会和更多的知识。

　　但是，仅仅达到这些目的是不够的，使这个国家有衣穿和有饭吃是不够的，使它得到教诲和知识也是不够的，因为它还有精神。在身体、脑袋和精神三者中间，精神是最重要的。

　　所有的人都知道，没有身体和脑袋，这个国家就不能生存。

　　但是，如果美国精神遭到扼杀，我们所知道的美国就会灭亡，即使它的身体和脑袋蜷缩到完全不同的世界中依然生存。那种精神——那种信念——在我们的日常生活中对我们说话，但它说话的方式常常不被注意，因为似乎大司空见惯了。它在这里，在我国的首都对我们说话。它通过48个主权州的管理过程对我们说话。它在我国的农村、城市、乡镇、村庄对我们说话。它从西半球的其他国家，从大洋彼岸的国家——无论是被奴役的国家还是自由的国家对我们说话。有时候我们听不见，或者不注意这些表达自由的声音，因为对我们来说，自由的特权已是很古老的故事。

　　 1789．我国第一位总统在他的首任就职演说中作过预言，他的话宣布了美国的命运——这些话似乎完全是针对今年1941年说的，“人们理所当然地、满怀深情地、也许是最后一次地把维护神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命运，系于美国人所遵命进行的实验上。”

　　 如果我们丢掉那支神圣的火炬——如果我们让它在怀疑和恐惧中熄灭——那么，我们就会抛弃华盛顿经过如此英勇和成功的斗争而确立起来的命运。为了维护美国的精神和信念，我们现在和将来都完全有理由在国防事业中作出任何牺牲。

　　 我们面临着前所未有的严峻的险恶形势，我们的坚定决心是捍卫和维持民主的完整。

　　 为此，我们要振作起美国的精神和美国的信心。

　　 我们不会后退。我们不会满足于原地踏步。作为美国人，我们要遵奉上帝的意志为国效力和走向前方。

 

 

 

 

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.
 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 can greatly increase the industrial activity in other nations and can raise substantially their standards of living.
 Such new economic developments must be devised and controlled to benefit the peoples of the areas in which they are established. Guarantees to the investor must be balanced by guarantees in the interest of the people whose resources and whose labor go into these developments.
 The old imperialism--exploitation for foreign profit--has no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair-dealing.
 All countries, including our own, will greatly benefit from a constructive program for the better use of the world's human and natural resources. Experience shows that our commerce with other countries expands as they progress industrially and economically.
 Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of modern scientific and technical knowledge.
 Only by helping the least fortunate of its members to help themselves can the human family achieve the decent, satisfying life that is the right of all people.
 Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies-- hunger, misery, and despair.
 On the basis of these four major courses of action we hope to help create the conditions that will lead eventually to personal freedom and happiness for all mankind.
 If we are to be successful in carrying out these policies, it is clear that we must have continued prosperity in this country and we must keep ourselves strong.
 Slowly but surely we are weaving a world fabric of international security and growing prosperity.
 We are aided by all who wish to live in freedom from fear--even by those who live today in fear under their own governments.
 We are aided by all who want relief from the lies of propaganda-- who desire truth and sincerity.
 We are aided by all who desire self-government and a voice in deciding their own affairs.
 We are aided by all who long for economic security--for the security and abundance that men in free societies can enjoy.
 We are aided by all who desire freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to live their own lives for useful ends.
 Our allies are the millions who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
 In due time, as our stability becomes manifest, as more and more nations come to know the benefits of democracy and to participate in growing abundance, I believe that those countries which now oppose us will abandon their delusions and join with the free nations of the world in a just settlement of international differences.
 Events have brought our American democracy to new influence and new responsibilities. They will test our courage, our devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty.
 But I say to all men, what we have achieved in liberty, we will surpass in greater liberty.
 Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we will advance toward a world where man's freedom is secure.
 To that end we will devote our strength, our resources, and our firmness of resolve. With God's help, the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

 

哈里·杜鲁门
就职演讲
星期四,1949年1月20日

四项主要的行动方针
　　我国历史上的各个时期都面临过特殊的挑战。我们现在面临的挑战和过去面临的任何挑战一样严重，今天不仅标志着一届新政府的起点，而且标志着一个新时期的开始。对我们来说，对整个世界来说，这个时期特是个多事之秋，也许还将是决定性的岁月。也许命运注定我们要去体验，或者在更大程度上是去促成人类漫长历史中的一个重大转折。本世纪上半叶的特点是，人权遭到史无前例的粗暴践踏，并经历了历史上最可怕的两场战争。我们这个时代最迫切的需要是学会和睦相处。
　　世界各国人民都怀着忐忑不安的心情面对着未来，他们既充满希望又满腹忧虑。在这疑虑的时刻，他们比以往任何时候更期待着合众国的善意、力量以及明智的领导。

　　因此，我们审时度势，利用这一时机向全世界宣布指导我们生活的信念的基本原则，向所有的民族宜布我们的目标。

　　在今后几年，我们的和平自由纲领将着重于四项主要的行动方针。

　　第一，我们将继续坚定不移地支持联合国及其有关机构，继续寻求各种方法来加强这些机构的权威和增加这些机构的效率。今天，不少新的国家正在成立，正在民主原则的指引下向自治方向迈进，我们相信，联合国将因这些新国家而得到加强。

　　第二，我们将继续执行我们制定的世界经济复兴计划。

　　这意味着我们必须首先全力支持欧洲复兴计划。对于世界复兴中这一重大事业的成功，我们充满了信心。我们相信，通过这项工作，我们的伙伴将再一次取得自给国家的地位。此外，我们还必须执行为减少世界贸易壁垒、增加世界贸易额而制定的计划。经济复兴与和平本身都取决于世界贸易的增加。

　　第三，我们要加强热爱自由的国家的力量，以抵御侵略的威胁。

　　我们和许多国家一起，正在为增加北大西洋地区的安全面起草一项共同协议。这种协议将根据联合国宪章的规定，采取集体防御协定的形式。

　　我们已经根据里约热内卢公约为西半球建立了这样一个防御同盟。

　　这些协议的主要目的是明确表示自由国家抵抗来自任何地方的武装进攻的共同决心。参加这些协议的每个国家必须为共同防御贡献出全部力量。

　　如果我们能预先充分地表明，任何影响到我们国家安全的武装进攻必将遭到强大的抵抗，那么武装进攻也许就永远不会发生。

　　我希望关于北大西洋安全计划的条约不久将呈送参议院。

　　此外，我们还将向在维护和平与安全时同我们进行合作的自由国家，提供军事顾问和军事装备。

　　第四，我们必须着手拟定一项大胆的新计划，使不发达地区的进步与发展能受益于我们的先进的科学和发达的工业。

　　全世界半数以上的人口正濒临悲惨的境地，他们食不果腹、疾患加身。他们的经济生活原始落后，滞缀不振。无论对于他们自己还是对于比较繁荣的地区来说，他们的贫困既是一种阻碍又是一种威胁。

　　人类有史以来第一次掌握了能解除这些人苦难的知识和技术。

　　合众国在工业和科学技术发展方面居各国之首。尽管我们用来援助其他国家人民的物质资源是有限的，但我们在技术知识方面的资源却是无法估量的，是不断增长和用之不竭的。

　　我认为，为了帮助各爱好和平民族实现他们对美好生活的愿望，我们应该使他们受惠于我们丰富的技术知识。同时，我们还应该和其他国家合作，支持对急待开发的地区进行投资。

　　我们的目标应该是帮助世界上各个自由民族通过他们自己的努力，生产更多的食物，更多的衣物，更多的建筑材料，以及更多的机器来减轻他们的负担。

　　我们吁请其他国象汇集他们的技术力量以进行这项工作。我们热烈欢迎他们作出贡献。这应该是一种合作事业，所有国家通过联合国及其专门机构在任何可行的方面为此共同工作。这必须是在世界范围内为实现和平、繁荣和自由而作出的努力。

　　在我国企业、私人资本、农业和劳工等方面的协作下，这一计划能够极大促进其他国家的工业活动，从实质上提高他们的生活水平。

　　这种新的经济发展必须加以规划和控制，从而使被开发地区的人民有所得益。在保证投资者利益的同时，必须兼顾人民的利益，因为在这些经济发展中倾注着人民的才智和劳动。

　　在我们的计划中，剥削他国利润的老牌帝国主义没有立足之地。我们拟定的是一个以民主的公平交易的概念为基础的发展规划。

　　所有国家，包括我国在内，将极大地受益于为更合理地使用世界上的人力资源和自然资源而制定的一项建设性计划。经验证明，我们同其他国家的贸易将随着这些国家在工业和经济上的发展而扩大。

　　提高生产是繁荣与和平的关键，而提高生产的关键是更广泛、更积极地运用现代科学技术知识。

　　人类大家庭只有通过帮助最不幸的成员自助，才能享受体面的、令人满意的生活，而所有人郁有权过上这样的生活。

　　只有民主政治才能产生生机勃勃的力量，以激励世界人民不仅为反抗人类的压迫者，而且压力反抗人类古老的敌人——饥饿、贫困、失望——而斗争。

　　根据这四项主要的行动方针，我们希望有助于创造各种条件，最终实现个人自由和全人类的幸福。

 

 

 

 

First Inaugural Address of Dwight D. Eisenhower
 TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1953
 My friends, before I begin the expression of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. And I ask that you bow your heads:
 Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates in the executive branch of government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.
 Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling.
 May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen.
 My fellow citizens:
 The world and we have passed the midway point of a century of continuing challenge. We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history.
 This fact defines the meaning of this day. We are summoned by this honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the act of one citizen swearing his oath of service, in the presence of God. We are called as a people to give testimony in the sight of the world to our faith that the future shall belong to the free.
 Since this century's beginning, a time of tempest has seemed to come upon the continents of the earth. Masses of Asia have awakened to strike off shackles of the past. Great nations of Europe have fought their bloodiest wars. Thrones have toppled and their vast empires have disappeared. New nations have been born.
 For our own country, it has been a time of recurring trial. We have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man's history. Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne, to the shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea.
 In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live. In our quest of understanding, we beseech God's guidance. We summon all our knowledge of the past and we scan all signs of the future. We bring all our wit and all our will to meet the question:
 How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light? Are we nearing the light--a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?
 Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves all humankind.
 This trial comes at a moment when man's power to achieve good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest fears of all ages. We can turn rivers in their courses, level mountains to the plains. Oceans and land and sky are avenues for our colossal commerce. Disease diminishes and life lengthens.
 Yet the promise of this life is imperiled by the very genius that has made it possible. Nations amass wealth. Labor sweats to create--and turns out devices to level not only mountains but also cities. Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet.
 At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew our faith. This faith is the abiding creed of our fathers. It is our faith in the deathless dignity of man, governed by eternal moral and natural laws.
 This faith defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight.
 In the light of this equality, we know that the virtues most cherished by free people--love of truth, pride of work, devotion to country--all are treasures equally precious in the lives of the most humble and of the most exalted. The men who mine coal and fire furnaces and balance ledgers and turn lathes and pick cotton and heal the sick and plant corn--all serve as proudly, and as profitably, for America as the statesmen who draft treaties and the legislators who enact laws.
 This faith rules our whole way of life. It decrees that we, the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve. It asserts that we have the right to choice of our own work and to the reward of our own toil. It inspires the initiative that makes our productivity the wonder of the world. And it warns that any man who seeks to deny equality among all his brothers betrays the spirit of the free and invites the mockery of the tyrant.
 It is because we, all of us, hold to these principles that the political changes accomplished this day do not imply turbulence, upheaval or disorder. Rather this change expresses a purpose of strengthening our dedication and devotion to the precepts of our founding documents, a conscious renewal of faith in our country and in the watchfulness of a Divine Providence.
 The enemies of this faith know no god but force, no devotion but its use. They tutor men in treason. They feed upon the hunger of others. Whatever defies them, they torture, especially the truth.
 Here, then, is joined no argument between slightly differing philosophies. This conflict strikes directly at the faith of our fathers and the lives of our sons. No principle or treasure that we hold, from the spiritual knowledge of our free schools and churches to the creative magic of free labor and capital, nothing lies safely beyond the reach of this struggle.
 Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark.
 The faith we hold belongs not to us alone but to the free of all the world. This common bond binds the grower of rice in Burma and the planter of wheat in Iowa, the shepherd in southern Italy and the mountaineer in the Andes. It confers a common dignity upon the French soldier who dies in Indo-China, the British soldier killed in Malaya, the American life given in Korea.
 We know, beyond this, that we are linked to all free peoples not merely by a noble idea but by a simple need. No free people can for long cling to any privilege or enjoy any safety in economic solitude. For all our own material might, even we need markets in the world for the surpluses of our farms and our factories. Equally, we need for these same farms and factories vital materials and products of distant lands. This basic law of interdependence, so manifest in the commerce of peace, applies with thousand-fold intensity in the event of war.
 So we are persuaded by necessity and by belief that the strength of all free peoples lies in unity; their danger, in discord.
 To produce this unity, to meet the challenge of our time, destiny has laid upon our country the responsibility of the free world's leadership.
 So it is proper that we assure our friends once again that, in the discharge of this responsibility, we Americans know and we observe the difference between world leadership and imperialism; between firmness and truculence; between a thoughtfully calculated goal and spasmodic reaction to the stimulus of emergencies.
 We wish our friends the world over to know this above all: we face the threat--not with dread and confusion--but with confidence and conviction.
 We feel this moral strength because we know that we are not helpless prisoners of history. We are free men. We shall remain free, never to be proven guilty of the one capital offense against freedom, a lack of stanch faith.
 In pleading our just cause before the bar of history and in pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain fixed principles.
 These principles are:
 (1) Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression and promote the conditions of peace. For, as it must be the supreme purpose of all free men, so it must be the dedication of their leaders, to save humanity from preying upon itself.
 In the light of this principle, we stand ready to engage with any and all others in joint effort to remove the causes of mutual fear and distrust among nations, so as to make possible drastic reduction of armaments. The sole requisites for undertaking such effort are that--in their purpose--they be aimed logically and honestly toward secure peace for all; and that--in their result-- they provide methods by which every participating nation will prove good faith in carrying out its pledge.
 (2) Realizing that common sense and common decency alike dictate the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.
 (3) Knowing that only a United States that is strong and immensely productive can help defend freedom in our world, we view our Nation's strength and security as a trust upon which rests the hope of free men everywhere. It is the firm duty of each of our free citizens and of every free citizen everywhere to place the cause of his country before the comfort, the convenience of himself.
 (4) Honoring the identity and the special heritage of each nation in the world, we shall never use our strength to try to impress upon another people our own cherished political and economic institutions.
 (5) Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them to assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just burdens in the common defense of freedom.
 (6) Recognizing economic health as an indispensable basis of military strength and the free world's peace, we shall strive to foster everywhere, and to practice ourselves, policies that encourage productivity and profitable trade. For the impoverishment of any single people in the world means danger to the well-being of all other peoples.
 (7) Appreciating that economic need, military security and political wisdom combine to suggest regional groupings of free peoples, we hope, within the framework of the United Nations, to help strengthen such special bonds the world over. The nature of these ties must vary with the different problems of different areas.
 In the Western Hemisphere, we enthusiastically join with all our neighbors in the work of perfecting a community of fraternal trust and common purpose.
 In Europe, we ask that enlightened and inspired leaders of the Western nations strive with renewed vigor to make the unity of their peoples a reality. Only as free Europe unitedly marshals its strength can it effectively safeguard, even with our help, its spiritual and cultural heritage.
 (8) Conceiving the defense of freedom, like freedom itself, to be one and indivisible, we hold all continents and peoples in equal regard and honor. We reject any insinuation that one race or another, one people or another, is in any sense inferior or expendable.
 (9) Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever cease.
 By these rules of conduct, we hope to be known to all peoples.
 By their observance, an earth of peace may become not a vision but a fact.
 This hope--this supreme aspiration--must rule the way we live.
 We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose.
 We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
 These basic precepts are not lofty abstractions, far removed from matters of daily living. They are laws of spiritual strength that generate and define our material strength. Patriotism means equipped forces and a prepared citizenry. Moral stamina means more energy and more productivity, on the farm and in the factory. Love of liberty means the guarding of every resource that makes freedom possible--from the sanctity of our families and the wealth of our soil to the genius of our scientists.
 And so each citizen plays an indispensable role. The productivity of our heads, our hands, and our hearts is the source of all the strength we can command, for both the enrichment of our lives and the winning of the peace.
 No person, no home, no community can be beyond the reach of this call. We are summoned to act in wisdom and in conscience, to work with industry, to teach with persuasion, to preach with conviction, to weigh our every deed with care and with compassion. For this truth must be clear before us: whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.
 The peace we seek, then, is nothing less than the practice and fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves and in our dealings with others. This signifies more than the stilling of guns, easing the sorrow of war. More than escape from death, it is a way of life. More than a haven for the weary, it is a hope for the brave.
 This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial. This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God.

 

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Dwight D. Eisenhower
 MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1957
 THE PRICE OF PEACE
 Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Speaker, members of my family and friends, my countrymen, and the friends of my country, wherever they may be, we meet again, as upon a like moment four years ago, and again you have witnessed my solemn oath of service to you.
 I, too, am a witness, today testifying in your name to the principles and purposes to which we, as a people, are pledged.
 Before all else, we seek, upon our common labor as a nation, the blessings of Almighty God. And the hopes in our hearts fashion the deepest prayers of our whole people.
 May we pursue the right--without self-righteousness.
 May we know unity--without conformity.
 May we grow in strength--without pride in self.
 May we, in our dealings with all peoples of the earth, ever speak truth and serve justice.
 And so shall America--in the sight of all men of good will--prove true to the honorable purposes that bind and rule us as a people in all this time of trial through which we pass.
 We live in a land of plenty, but rarely has this earth known such peril as today.
 In our nation work and wealth abound. Our population grows. Commerce crowds our rivers and rails, our skies, harbors, and highways. Our soil is fertile, our agriculture productive. The air rings with the song of our industry--rolling mills and blast furnaces, dynamos, dams, and assembly lines--the chorus of America the bountiful.
 This is our home--yet this is not the whole of our world. For our world is where our full destiny lies--with men, of all people, and all nations, who are or would be free. And for them--and so for us--this is no time of ease or of rest.
 In too much of the earth there is want, discord, danger. New forces and new nations stir and strive across the earth, with power to bring, by their fate, great good or great evil to the free world's future. From the deserts of North Africa to the islands of the South Pacific one third of all mankind has entered upon an historic struggle for a new freedom; freedom from grinding poverty. Across all continents, nearly a billion people seek, sometimes almost in desperation, for the skills and knowledge and assistance by which they may satisfy from their own resources, the material wants common to all mankind.
 No nation, however old or great, escapes this tempest of change and turmoil. Some, impoverished by the recent World War, seek to restore their means of livelihood. In the heart of Europe, Germany still stands tragically divided. So is the whole continent divided. And so, too, is all the world.
 The divisive force is International Communism and the power that it controls.
 The designs of that power, dark in purpose, are clear in practice. It strives to seal forever the fate of those it has enslaved. It strives to break the ties that unite the free. And it strives to capture--to exploit for its own greater power--all forces of change in the world, especially the needs of the hungry and the hopes of the oppressed.
 Yet the world of International Communism has itself been shaken by a fierce and mighty force: the readiness of men who love freedom to pledge their lives to that love. Through the night of their bondage, the unconquerable will of heroes has struck with the swift, sharp thrust of lightning. Budapest is no longer merely the name of a city; henceforth it is a new and shining symbol of man's yearning to be free.
 Thus across all the globe there harshly blow the winds of change. And, we--though fortunate be our lot--know that we can never turn our backs to them.
 We look upon this shaken earth, and we declare our firm and fixed purpose--the building of a peace with justice in a world where moral law prevails.
 The building of such a peace is a bold and solemn purpose. To proclaim it is easy. To serve it will be hard. And to attain it, we must be aware of its full meaning--and ready to pay its full price.
 We know clearly what we seek, and why.
 We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom. And now, as in no other age, we seek it because we have been warned, by the power of modern weapons, that peace may be the only climate possible for human life itself.
 Yet this peace we seek cannot be born of fear alone: it must be rooted in the lives of nations. There must be justice, sensed and shared by all peoples, for, without justice the world can know only a tense and unstable truce. There must be law, steadily invoked and respected by all nations, for without law, the world promises only such meager justice as the pity of the strong upon the weak. But the law of which we speak, comprehending the values of freedom, affirms the equality of all nations, great and small.
 Splendid as can be the blessings of such a peace, high will be its cost: in toil patiently sustained, in help honorably given, in sacrifice calmly borne.
 We are called to meet the price of this peace.
 To counter the threat of those who seek to rule by force, we must pay the costs of our own needed military strength, and help to build the security of others.
 We must use our skills and knowledge and, at times, our substance, to help others rise from misery, however far the scene of suffering may be from our shores. For wherever in the world a people knows desperate want, there must appear at least the spark of hope, the hope of progress--or there will surely rise at last the flames of conflict.
 We recognize and accept our own deep involvement in the destiny of men everywhere. We are accordingly pledged to honor, and to strive to fortify, the authority of the United Nations. For in that body rests the best hope of our age for the assertion of that law by which all nations may live in dignity.
 And, beyond this general resolve, we are called to act a responsible role in the world's great concerns or conflicts-- whether they touch upon the affairs of a vast region, the fate of an island in the Pacific, or the use of a canal in the Middle East. Only in respecting the hopes and cultures of others will we practice the equality of all nations. Only as we show willingness and wisdom in giving counsel--in receiving counsel--and in sharing burdens, will we wisely perform the work of peace.
 For one truth must rule all we think and all we do. No people can live to itself alone. The unity of all who dwell in freedom is their only sure defense. The economic need of all nations--in mutual dependence--makes isolation an impossibility; not even America's prosperity could long survive if other nations did not also prosper. No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can now build only their own prison.
 Our pledge to these principles is constant, because we believe in their rightness.
 We do not fear this world of change. America is no stranger to much of its spirit. Everywhere we see the seeds of the same growth that America itself has known. The American experiment has, for generations, fired the passion and the courage of millions elsewhere seeking freedom, equality, and opportunity. And the American story of material progress has helped excite the longing of all needy peoples for some satisfaction of their human wants. These hopes that we have helped to inspire, we can help to fulfill.
 In this confidence, we speak plainly to all peoples.
 We cherish our friendship with all nations that are or would be free. We respect, no less, their independence. And when, in time of want or peril, they ask our help, they may honorably receive it; for we no more seek to buy their sovereignty than we would sell our own. Sovereignty is never bartered among freemen.
 We honor the aspirations of those nations which, now captive, long for freedom. We seek neither their military alliance nor any artificial imitation of our society. And they can know the warmth of the welcome that awaits them when, as must be, they join again the ranks of freedom.
 We honor, no less in this divided world than in a less tormented time, the people of Russia. We do not dread, rather do we welcome, their progress in education and industry. We wish them success in their demands for more intellectual freedom, greater security before their own laws, fuller enjoyment of the rewards of their own toil. For as such things come to pass, the more certain will be the coming of that day when our peoples may freely meet in friendship.
 So we voice our hope and our belief that we can help to heal this divided world. Thus may the nations cease to live in trembling before the menace of force. Thus may the weight of fear and the weight of arms be taken from the burdened shoulders of mankind.
 This, nothing less, is the labor to which we are called and our strength dedicated.
 And so the prayer of our people carries far beyond our own frontiers, to the wide world of our duty and our destiny.
 May the light of freedom, coming to all darkened lands, flame brightly--until at last the darkness is no more.
 May the turbulence of our age yield to a true time of peace, when men and nations shall share a life that honors the dignity of each, the brotherhood of all.

 

德怀特·艾森豪威尔
第二次就职演讲
星期一,1957年1月21日

和平的代价
　　因此，强劲的变革之风已吹遍全球，虽然我们很幸运，但我们知道，决不能置之下理。
　　我们注视着这一震撼的世界，并宣告我们坚定不移的目标：在奉行道德法则的世界上以正义来建立和平。

　　建立这样的和平是大胆而神圣的目标。宣布这一目标易如反掌，但达到这一目标却困难重重。为了实现这一目标，我们必须充分认识它的意义，并随时准备为此付出全部代价。

　　我们非常明白我们寻求的是什么，以及为什么要寻求。

　　我们寻求和平，是因为我们知道和平是自由的条件，与其他时代不同的是，我们今天寻求和平，是因为我们已受到现代武器的威力的警告：和平可能已成为人类生活本身唯一可以依赖的条件。

　　 但是，我们所寻求的和平不能只是因恐惧而产生，和平必须根植于各国人民的生活之中。必须有一种正义，它能力一切民族所感受和分享，因为，如果没有正义，世界上就只有一种紧张而不稳定的休战。必须有一种法律，它能为一切国家坚定地奉行和尊重，因为，如果没有法律，世界上就只有强者怜悯弱者那样的无力的正义。但我们所说的法律，应包括自由的全部价值，并确认国家不论大小，一律平等。

　　 这样的和平所产生的幸福是辉煌的，其代价是高昂的，需要耐心地忍受艰辛，正直地给予援助，安然地承受牺牲。

　　 我们被召唤来为这种和平付出代价。

　　 为了制止那些企图用武力实行统治的人所造成的威胁，我们必须为我们所需要的军备力量付出代价，并帮助其他民族建立他们的安全保障。

　　 我们必须运用我们的技术和知识，有时甚至运用我们的物资，去帮助其他民族摆脱痛苦，不论这些痛苦的所在地离我们的海岸有多远。因为在世界的任何地方，一个民族只要知道自己追切需要什么，那里就必然会出现希望的火花，出现进步的希望，换句话说，最后必定会燃起抗争的火焰。

　　 我们认识到，并承认我们自己已深深地同世界各地人民的命运联在一起。所以，我们发音要尊重并努力加强联合国的权威。因为在这个机构中，寄托着我们这个时代最美好的希望——维护所有国家尊严的法律。除了这个总的决心之外，我们还受命在世界重大事件或冲突中负起责任，无论这些事件涉及的是某个广大地区的事务，还是太平洋上某个岛屿的命运，或是中东某条运河的使用。只有尊重其他国家的希望和文化，我们才能做到各国之间的平等。只有在提出忠告，接受忠告，分担直任时显示出我们的意愿和智慧，我们才能明智地履行和平的任务。

 

 

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.
 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.
 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.

 

约翰·肯尼迪
就职演讲
星期五,1961年1月20日

火炬已经传给新一代美国人
　　首席法官先生、艾森豪威尔总统、尼克松副总统、杜鲁门总统、尊敬的牧师、各位公民：
　　今天我们庆祝的不是政党的胜利，而是自由的胜利。这象征着一个结束，也象征着一个开端，表示了一种更新，也表示了一种变革。因为我已在你们和全能的上帝面前，宣读了我们的先辈在170多年前拟定的庄严誓言。现在的世界已大不相同了，人类的巨手掌握着既能消灭人间的各种贫困，又能毁灭人间的各种生活的力量。但我们的先辈为之奋斗的那些革命信念，在世界各地仍然有着争论。这个信念就是：人的权利井非来自国家的慷慨，而是来自上帝恩赐。

　　今天，我们不敢忘记我们是第一次革命的继承者。让我们的朋友和敌人同样听见我此时此地的讲话：火炬已经传给新一代美国人。这一代人在本世纪诞生，在战争中受过锻炼，在艰难困苦的和平时期受过陶冶，他们为我国悠久的传统感到自豪——他们不愿目睹或听任我国一向保证的、今天仍在国内外作出保证的人权渐趋毁灭。

　　 让每个国家都知道——不论它希望我们繁荣还是希望我们衰落——为确保自由的存在和自由的胜利，我们将付出任何代价，承受任何负担，应付任何艰难，支持任何朋友，反抗任何敌人。

　　 这些就是我们的保证——而且还有更多的保证。

　　 对那些和我们有着共同文化和精神渊源的老盟友，我们保证待以诚实朋友那样的忠诚。我们如果团结一致，就能在许多合作事业中无在而下胜；我们如果分歧对立，就会一事无成——因为我们不敢在争吵下休、四分五裂时迎接强大的挑战。

　　 对那些我们欢迎其加入到自由行列中来的新国家，我们格守我们的誓言：决不让一种更为残酷的暴政来取代一种消失的殖民统治。我们并不总是指望他们会支持我们的观点。但我们始终希望看到他们坚强地维护自己的自由——而且要记住，在历史上，凡愚蠢地骑在虎背上谋求权力的人，都是以葬身虎口而告终。

　　 对世界各地身居茅舍和乡村，为摆脱普遍贪困而斗争的人们，我们保证尽量大努力帮助他们自立，不管需要花多长时间——之所以这样做，并不是因为共产党可能正在这样做，也不是因为我们需要他们的选票，而是因为这样做是正确的，自由社会如果不能帮助众多的穷人，也就无法保全少数富人。

　　 对我国南面的姐妹共和国，我们提出一项特殊的保证——在争取进步的新同盟中，把我们善意的话变为善意的行动，帮助自由的人们和自由的政府摆脱贫困的枷锁。但是，这种充满希望的和平革命决不可以成为敌对国家的牺牲品。我们要让所有邻国都知道，我们将和他们在一起，反对在美洲任何地区进行侵略和颠覆活动。让所有其他国家都知道，本半球的人仍然想做自己家园的主人。

　　 联合国是主权国家的世界性议事机构，是我们在战争手段大大超过和平手段的时代里最后的、最美好的希望所在。因此，我们重申予以支持；防止它仅仅成为谩骂的场所；加强它对新生国家和弱小国家的保护；扩大它的行使法令的管束范围。

　　 最后，对那些想与我们作时的国家，我们提出一个要求而不是一项保证：在科学释放出可怕的破坏力量，把全人类卷人到预谋的或意外的自我毁灭的深渊之前，让我们双方重新开始寻求和平。

　　 我们不敢以怯弱来引诱他们。因为只有当我们毫无疑问地拥有足够的军备，我们才能毫无疑问地确信永远下会使用这些军备。

　　 但是，这两个强大的国家集团都无法从目前所走的道路中得到安慰——发展现代武器所需的费用使双方负担过重，致命的原子武器的不断扩散理所当然使双方忧心忡忡，但是，双方却在争着改变那制止人类发动最后战争的不移定的恐怖均势。因此，让我们双方重新开始——双方都要牢记。礼貌并不意味着怯弱，诚意永远有侍于验证。让我们决不要由于畏惧而谈判。但我们决不能畏惧谈判。

　　让双方都来探讨使我们团结起来的问题，而不要操劳那些使我们分裂的问题。

　　让双方首次为军备检查和军备控制制订认真而又明确的提案，把毁灭他国的绝对力量置于所有国家的绝对控制之下。

　　让双方寻求利用科学的奇迹，而不是乞灵于科学造成的恐怖。让我们一起探索星球，征服沙漠，根除疾患，开发深梅，并鼓励艺术和商业的发展。

　　让双方团结起来，在全世界各个角落倾听以赛亚的训令——“解下轭上的索，使被欺压的得自由。”

　　如果合作的滩头阵地的逼退猜忌的丛林，那么就让双方共同作一次新的努力：不是建立一种新的均势，而是创造一个新的法治世界，在这个世界中，强者公正，弱者安全，和平将得到维护。

　　所有这一切下可能在第一个一百天内完成，也不可能在第一个一千天或者在本届政府任期内完成，甚至也许不可能在我们居住在这个星球上的有生之年内完成。但是，让我们开始吧。

　　公民们，我们方针的最终成败与其说掌握在我手中，不如说掌握在你们手中。自从合众国建立以来，每一代美国人都曾受到召唤去证明他们对国家的忠诚。响应召唤而献身的美国青年的坟墓遍及全球。

　　现在，号角已再次吹响——不是召唤我们拿起武器，虽然我们需要武器，不是召唤我们去作战，虽然我们严阵以待。它召唤我们为迎接黎明而肩负起漫长斗争的重任，年复一年，“从希望中得到欢乐，在苦难中保持坚韧”，去反对人类共同的敌人——专制、贫困、疾病和战争本身。

　　为反对这些敌人，确保人类更为丰裕的生活，我们能够组成一个包括东西南北各方的全球大联盟吗？你们愿意参加这一历史性的努力吗？

　　在漫长的世界历史中，只有少数几代人在自由处于最危急的时刻被赋予保卫自由的责任。我不会推卸这一责任，我欢迎这一责任。我不相信我们中间有人想同其他人或其他时代的人交换位置。我们为这一努力所奉献的精力、信念和忠诚，将照亮我们的国家和所有力国效劳的人，而这火焰发出的光芒定能照亮全世界。

　　因此，美国同胞们，不要问国家能力你们做些什么，而要问你们能为国家做些什么。

　　全世界的公民们，不要间美国将为你们做些什么，而要问我们共同能为人类的自中做些什么。

　　最后，不论你们是美国公民还是其他国家的公民，你们应该要求我们现出我们同样要求于你们地高度力量和牺牲。问心无愧是我们唯一可靠的奖赏，历史是我们行动的最终裁判，让我们走向前去，引导我们所珍爱的国家。我们祈求上帝的福佑和帮助，但我们知道，确切的说，上帝在尘世的工作必定是我们自己的工作。

 

 

 

Inaugural Address of Lyndon Baines Johnson
 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1965
 My fellow countrymen, on this occasion, the oath I have taken before you and before God is not mine alone, but ours together. We are one nation and one people. Our fate as a nation and our future as a people rest not upon one citizen, but upon all citizens.
 This is the majesty and the meaning of this moment.
 For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own.
 Even now, a rocket moves toward Mars. It reminds us that the world will not be the same for our children, or even for ourselves m a short span of years. The next man to stand here will look out on a scene different from our own, because ours is a time of change-- rapid and fantastic change bearing the secrets of nature, multiplying the nations, placing in uncertain hands new weapons for mastery and destruction, shaking old values, and uprooting old ways.
 Our destiny in the midst of change will rest on the unchanged character of our people, and on their faith.
 THE AMERICAN COVENANT
 They came here--the exile and the stranger, brave but frightened-- to find a place where a man could be his own man. They made a covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty, bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all mankind; and it binds us still. If we keep its terms, we shall flourish.
 JUSTICE AND CHANGE
 First, justice was the promise that all who made the journey would share in the fruits of the land.
 In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write.
 For the more than 30 years that I have served this Nation, I have believed that this injustice to our people, this waste of our resources, was our real enemy. For 30 years or more, with the resources I have had, I have vigilantly fought against it. I have learned, and I know, that it will not surrender easily.
 But change has given us new weapons. Before this generation of Americans is finished, this enemy will not only retreat--it will be conquered.
 Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his fellow, saying, "His color is not mine," or "His beliefs are strange and different," in that moment he betrays America, though his forebears created this Nation.
 LIBERTY AND CHANGE
 Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self- government. It was our Bill of Rights. But it was more. America would be a place where each man could be proud to be himself: stretching his talents, rejoicing in his work, important in the life of his neighbors and his nation.
 This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men. We must work to provide the knowledge and the surroundings which can enlarge the possibilities of every citizen.
 The American covenant called on us to help show the way for the liberation of man. And that is today our goal. Thus, if as a nation there is much outside our control, as a people no stranger is outside our hope.
 Change has brought new meaning to that old mission. We can never again stand aside, prideful in isolation. Terrific dangers and troubles that we once called "foreign" now constantly live among us. If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled, in countries we barely know, that is the price that change has demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant.
 Think of our world as it looks from the rocket that is heading toward Mars. It is like a child's globe, hanging in space, the continents stuck to its side like colored maps. We are all fellow passengers on a dot of earth. And each of us, in the span of time, has really only a moment among our companions.
 How incredible it is that in this fragile existence, we should hate and destroy one another. There are possibilities enough for all who will abandon mastery over others to pursue mastery over nature. There is world enough for all to seek their happiness in their own way.
 Our Nation's course is abundantly clear. We aspire to nothing that belongs to others. We seek no dominion over our fellow man. but man's dominion over tyranny and misery.
 But more is required. Men want to be a part of a common enterprise--a cause greater than themselves. Each of us must find a way to advance the purpose of the Nation, thus finding new purpose for ourselves. Without this, we shall become a nation of strangers.
 UNION AND CHANGE
 The third article was union. To those who were small and few against the wilderness, the success of liberty demanded the strength of union. Two centuries of change have made this true again.
 No longer need capitalist and worker, farmer and clerk, city and countryside, struggle to divide our bounty. By working shoulder to shoulder, together we can increase the bounty of all. We have discovered that every child who learns, every man who finds work, every sick body that is made whole--like a candle added to an altar--brightens the hope of all the faithful.
 So let us reject any among us who seek to reopen old wounds and to rekindle old hatreds. They stand in the way of a seeking nation.
 Let us now join reason to faith and action to experience, to transform our unity of interest into a unity of purpose. For the hour and the day and the time are here to achieve progress without strife, to achieve change without hatred--not without difference of opinion, but without the deep and abiding divisions which scar the union for generations.
 THE AMERICAN BELIEF
 Under this covenant of justice, liberty, and union we have become a nation--prosperous, great, and mighty. And we have kept our freedom. But we have no promise from God that our greatness will endure. We have been allowed by Him to seek greatness with the sweat of our hands and the strength of our spirit.
 I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered, changeless, and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the excitement of becoming--always becoming, trying, probing, falling, resting, and trying again--but always trying and always gaining.
 In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our heritage again.
 If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored.
 If we succeed, it will not be because of what we have, but it will be because of what we are; not because of what we own, but, rather because of what we believe.
 For we are a nation of believers. Underneath the clamor of building and the rush of our day's pursuits, we are believers in justice and liberty and union, and in our own Union. We believe that every man must someday be free. And we believe in ourselves.
 Our enemies have always made the same mistake. In my lifetime--in depression and in war--they have awaited our defeat. Each time, from the secret places of the American heart, came forth the faith they could not see or that they could not even imagine. It brought us victory. And it will again.
 For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We say "Farewell." Is a new world coming? We welcome it--and we will bend it to the hopes of man.
 To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road, and to all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat today what I said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will lead and I will do the best I can."
 But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and to the old dream. They will lead you best of all.
 For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?"

 

林登·约翰逊
就职演讲
星期四,1965年1月20日

美国公约
　　同胞们：
此时此刻，我在你们和上帝面前宣誓，这个誓言不只是我个人的，而是我们大家的。我们同住在一个国家，同属一个民族。我们国家的命运和我们民族的未来并不是靠一个公民，而是要靠所有的公民。

　　这就是这一时刻的庄严及其意义所在。

　　每一代人都有自己的命运。就某些时代的人而言，历史决定了他们的命运。至于我们这一代人，我们必须选择自己的命运。

　　此时此刻，一枚火箭正向着火星飞去。这提醒我们，对我们的子孙来说，甚至对我们自己来说，在短短几年内，世界将不会再像现在一样。下一任总统站在这里时，他将展望一个和我们现在不同的景象。因为我们的时代是一个变革的时代。迅速而又急剧的变革，揭示了自然的奥秘，使国家成倍地增加，让靠下住的人掌握了能征服和毁灭人类的新式武器，动摇了旧的价值观念、改变了旧的生活方式。

　　在这场变革中，我们的命运将取决于我国人民始终不渝的性格，取决于我们的信念。

　　我们的祖辈，那些背井离乡的异乡人，那些勇敢而受惊的异乡人，为寻找一块个人可以自主的地方而来到这里。他们在这块土地上订立了公约。这一公约以公正来表达，用自由写成，受团结的约束，指望总有一无会激励全人类的理想，这一公约至今仍约束着我们。我们如果遵循公的的规定，就将繁荣昌盛。

　　公约的第一条是公正，就是允许所有迁徙到这里的人共享土地的硕果。

　　在一块富饶的上地上，家家户户不能生活在毫无希望的贫困中。

　　在一块收获丰盛的土地上，孩子们不能遭受饥馑之苦。

　　在一块充满救死扶伤奇迹的土地上，我们的邻居不能无人照料，遭受病痛的折磨而离开人世。

　　在一块知识普及、学者众多的伟大上地上，年轻人必须受到教育，能读会写。

　　我为这个国家服务了30多年，我一直认为，不公正地对待我们的人民，浪费我们的资源，乃是我们真正的敌人。30多年来，我竭尽所能，时刻提防这一敌人并与之作斗争。我认识到，也深深懂得，这个敌人不会轻易屈服。

　　但是，变革为我们提供了新的武器。在这一代美国人的有生之年，这个敌人不仅会退却，而且还会被征服。

　　公正就是要求我们记住，倘若任何一个公民不承认自己的同胞，宣称“某某人的肤色和我的肤色不同”，或者“某某人的信仰奇怪异样”，这个公民便背叛了美国，尽管他的先辈创立了这个国家。公约的第二条是自由，就是自治。这就是我们的权利法案，但不仅如此。美国将是人人都能感到自豪的地方，每个人都可以施展才能，愉快地工作，在邻里和国家的生活中发挥重要的作用。

　　但是，在变革和发展似乎已超出人们控制，甚至超出人们的判断力的世界里，实现自由已经变得更为困难。因此，我们必须努力提供各种知识和环境，为每个公民增加机遇。

　　美国公约要求我们为帮助全人类的解放指明道路。这就是我们今天的奋斗目标。因此，作为一个国家，我们无法控制许多事情；但作为一个民族，我们对所有的人充满希望。

　　变革给这一古老的使命增添了新义。我们再也不能袖手旁观，以孤立为荣了。那些曾被我们称之为“外国的”可怕的危险和动乱，现在却时时在我们的生活中发生。如果美国人必须在了解甚少的国家中献出生命井消耗钱财，那也是变革向我们的信念以及向我们不朽的政府索取的代价。

　　想象一下在飞向火星的火箭上看地球时的情景吧。地球就像小孩玩的地球仪，它悬在大空间，陆地就像贴在球体表面的彩色地图。我们都是这个小小地球上的旅客。在时间的长河中，我们每个人实际上只在自己的同伴中度过短暂的一瞬。

　　人的生存是如此脆弱，可我们竟然彼此仇恨，相互残杀，这是多么难以令人置信。凡意愿放弃统治他人的人，有足够的机会来实现对自然的统治。天地广阔，足以让每个人以自己的方式寻求幸福。

　　我国的方针是明确的。我们并不奢求获得别人的东面。我们并不寻求统治别人，而只希望人类能战胜专制和苦难。

　　但是我们需要做更多的事情。人们希望成为共同事业的参与者——这是比他们本身更为伟大的事业。我们每个人都必须想方设法为实现我国的目标作出贡献，因而也为自己找到新的目标。如果缺少这些，我国就会变成一个陌路人组成的国家。

　　 公约的第三条是团结。对那些当年同荒野作斗争的势单力簿的移民来讲，实现自由需要团结的力量。两个世纪的变革再次证实了这点。

　　 资本家和工人，农场主和雇员，城市和农村再也不必为分配利益而争斗，我们只要肩并周共同努力，就能够增加所有人的利益。

　　我们已经看到，每一个在学的儿童，每一个在职的成人，每一个康复的病人，都像圣坛上的蜡烛，照亮了全体信徒的希望。

　　因此，让我们唾弃我们中间任何企图再启旧创、重燃旧恨的人。因为对这个不停地追求的国家来说，他们是道路上的障碍。

　　现在，让我们把理性和信念融成一体，将行动和经验融成一体，把利益的一致转变成目标的一致。因为无需冲突便能取得进步，不结仇恨便能实现变革的时刻已经来临——这不是说没有不同的观点，而是下会再有在几代人的团结中留下伤痕的根深蒂固的分歧。

　　在这个以公正、自由、团结为宗旨的公约指导下，我们已经成为一个繁荣、伟大和强盛的国家。我们还维护了我们的自由。

　　 但是，上帝没有保证我们的伟大国家经久不衰。

　　 上帝准许我们用自己的双手、用汗水、用精神力量来争取我们的伟大。

　　 我认为，“伟大社会”不是一个等级森严、毫无变化、枯燥乏味的蚁群。

　　 “伟大社会”因转化而充满激憎——不停地变革、尝试、探索、失败、休整、再尝试——但总是在尝试，总是有所收获。

　　 我们每一代人都必须用汗水和泪水重新继承我们的传统。

　　倘若我们现在失败了，这是因为我们在富裕中忘记了在艰难岁月中懂得的那些道理：民主依赖于信仰，自由的要求大于它的赠与，上帘最严厉地评判最受恩赐的人们。

　　倘若我们成功了，这并不是因为我们具备了什么条件，而是由于我们本身的原因；并不是因为我们拥有什么东西，而是由于我们的信仰所致。

　　因为我们是一个有信仰的民族。我们闹嚷嚷地创业，急匆匆地迫逐生活目标，但在这些表象背后，我们是公正、自由和团结的信仰者，是自己联邦的信徒。我们相信，总有一天，人人都会获得自由。而且，我们相信自己有力量。

　　我们的敌人总是犯相同的错误。在我这一生中——在萧条年代和战争岁月——他们期待着我们的失败。但每一次，在美国人民的心灵深处，都会产生出他们无法理解，甚至无法想象的信念。这种信念曾给我们带来胜利，它将再次给我们带来胜利。

　　因为这就是美国。这是一块未曾跨越的沙漠，是一座尚未攀登的山岭。这是一颗人迹还没有到过的星球，是沉睡在未开垦土地中的硕果。

　　我们的世界已经过去了吗？我们时它说声“再见”。新的世界来临了吗？我们表示欢迎，并将使它服从人类的愿望。

　　对那些肩负重任的公仆，对我的家人，对随我走过漫长而又曲折的道路的朋友们，对联邦全体人民和全世界人民，我今天重述我在1963年11月那悲痛的一天说过的话：“我将领导大家，并将尽我所能。”

　　但是，你们必须在内心铭记旧日的承诺和梦想。这才是你们最好的向导。

　　至于我自己，借用一位古代领袖的话，我只“求你赐我智慧聪明，我好在这民前出入；不然，谁能判断这众多的民呢？”

 

 

 

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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.

 

理查德·尼克松
第一次就职演讲
星期一,1969年1月20日

我们都是地球的乘客
　　历史的每一个时刻转瞬即逝，它既珍贵又独特。可是，其中某些显然是揭开序幕的时刻，此时，一代先河得以开创，它决定了未来数十年或几个世纪的航向。
　　现在可能就是这样一个时刻。

　　现在，各方力量正在汇聚起来，使我们第一次可以期望人类的许多夙愿最终能够实现。

　　不断加快的变革速度，使我们能在我们这一代期望过去花了几百年才出现的种种进步。

　　由于开辟了大空的天地，我们在地球上也发现了新的天地。

　　由于世界人民希望和平，而世界各国领袖害怕战争，因此，目前形势第一次变得有利于和平。

　　从现在起，再过8年，美国将庆祝建国200周年。在现在大多数人的有生之年，人类将庆祝千载难逢的、辉煌无比的新年——第三个百年盛世的开端。

　　我们的国家将变成怎样的国家，我们将生活在怎样的世界上，我们要不要按照我们的希望铸造未来，这些都将由我们根据自己的行动和选择来决定。

　　历史所能赐予我们的最大荣誉，莫过于和平缔造者这一称号。这一荣誉现在正在召唤美国——这是领导世界最终脱离动乱的幽谷，走向自文明开端以来人类一直梦寐以求的和平高坛的一个机会。

　　 我们若获成功，下几代人在谈及现在在世的我们时会说，正是我们掌握了时机，正是我们协力相助，使普天之下国泰民安。

　　 这是要我们创立宏伟大业的召唤。

　　 我相信，美国人民准备响应这一召唤。

　　 经过一段对抗时期，我们正进入一个谈判时代。

　　 让所有国家都知道，在本届政府任期内，交流通道是敞开的。

　　 我们谋求一个开放的世界——对各种思想开放，对物资和人员的交流开放，在这个世界中，任何民族，不论大小，都不会生活在怏怏不乐的孤立之中。

　　 我们不能指望每个人都成为我们的朋友，可是我们能设法使任何人都不与我们为敌。

　　 我们邀请那些很可能是我们对手的人进行一场和平竞赛——不是要征服领土或扩展版图，而是要丰富人类的生活。

　　在探索宇宙空间的时候，让我们一起走向新的世界——不是走向被征服的新世界，而是共同进行一次新的探险。

　　让我们同那些愿意加入这一行列的人共同合作，减少军备负担，加固和平大厦，提高贫穷挨饿的人们的生活水平。

　　但是，对所有那些见软就欺的人来说，让我们不容置疑地表明，我们需要多么强大就会多强大：需要强大多久，就会强大多久。

　　自从我作为新当选的国会议员首次来到国会大厦之后的20多年来，我已经出访过世界上大多数国家。

　　我结识了世界各国的领导人，了解到使世界陷于四分五裂的各种强大势力，各种深仇大恨，各种恐惧心理。

　　我知道，和于不会单凭愿望就能到来——这需要日复一日，甚至年复一年地进行耐心而持久的外交努力，除此别无他法。

　　我也了解世界各国人民。

　　我见到过无家可归的儿童在忍饥挨饿，战争中挂彩负伤的男人在痛苦呻吟，失去孩子的母亲在无限悲伤。我知道，这些并没有意识形态和种族之分。

　　我了解美国。我了解美国的心是善良的。

　　我从心底里，从我国人民的心底里，向那些蒙受不幸和痛苦的人们表达我们的深切关怀。

　　今天，我在上帝和我国同胞面前宣誓，拥护和捍卫合众国宪法。除了这一誓言，我现在还要补充一项神圣的义务：我将把自己的职责、精力以及我所能使唤的一切智慧，一并奉献给各国之间的和平事业。

　　让强者和弱者都能听到这一信息：

　　我们企求赢得的和平不是战胜任何一个民族，而是“和平天使”带来的为治愈创伤的和平：是对遭受苦难者予以同情的和平；是对那些反对过我们的人予以谅解的和平；是地球上各族人民都有选择自己命运的机会的和平。

　　就在几星期以前，人类如同上帝凝望这个世界一样，第一次端视了这个世界，一个在冥冥黑暗中辉映发光的独特的星球。我们分享了这一荣光。

　　阿波罗号上的字航员在圣诞节前夕飞越月球灰色的表面时，向我们说起地球的美丽——从穿过月距而传来的如此清晰的声音中，我们听到他们在祈祷上帝赐福人间。

　　 在那一时刻，他们从月球上发出的意愿，激励着诗人阿奇博尔德·麦克利什写下了这样的篇章：

　　 “在永恒的宁静中，那渺小、斑斓、美丽的地球在浮动。要真正地观望地球，就得把我们自己都看作是地球的乘客，看作是一群兄弟，他们共处于漫漫的、寒冷的字宙中。仰赖着光明的挚爱——这群兄弟懂得，而今他们是真正的兄弟。”

　　 在那个比技术胜利更有意义的时刻，人们把思绪转向了家乡和人类——他们从那个遥远的视角中发现，地球上人类的命运是不能分开的；他们告诉我们，不管我们在宇宙中走得多远，我们的命运不是在别的星球上，而是在地球上，在我们自己手中，在我们的心头。

　　 我们已经度过了一个反映美国精神的漫漫长夜。可是，当我们瞥见黎明前的第一缕曙光，切莫诅咒那尚未消散的黑暗。让我们迎接光明吧。

　　 我们的命运所赐予的不是绝望的苦酒，而是机会的美餐。因此，让我们不是充满恐惧，而是满怀喜悦地去抓住这个机会吧——“地球的乘客们”，让我们以坚定的信念，朝着稳定的目标，在提防着危险中前进吧！我们对上帝的意志和人类的希望充满了信心，这将使我们持之以恒。

 

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Richard Milhous Nixon
 SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1973
 Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Senator Cook, Mrs. Eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good country we share together:
 When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit, depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive conflict at home.
 As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace in the world.
 The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace? Let us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be what other postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat and isolation that leads to stagnation at home and invites new danger abroad.
 Let us resolve that this will be what it can become: a time of great responsibilities greatly borne, in which we renew the spirit and the promise of America as we enter our third century as a nation.
 This past year saw far-reaching results from our new policies for peace. By continuing to revitalize our traditional friendships, and by our missions to Peking and to Moscow, we were able to establish the base for a new and more durable pattern of relationships among the nations of the world. Because of America's bold initiatives, 1972 will be long remembered as the year of the greatest progress since the end of World War II toward a lasting peace in the world.
 The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is merely an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for generations to come.
 It is important that we understand both the necessity and the limitations of America's role in maintaining that peace.
 Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no peace.
 Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no freedom.
 But let us clearly understand the new nature of America's role, as a result of the new policies we have adopted over these past four years.
 We shall respect our treaty commitments.
 We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the right to impose its will or rule on another by force.
 We shall continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the limitation of nuclear arms, and to reduce the danger of confrontation between the great powers.
 We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world. But we shall expect others to do their share.
 The time has passed when America will make every other nation's conflict our own, or make every other nation's future our responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs.
 Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own future, we also recognize the responsibility of each nation to secure its own future.
 Just as America's role is indispensable in preserving the world's peace, so is each nation's role indispensable in preserving its own peace.
 Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring down the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too long, and to build in their place bridges of understanding--so that despite profound differences between systems of government, the people of the world can be friends.
 Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak are as safe as the strong--in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system--in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and not by the force of their arms.
 Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but gladly--gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage; gladly, also, because only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities abroad will we remain a great Nation, and only if we remain a great Nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at home.
 We have the chance today to do more than ever before in our history to make life better in America--to ensure better education, better health, better housing, better transportation, a cleaner environment--to restore respect for law, to make our communities more livable--and to insure the God-given right of every American to full and equal opportunity.
 Because the range of our needs is so great--because the reach of our opportunities is so great--let us be bold in our determination to meet those needs in new ways.
 Just as building a structure of peace abroad has required turning away from old policies that failed, so building a new era of progress at home requires turning away from old policies that have failed.
 Abroad, the shift from old policies to new has not been a retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to peace.
 And at home, the shift from old policies to new will not be a retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to progress.
 Abroad and at home, the key to those new responsibilities lies in the placing and the division of responsibility. We have lived too long with the consequences of attempting to gather all power and responsibility in Washington.
 Abroad and at home, the time has come to turn away from the condescending policies of paternalism--of "Washington knows best."
 A person can be expected to act responsibly only if he has responsibility. This is human nature. So let us encourage individuals at home and nations abroad to do more for themselves, to decide more for themselves. Let us locate responsibility in more places. Let us measure what we will do for others by what they will do for themselves.
 That is why today I offer no promise of a purely governmental solution for every problem. We have lived too long with that false promise. In trusting too much in government, we have asked of it more than it can deliver. This leads only to inflated expectations, to reduced individual effort, and to a disappointment and frustration that erode confidence both in what government can do and in hat people can do.
 Government must learn to take less from people so that people an do more for themselves.
 Let us remember that America was built not by government, but by people--not by welfare, but by work--not by shirking responsibility, but by seeking responsibility.
 In our own lives, let each of us ask--not just what will government do for me, but what can I do for myself?
 In the challenges we face together, let each of us ask--not just how can government help, but how can I help?
 Your National Government has a great and vital role to play. And I pledge to you that where this Government should act, we will act boldly and we will lead boldly. But just as important is the role that each and every one of us must play, as an individual and as a member of his own community.
 From this day forward, let each of us make a solemn commitment in his own heart: to bear his responsibility, to do his part, to live his ideals--so that together, we can see the dawn of a new age of progress for America, and together, as we celebrate our 200th anniversary as a nation, we can do so proud in the fulfillment of our promise to ourselves and to the world.
 As America's longest and most difficult war comes to an end, let us again learn to debate our differences with civility and decency. And let each of us reach out for that one precious quality government cannot provide--a new level of respect for the rights and feelings of one another, a new level of respect for the individual human dignity which is the cherished birthright of every American.
 Above all else, the time has come for us to renew our faith in ourselves and in America.
 In recent years, that faith has been challenged.
 Our children have been taught to be ashamed of their country, ashamed of their parents, ashamed of America's record at home and of its role in the world.
 At every turn, we have been beset by those who find everything wrong with America and little that is right. But I am confident that this will not be the judgment of history on these remarkable times in which we are privileged to live.
 America's record in this century has been unparalleled in the world's history for its responsibility, for its generosity, for its creativity and for its progress.
 Let us be proud that our system has produced and provided more freedom and more abundance, more widely shared, than any other system in the history of the world.
 Let us be proud that in each of the four wars in which we have been engaged in this century, including the one we are now bringing to an end, we have fought not for our selfish advantage, but to help others resist aggression.
 Let us be proud that by our bold, new initiatives, and by our steadfastness for peace with honor, we have made a break-through toward creating in the world what the world has not known before-- a structure of peace that can last, not merely for our time, but for generations to come.
 We are embarking here today on an era that presents challenges great as those any nation, or any generation, has ever faced.
 We shall answer to God, to history, and to our conscience for the way in which we use these years.
 As I stand in this place, so hallowed by history, I think of others who have stood here before me. I think of the dreams they had for America, and I think of how each recognized that he needed help far beyond himself in order to make those dreams come true.
 Today, I ask your prayers that in the years ahead I may have God's help in making decisions that are right for America, and I pray for your help so that together we may be worthy of our challenge.
 Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four years in America's history, so that on its 200th birthday America will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a beacon of hope for all the world.
 Let us go forward from here confident in hope, strong in our faith in one another, sustained by our faith in God who created us, and striving always to serve His purpose.

 

里查德·尼克松
第二次就职演讲
星期六,1973年1月20日

让我们建立和平机制
　　4年前我们在这里相聚时，美国没精打采。国外的战争似乎汉完没了，国内的冲突叉造成了破坏一切令人压抑。
　　今天我们在这里相聚时，我们正站在世界和平新时代的门槛上。

　　摆在我们面前的中心问题是：我们将怎样利用这个和平时代？

　　让我们下定决心，使我们即将跨人的这个时代，避免成为历次战争后屡见不鲜的那种时代：一个导致国内停滞不前、国外危险迭出的退却和孤立的时代。

　　让我们下定决心，使这个时代能成为肩负重任的时代；在这个时代里，当我们步人立国的第三个世纪时，我们将更新美国的精神和希望。

　　在过去一年中，我们争取和平的各项新政策取得了意义深远的成果。通过不断加强同合国的传统友谊，出访北京和莫斯科，我们为世界备国建立一种新颖的、更加持久的关系模式奠定了基础。由于美国的大胆倡议，1972年将作为第二次世界大战结束以来在走向世界持久和平的坦道上取得最巨大进展的年头，而为人们永志铭记。

　　我们在世界上谋求的和平，不是战争间歇那样的昙花一现的和平，而是能使下几代人持续享有的和平。

　　重要的是，我们要理解美国为维护这种和平而发挥作用的必要性和局限性。

　　如果我们美国不竭尽全力保卫和平，就不会有和平。

　　如果我们美国不竭尽全力保卫自由，就不会有自由。

　　可是，作为以往4年我们采取新政策所获得的结果，我们应该对美国角色的新性质有个透彻的理解。

　　我们将尊重我们的条约义务。

　　我们将努力支持这佯一条原则：任何国家都无权运用武力将其意志或统治强加于别的国家。

　　我们将在这个谈判时代，继续致力于限制核武器，减少强国之间发生冲突的危险。

　　我们将为维护世界和平与自由而贡献一份力量。但是，我们也期待其他国家贡献一份力量。美国把别国的冲突视为自己的冲突，或把关心别国的前途视为自己的职责，或认为应该告诉别国人民怎样管理国家事务，这样的时代已一去不复返了。

　　 正如我们尊重各国都有权利决定自己的未来。我们也认为合国都有责任保卫自己的未来。

　　 正如美国在维护世界和平中所扮演的角色是不可或缺的那样，各国在维护其自身和平时所扮演的角色也是不可或缺的。

　　 让我们同世界各国一起，决心把我们业已开创的事业向前推进。让我们继续努力，推倒那些使世界长期处于分裂状态的充满故意的隔墙，代之以建立起理解的桥梁——这样，尽管各国政府体制存在着巨大差异，但世界人民却可以成为朋友。

　　 让我们在世界上建立和平机制，使弱者和强者同样感到安全，使人人都尊重他人在不同制度下生活的权利，使人们用思想的力量，而下是用武力去影响别人。

　　 让我们接受这一崇高职责，不是作为负担，而是欣然接受——因为有机会建立这样的和平，是一个国家所能从事的最高尚的事业，还因为只有以伟大的行动来履行我们在海外的责任，才能保持一个大国的风范：而只有保持大国的风范，才能以伟大的行动迎接国内的挑战。

 

 

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.

 

杰米·卡特

,1977年1月20日

新精神
　　今天的就职典礼标志着一个新开端，标志着政府的新奉献，标志着全体人民的新精坤。总统可以感悟升宣扬这种新精神，但唯有人民才能赋予这种精神。
　　两个世纪以前，我们国家的诞生是长期寻求自由的一个里程碑。但是，激励立国先贤们的这个勇敢而光辉的理想，依然有待于完成。今天我无意提出新的理想，而是要在原有的理想中提出一种新的信念。

　　我们的社会是第一个依据精神价值和人类自由来公开阐明自己的社会。正是这种独特的自我定义使我们具有特殊的号召力--但同时也赋子我们特殊的义务--道德义务，这种义务一旦承担起来，似乎总是符合我们的最大利益。

　　你们已给予我一项重大责任--同你们紧密站在一起，不负众望，作出表率。让我们共同创造一种新的，团结和信任的国家精神。你们的力量能弥补我的弱点，你们的智慧能帮助我尽量少犯错误。

　　让我们一起学习，一起欢笑，一起工作，一起祈祷，坚信站在正义这边的我们终将共同获胜。

　　美国的理想持久不衰。我们必须再次对我们的国家和对我们彼此充满信心。我相信美国能变得更美好。我门能比过去任何时候更强大。

　　让我们检讨最近犯的错误，以便对我国的基本原则重新承担起义务，因为我们知道，如果轻视自己的政府，我们就没有任何前途。我们记得，我们在一些特殊的时期有过短暂而意义深远的团结；在那个时候，我们取得了无数珍贵的成就。

　　但是，我们不能陶醉于昔日的荣耀。我们不能随波逐流，我们不要那种失败的、碌碌无为的，或者使任何人过着一种低质量生活的远景。我们的政府既要称职，又要富于同情心。

　　我们已经达到了高度的个人自由，我们现在正在为促进机会均等而斗争。我们为维护人权所作的承诺必须是绝对的，我们的法律必须是公正的，我们天赋的美德必须保存；强者绝不可以欺凌弱者，人的尊严必须提高。

　　我们懂得，"更多"未必就是"更好"。即便我们伟大的国家也有公认的局限性，我们既回答不了所有的问题，也解决不了所有的问题。我们不能包揽一切，但我们在面对未来时不能缺乏勇气。因此，让我们一起怀着为了共同利益而作出个人牺牲的精神，务必尽力而为之。

　　我们的国家只有自强，才能对外称强，我们还懂得，要增进其他国家的自由，最好的方式，就是在这里证实我们的民主制度是值得仿效的。

　　为要对自己真诚，我们必须对别人真诚。我们不会到别国领上去违犯我们国内奉行的规范与准则，因为，我们懂得，我们国家所赢得的信任，对加强我国的力量是不可或缺的。

　　现在，世界本身正受着一种新的精神支配。那些人数较多、在政治上日益觉醒的民族，正渴望并要求在阳光下拥有一席之地--不只是为了他们自身的物质条件，而且也是为了获得基本的人权。

　　人们对自由的热望正在高涨，为了发扬这种新精神，美国在这个新开始的日子里所要从事的崇高而雄心勃勃的使命，莫过于帮助塑造一个公正、合乎、真正合乎人道主义的世界。

 

 

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.

 

罗纳德·里根
第一次就职演讲
星期二,1981年1月20日

政府的管理就是问题所在
　　我们国家的事业在继续前进。合众国正面临巨大的经济困难。我们遭遇到我国历史上历时最长、最严重之一的通货膨胀，它扰乱着我们的经济决策，打击着节俭的风气，压迫着正在挣扎谋生的青年人和收入固定的中年人，威胁着要摧毁我国千百万人民的生计。
　　停滞的工业使工人失业、蒙受痛苦并失去了个人尊严。即使那些有工作的人，也因税收制度的缘故而得不到公正的劳动报酬，因为这种税收制度使我们无法在事业上取得成就，使我们无法保持充分的生产力。

　　尽管我们的纳税负担相当沉重，但还是跟不上公共开支的增长。数十年来，我们的赤字额屡屡上升，我们为图目前暂时的方便，把自己的前途和子孙的前途抵押出去了。这一趋势如果长此以往，必然引起社会、文化、政治和经济等方面的大动荡。

　　作为个人，你们和我可以靠借贷过一种人不敷出的生活，然而只能维持一段有限的时期，我们怎么可以认为，作为一个国家整体，我们就不应受到同样的约束呢？为了保住明天，我们今天就必须行动起来。大家都要明白无误地懂得--我们从今天起就要采取行动。

　　我们深受其害的经济弊病，几十年来一直袭击着我们。这些弊病不会在几天、几星期或几个月内消失，但它们终将消失。它们之所以终将消失，是因为我们作为现在的美国人，一如既往地有能力去完成需要完成的事情，以保存这个最后而又最伟大的自由堡垒。

　　在当前这场危机中，政府的管理不能解决我们面临的问题。政府的管理就是问题所在。

　　我们时常误以为，社会已经越来越复杂，已经不可能凭借自治方式加以管理，而一个由杰出人物组成的政府要比民享、民治、民有的政府高明。可是，假如我们之中谁也管理不了自己，那么，我们之中谁还能去管理他人呢。

　　我们大家--不论政府官员还是平民百姓--必须共同肩负起这个责任，我们谋求的解决办法必须是公平的，不要使任何一个群体付出较高的代价。

　　我们听到许多关于特殊利益集团的谈论，然而。我们必须关心一个被忽视了大久的特殊利益集团。这个集团没有区域之分，没有人种之分，没有民族之分，没有政党之分，这个集团由许许多多的男人与女人组成，他们生产粮食，巡逻街头，管理厂矿，教育儿童，照料家务和治疗疾病。他们是专业人员、实业家、店主、职员、出租汽车司机和货车驾驶员，总而言之，他们就是"我们人民"--这个称之为美国人的民族。

　　本届政府的日标是必须建立一种健全的、生气勃勃的和不断发展的经济，为全体美国人民提供一种不因偏执或歧视而造成障碍的均等机会，让美国重新工作起来，意味着让全体美国人重新工作起来。制止通货膨胀，意味着让全体美国人从失控的生活费用所造成的恐惧中解脱出来。人人都应分担"新开端"的富有成效的工作，人人都应分享经济复苏的硕果。我国制度和力量的核心是理想主义和公正态度，有了这些，我们就能建立起强大、繁荣、国内稳定并同全世界和平相处的美国。

　　因此，在我们开始之际，让我们看看实际情况。我们是一个拥有政府的国家--而不是一个拥有国家的政府。这一点使我们在世界合国中独树一帜，我们的政府除了人民授予的权力，没有任何别的权力。目前，政府权力的膨胀已显示出超过被统治者同意的迹象，制止并扭转这种状况的时候到了。

　　我打算压缩联邦机构的规模和权力，并要求大家承认联邦政府被授予的权力同各州或人民保留的权利这两者之间的区别。我们大家都需要提醒：不是联邦政府创立了各州，而是各州创立了联邦政府。因此，请不要误会，我的意思不是要取消政府，而是要它发挥作用--同我们一起合作，而不是凌驾于我们之上；同我们并肩而立，而不是骑在我们的背上。政府能够而且必须提供机会，而不是扼杀机会，它能够而且必须促进生产力，而不是抑制生产力。

　　如果我们要探究这么多年来我们为什么能取得这么大成就，并获得了世界上任何一个民族未曾获得的繁荣昌盛，其原因是在这片土地上，我们使人类的能力和个人的才智得到了前所未有的发挥。在这里，个人所享有并得以确保的自由和尊严超过了世界上任何其他地方。为这种自由所付出的代价有时相当高昂，但我们从来没有不愿意付出这代价。

　　我们目前的困难，与政府机构因为不必要的过度膨胀而干预、侵扰我们的生活同步增加，这决不是偶然的巧合。我们是一个泱泱大国，不能自囿于小小的梦想，现在正是认识到这一点的时候。我们并非注定走向衰落，尽管有些人想让我们相信这一点。我不相信，无论我们做些什么，我们都将命该如此，但我相信，如果我们什么也不做，我们将的确命该如此。

　　为此，让我们以掌握的一切创造力来开创一个国家复兴的时代吧。让我们重新拿出决心、勇气和力量，让我们重新建立起我们的信念和希望吧。我们完全有权去做英雄梦。

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan
 MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1985
 Senator Mathias, Chief Justice Burger, Vice President Bush, Speaker O'Neill, Senator Dole, Reverend Clergy, members of my family and friends, and my fellow citizens:
 This day has been made brighter with the presence here of one who, for a time, has been absent--Senator John Stennis.
 God bless you and welcome back.
 There is, however, one who is not with us today: Representative Gillis Long of Louisiana left us last night. I wonder if we could all join in a moment of silent prayer. (Moment of silent prayer.) Amen.
 There are no words adequate to express my thanks for the great honor that you have bestowed on me. I will do my utmost to be deserving of your trust.
 This is, as Senator Mathias told us, the 50th time that we the people have celebrated this historic occasion. When the first President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States. We have lighted the world with our inventions, gone to the aid of mankind wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed. And yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago.
 When I took this oath four years ago, I did so in a time of economic stress. Voices were raised saying we had to look to our past for the greatness and glory. But we, the present-day Americans, are not given to looking backward. In this blessed land, there is always a better tomorrow.
 Four years ago, I spoke to you of a new beginning and we have accomplished that. But in another sense, our new beginning is a continuation of that beginning created two centuries ago when, for the first time in history, government, the people said, was not our master, it is our servant; its only power that which we the people allow it to have.
 That system has never failed us, but, for a time, we failed the system. We asked things of government that government was not equipped to give. We yielded authority to the National Government that properly belonged to States or to local governments or to the people themselves. We allowed taxes and inflation to rob us of our earnings and savings and watched the great industrial machine that had made us the most productive people on Earth slow down and the number of unemployed increase.
 By 1980, we knew it was time to renew our faith, to strive with all our strength toward the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society.
 We believed then and now there are no limits to growth and human progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams.
 And we were right to believe that. Tax rates have been reduced, inflation cut dramatically, and more people are employed than ever before in our history.
 We are creating a nation once again vibrant, robust, and alive. But there are many mountains yet to climb. We will not rest until every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and opportunity as our birthright. It is our birthright as citizens of this great Republic, and we'll meet this challenge.
 These will be years when Americans have restored their confidence and tradition of progress; when our values of faith, family, work, and neighborhood were restated for a modern age; when our economy was finally freed from government's grip; when we made sincere efforts at meaningful arms reduction, rebuilding our defenses, our economy, and developing new technologies, and helped preserve peace in a troubled world; when Americans courageously supported the struggle for liberty, self-government, and free enterprise throughout the world, and turned the tide of history away from totalitarian darkness and into the warm sunlight of human freedom.
 My fellow citizens, our Nation is poised for greatness. We must do what we know is right and do it with all our might. Let history say of us, "These were golden years--when the American Revolution was reborn, when freedom gained new life, when America reached for her best."
 Our two-party system has served us well over the years, but never better than in those times of great challenge when we came together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans united in a common cause.
 Two of our Founding Fathers, a Boston lawyer named Adams and a Virginia planter named Jefferson, members of that remarkable group who met in Independence Hall and dared to think they could start the world over again, left us an important lesson. They had become political rivals in the Presidential election of 1800. Then years later, when both were retired, and age had softened their anger, they began to speak to each other again through letters. A bond was reestablished between those two who had helped create this government of ours.
 In 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, they both died. They died on the same day, within a few hours of each other, and that day was the Fourth of July.
 In one of those letters exchanged in the sunset of their lives, Jefferson wrote: "It carries me back to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless ... we rode through the storm with heart and hand."
 Well, with heart and hand, let us stand as one today: One people under God determined that our future shall be worthy of our past. As we do, we must not repeat the well-intentioned errors of our past. We must never again abuse the trust of working men and women, by sending their earnings on a futile chase after the spiraling demands of a bloated Federal Establishment. You elected us in 1980 to end this prescription for disaster, and I don't believe you reelected us in 1984 to reverse course.
 At the heart of our efforts is one idea vindicated by 25 straight months of economic growth: Freedom and incentives unleash the drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human progress. We have begun to increase the rewards for work, savings, and investment; reduce the increase in the cost and size of government and its interference in people's lives.
 We must simplify our tax system, make it more fair, and bring the rates down for all who work and earn. We must think anew and move with a new boldness, so every American who seeks work can find work; so the least among us shall have an equal chance to achieve the greatest things--to be heroes who heal our sick, feed the hungry, protect peace among nations, and leave this world a better place.
 The time has come for a new American emancipation--a great national drive to tear down economic barriers and liberate the spirit of enterprise in the most distressed areas of our country. My friends, together we can do this, and do it we must, so help me God.-- From new freedom will spring new opportunities for growth, a more productive, fulfilled and united people, and a stronger America--an America that will lead the technological revolution, and also open its mind and heart and soul to the treasures of literature, music, and poetry, and the values of faith, courage, and love.
 A dynamic economy, with more citizens working and paying taxes, will be our strongest tool to bring down budget deficits. But an almost unbroken 50 years of deficit spending has finally brought us to a time of reckoning. We have come to a turning point, a moment for hard decisions. I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a question, and now I put the same question to all of you: If not us, who? And if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget. We can then begin reducing the national debt.
 I will shortly submit a budget to the Congress aimed at freezing government program spending for the next year. Beyond that, we must take further steps to permanently control Government's power to tax and spend. We must act now to protect future generations from Government's desire to spend its citizens' money and tax them into servitude when the bills come due. Let us make it unconstitutional for the Federal Government to spend more than the Federal Government takes in.
 We have already started returning to the people and to State and local governments responsibilities better handled by them. Now, there is a place for the Federal Government in matters of social compassion. But our fundamental goals must be to reduce dependency and upgrade the dignity of those who are infirm or disadvantaged. And here a growing economy and support from family and community offer our best chance for a society where compassion is a way of life, where the old and infirm are cared for, the young and, yes, the unborn protected, and the unfortunate looked after and made self
 And there is another area where the Federal Government can play a part. As an older American, I remember a time when people of different race, creed, or ethnic origin in our land found hatred and prejudice installed in social custom and, yes, in law. There is no story more heartening in our history than the progress that we have made toward the "brotherhood of man" that God intended for us. Let us resolve there will be no turning back or hesitation on the road to an America rich in dignity and abundant with opportunity for all our citizens.
 Let us resolve that we the people will build an American opportunity society in which all of us--white and black, rich and poor, young and old--will go forward together arm in arm. Again, let us remember that though our heritage is one of blood lines from every corner of the Earth, we are all Americans pledged to carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth.
 I have spoken of our domestic goals and the limitations which we should put on our National Government. Now let me turn to a task which is the primary responsibility of National Government-the safety and security of our people.
 Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on Earth. Yet history has shown that peace will not come, nor will our freedom be preserved, by good will alone. There are those in the world who scorn our vision of human dignity and freedom. One nation, the Soviet Union, has conducted the greatest military buildup in the history of man, building arsenals of awesome offensive weapons.
 We have made progress in restoring our defense capability. But much remains to be done. There must be no wavering by us, nor any doubts by others, that America will meet her responsibilities to remain free, secure, and at peace.
 There is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost of national security, and that is to reduce the need for it. And this we are trying to do in negotiations with the Soviet Union. We are not just discussing limits on a further increase of nuclear weapons. We seek, instead, to reduce their number. We seek the total elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.
 Now, for decades, we and the Soviets have lived under the threat of mutual assured destruction; if either resorted to the use of nuclear weapons, the other could retaliate and destroy the one who had started it. Is there either logic or morality in believing that if one side threatens to kill tens of millions of our people, our only recourse is to threaten killing tens of millions of theirs?
 I have approved a research program to find, if we can, a security shield that would destroy nuclear missiles before they reach their target. It wouldn't kill people, it would destroy weapons. It wouldn't militarize space, it would help demilitarize the arsenals of Earth. It would render nuclear weapons obsolete. We will meet with the Soviets, hoping that we can agree on a way to rid the world of the threat of nuclear destruction.
 We strive for peace and security, heartened by the changes all around us. Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress.
 America must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is our best ally.
 And it is the world's only hope, to conquer poverty and preserve peace. Every blow we inflict against poverty will be a blow against its dark allies of oppression and war. Every victory for human freedom will be a victory for world peace.
 So we go forward today, a nation still mighty in its youth and powerful in its purpose. With our alliances strengthened, with our economy leading the world to a new age of economic expansion, we look forward to a world rich in possibilities. And all this because we have worked and acted together, not as members of political parties, but as Americans.
 My friends, we live in a world that is lit by lightning. So much is changing and will change, but so much endures, and transcends time.
 History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy--or we would have been standing at the steps if it hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely President paces the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.
 It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song. We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the Author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us close as we fill the world with our sound--sound in unity, affection, and love--one people under God, dedicated to the dream of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.
 God bless you and may God bless America.

 

 

Inaugural Address of George Bush
 FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1989
 Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Quayle, Senator Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole, Congressman Michel, and fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends:
 There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our Nation, I thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for America.
 I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I placed my hand is the Bible on which he placed his. It is right that the memory of Washington be with us today, not only because this is our Bicentennial Inauguration, but because Washington remains the Father of our Country. And he would, I think, be gladdened by this day; for today is the concrete expression of a stunning fact: our continuity these 200 years since our government began.
 We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.
 And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads:
 Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. Amen.
 I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better. For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. A new breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on. There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be taken. There are times when the future seems thick as a fog; you sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right path. But this is a time when the future seems a door you can walk right through into a room called tomorrow.
 Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom. Men and women of the world move toward free markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.
 We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state.
 For the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which form of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from the kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves. We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity.
 America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work and sacrifice?
 My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it. What do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?
 No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead this government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but of better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then he must.
 America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the world. My friends, we have work to do. There are the homeless, lost and roaming. There are the children who have nothing, no love, no normalcy. There are those who cannot free themselves of enslavement to whatever addiction--drugs, welfare, the demoralization that rules the slums. There is crime to be conquered, the rough crime of the streets. There are young women to be helped who are about to become mothers of children they can't care for and might not love. They need our care, our guidance, and our education, though we bless them for choosing life.
 The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money alone could end these problems. But we have learned that is not so. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to bring down. We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need. We will make the hard choices, looking at what we have and perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest need and prudent safety. And then we will do the wisest thing of all: We will turn to the only resource we have that in times of need always grows--the goodness and the courage of the American people.
 I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done. We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War has come of age.
 I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.
 We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and the Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the House and the Senate. We must bring the Federal budget into balance. And we must ensure that America stands before the world united, strong, at peace, and fiscally sound. But, of course, things may be difficult. We need compromise; we have had dissension. We need harmony; we have had a chorus of discordant voices.
 For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has grown a certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been far apart and untrusting of each other. It has been this way since Vietnam. That war cleaves us still. But, friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a century ago; and surely the statute of limitations has been reached. This is a fact: The final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by a memory. A new breeze is blowing, and the old bipartisanship must be made new again.
 To my friends--and yes, I do mean friends--in the loyal opposition--and yes, I mean loyal: I put out my hand. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand. We can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon and hard. But in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan. "In crucial things, unity"--and this, my friends, is crucial.
 To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed vow: We will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is a reluctant fist; but once made, strong, and can be used with great effect. There are today Americans who are held against their will in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for. Assistance can be shown here, and will be long remembered. Good will begets good will. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on.
 Great nations like great men must keep their word. When America says something, America means it, whether a treaty or an agreement or a vow made on marble steps. We will always try to speak clearly, for candor is a compliment, but subtlety, too, is good and has its place. While keeping our alliances and friendships around the world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new closeness with the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security and with progress. One might say that our new relationship in part reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance.
 Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled. But my thoughts have been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at home to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when the flag goes by, and the women who will tell her sons the words of the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that bind.
 Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land. And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day. For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say: No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation.
 A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy- goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.
 There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up united and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is drugs. And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, the soul of our country. And there is much to be done and to be said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop.
 And so, there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins. I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless, God's love is truly boundless.
 Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately story of unity, diversity, and generosity--shared, and written, together.
 Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

 

乔治·布什
就职演讲
星期五,1989年1月20日

一致性、多样性、宽容性
　　我刚才逐字逐句复述了乔治·华盛顿在200年前宣读过的誓言，我用手按过的《圣经》，就是他按过的那一本。我们今天怀念华盛顿是恰当的，不仅因为这是我们在建国二百周年时举行的总统就职典礼，而且因为华盛顿始终是我们的国父，我想，他会为这个日子感到高兴的。因为这个日子具体说明了一个惊人的事实：我们的政府自创建以来已经延续200年了。我们相聚在象征着民主政治的正门门廊，这是我们作为邻居、作为朋友交谈的好地方，因为今天是我国成为一个整体的日子，是我们的分歧暂时中止的日子。我作为总统要做的第一件事是进行析祷--请大家低下头：
　　天父，我们垂首感谢您的恩爱。您赐给我们和平，仪我们得有今天，您赐给我们共同的信念，使和平得以持久。请您使我们坚强起来以完成您的工作，使我们甘愿聆听和辽从您的旨意，并在我们心中写下这样的话："运用权力帮助人民。"因为我们被授予权力不是为了实现个人意图，不是为了炫耀于世，也不是为了追逐名声。权力只有一个正当用途，那就是为人民办事。主啊，帮助我们铭记这一点吧。阿门。

　　我是在一个充满希望的时到来到你们面前就任总统的。我们生活在和平、繁荣的时代，我们能够使它更加美好。因为现在吹拂着一阵清新的和风，一个为自由所振奋的世界似乎已经重新降生；因为即使不是在事实上，也是在人们心里，独裁者称雄的日子已经过去。极权主义时代正在消逝，它那陈旧的观念就像一株衰老枯萎的树上的叶子已经被风吹走。

　　一阵清新的和风正在吹拂--一个为自由所振奋的国家准备继续奋进。新的天地有待开辟，新的行动有待采取。

　　有时候浓雾沉沉，前途迷茫：大家坐着等待，希望云开雾散，显露出正确的道路。　　但在目前这个时刻，未来就像你可以立即跨人的大门--走进一个叫作明天的房间。世界上的伟大国家正在走向民主--经过这道大门，走向自由。世界上的男男女女正在走向自由市场--经过这道大门，走向繁荣。世界合国人民正在宣扬言论自由和思想自由--经过这道大门，走向只有在自由时才能得到的道德上和理智上的满足。

　　我们知道什么能起作用：自由能起作用。我们知道什么是正确的：自由是正确的，我们知道如何为地球上的人类争得更合理、更富裕的生活：通过自由市场，自由言论，自由选举，和不受国家阻挠地行使自由意志。本世纪第一次--也许是有史以来第一次--人类不必发明一种赖以生存的制度了。我们不必为哪种政体较好而讨论到深夜了。我们不必从国王手里夺取公正了--我们只需从自身内部唤起公正。

　　我们必须按照自己所懂得的道理去行动。我把一位圣人的期望当做行动的指南：对严重问题，要有一致性；对巨大问题，要有多样性，对一切问题，要有宽容性。

　　在总统和国会之间，我们同样需要承担一种新的义务。我们面临的各种挑战将由总统会同众议院和参议院研究解决。我们必须使联邦预算达到平衡。我们必须确保美国以团结的姿态屹立于世界，强大，和睦，财政状况良好。当然，工作有可能是艰巨的。

　　我们需要和解；我们有过不和。我们需要和谐；我们曾众说纷纭。因为国会在我们这个时代也发生了变化。那里出现了某种分裂。我们看到了一些严峻的面容，听到了一些议论，但其中的争端不在于彼此的观念，而在于彼此的动机。我们两个伟大的党彼此相距过远、互不信任的时候大多了。

　　自越南战争以来，情况即已如此。那场战争至今还在我们中间挑起分裂。但是，朋友们，那场战争始于25年前，而且毫无疑问，有关那场战争的诉讼时效法规早已确定下来。越南战争的最终教训是，任何伟大国家都无法长期承受由一件记忆中的往事所造成的分裂--这是一个事实。

　　一阵清新的和风正在吹拂，原有的两党关系必须再次更新。向忠诚的反对派朋友们--对，我是说"忠诚的"和"朋友们"--我伸出了手。议长先生，我向您伸出了手。多数党领袖先生，我向您伸出了手。因为这就是现实：这是握手言和的时代。我们不能倒拨时钟，我也不想这样做。但是议长先生，在我们的父亲还年轻时，我们的分歧曾在国内结束。我们不希望时间倒转；但是，多数党领袖先生，在我们的母亲还年轻时，国会和总统能够同心协力，并制订了我们的国家可以赖以为生的预算。让我们早日认真地进行协商，最后，让我们也能制订出这样的预算。

　　美国人民期待着行动。他们派我们到这里来，不是要我们争吵。他们要我们超脱于纯粹党派观念之上。对严重问题，要有一致性--而这个问题，朋友们，的确是严重的。

　　今天，这里有成千上万个美国公民，他们为参加了民主事业，并看到自己的希望得到实现，而理所当然地感到满意，然而近几天来，我的思绪却转向那些在家里观看实况转播的人们--我想到了一个在国旗经过身旁时会自动敬礼的老伙伴，和一位会将战歌歌词告诉子孙们的妇女。我这样说不是感情冲动。我是说，在像今天这样的日子里，我们下会忘记我们都是一个连续统一体的组成都分，都是必然地由连结着我们的纽带团结起来的。

　　在我国辽阔的大地上，我们的孩子正在学校里观看着这里的一切。对他们，我要说，谢谢你们注视了民主事业的这个盛大节日．因为民主属于我们全体，自由就像一个能随着和风越飞越高的风筝。对全体人民，我要说，不论你们情况如何，也不论你们身在何处，你们都是这个重要日子的组成部分。你们是这个伟大国家的生命的组成部分。

　　总统不是君王，不是教皇。我不寻求"人们心灵上的窗户"。事实上，我向往的是更大的宽客，和人们对彼此的态度与生活方式不作苛求。

　　然而，在有些问题上，我们作为一个社会必须团结起来，明确地表示不能留情。目前最明显的是吸毒问题。自从第一批可卡因在一艘船上偷运入境，就完全可以说它是一种致命的毒菌，因为它如此严重地损害了我们国家的肌体与灵魂，这方面有许多事要做，有许多话耍说，但请相信我的话：这个祸言必将被制止。

　　所以，要做的事很多；工作明天就开始。对未来，我毫无怀疑；对前途，我毫无恐惧。因为，我们的问题虽大，我们的勇气更大，我们的挑战虽大，我们的决心更大。而且，如果说我们的缺点无穷无尽，上帝的爱就真正无边无垠。

　　有人把领袖的作为看作是高亢激越的戏剧，和催人奋进的号角。有时情况正是如此。但是，我把历史看作一部鸿篇巨制--我们每天都以充满希望和意义的行动去填写一页。

　　一阵清新的和风正在吹拂，一页历史正在揭开，故事展开了--今天就这样开始了新的一章：以一致性、多样性和宽容性为主题的短小而辉煌的篇章--由我们大家一起参加，一起去写。

　　谢谢你们，上帝保佑你们，上帝保佑美利坚合众国。

 

 

First Inaugural Address of William J. Clinton;
 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.

 

比尔·克林顿
第一次就职演讲
星期三,1993年1月20日

美国复兴的新时代
　　同胞们：
　　今天，我们庆祝美国复兴的奇迹。这个仪式虽在隆冬举行，然而，我们通过自己的言语和向世界展示的面容、却促使春回大地--回到了世界上这个最古老的民主国家，并带来了重新创造美国的远见和勇气。

　　当我国的缔造者勇敢地向世界宣布美国独立，并向上帝表明自己的目的时，他们知道，美国若要永存，就必须变革。不是为变革而变革，而是为了维护美国的理想--为了生命、自由和追求幸福而变革。尽管我们随着当今时代的节拍前进，但我们的使命永恒不变。每一代美国人，部必须为作为一个美国人意味着什么下定义。今天，在冷战阴影下成长起来的一代人，在世界上负起了新的责任。这个世界虽然沐浴着自由的阳光，但仍受到旧仇宿怨和新的祸患的威胁。

　　我们在无与伦比的繁荣中长大，继承了仍然是世界上最强大的经济。但由于企业倒闭，工资增长停滞、不平等状况加剧，人民的分歧加深，我们的经济已经削弱。

　　当乔治·华盛顿第一次宣读我刚才宜读的誓言时，人们骑马把那个信息缓慢地传遍大地，继而又来船把它传过海洋。而现在，这个仪式的情景和声音即刻向全球几十亿人播放。通信和商务具有全球性，投资具有流动性；技术几乎具有魔力；改善生活的理想现在具有普遍性。今天，我们美国人通过同世界各地人民进行和平竞争来谋求生存。各种深远而强大的力量正在震撼和改造我们的世界，当今时代的当务之急是我们能否使变革成为我们的朋友，而不是成为我们的敌人。

　　 这个新世界已经使几百万能够参与竞争并且取胜的美国人过上了富裕的生活。但是，当多数人干得越多反而挣得越少的时候，当有些人根本不可能工作的时候，当保健费用的重负使众多家庭不堪承受、使大大小小的企业濒临破产的时候，当犯罪活动的恐惧使守法公民不能自由行动的时候，当千百万贫穷儿童甚至不能想象我们呼唤他们过的那种生活的时候，我们就没有使变革成为我们的朋友。我们知道，我们必须面对严酷的事实真相，并采取强有力的步骤。但我们没有这样做，而是听之任之，以致损耗了我们的资源，破坏了我们的经济，动摇了我们的信心。

　　我们面临惊人的挑战，但我们同样具有惊人的力量，美国人历来是不安现状、不断追求和充满希望的民族，今天，我们必须把前人的远见卓识和坚强意志带到我们的任务中去。从革命，内战，大萧条，直到民权运动，我国人民总是下定决心，从历次危机中构筑我国历史的支柱。

　　托马斯·杰斐逊认为，为了维护我国的根基，我们需要时常进行激动人心的变革。美国同胞们，我们的时代就是变革的时代，让我们拥抱这个时代吧！

　　我们的民主制度不仅要成为举世称羡的目标，而且要成为举国复兴的动力。美国没有任何错误的东西不能被正确的东西所纠正。因此，我们今天立下誓言，要结束这个僵持停顿、放任自流的时代，一个复兴美国的新时代已经开始。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须鼓足勇气。我们必须做前人无需做的事情。我们必须更多地投资于人民，投资于他们的工作和未来，与此同时，我们必须减少巨额债务。而且，我们必须在一个需要为每个机会而竞争的世界上做到这一切。这样做并不容易：这样做要求作出牺牲。但是，这是做得到的，而且能做得公平合理。我们不是为牺牲而牺牲，我们必须像家庭供养子女那样供养自己的国家。

　　我国的缔造者是用子孙后代的眼光来审视自己的。我们也必须这样做。凡是注意过孩子蒙昽人睡的人，都知道后代意味着什么，后代就是将要到来的世界--我们为之坚持自己的理想，我们向之借用这个星球，我们对之负有神圣的责任。我们必须做美国最拿手的事情：为所有的人提供更多的机会，要所有的人负起更多的责任。

　　现在是破除只求向政府和别人免费索取的恶习的时候了。让我们大家不仅为自己和家庭，而且为社区和国家担负起更多的责任吧。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须恢复我们民主制度的活力。这个美丽的首都，就像文明的曙光出现以来的每一个首都一样，常常是尔虞我诈、明争暗斗之地。大腕人物争权夺势，没完没了地为官员的更替升降而烦神，却忘记了那些用辛勤和汗水把我们送到这里来，并养活了我们的人。

　　美国人理应得到更好的回报。在这个城市里，今天有人想把事情办得更好一些。因此，我要时所有在场的人说：让我们下定决心改革政治，使权力和特权的喧嚣不再压倒人民的呼声。让我们撇开个人利益。这样我们就能觉察美国的病痛，并看到官的希望。让我们下定决心，使政府成为富兰克林·罗斯福所说的进行"大胆而持久试验"的地方，成为一个面向未来而不是留恋过去的政府。让我们把这个首都归还给它所属于的人民。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须迎接国内外的种种挑战。国外和国内事务之间已不再有明确的界限--世界经济，世界环境，世界艾滋病危机，世界军备竞赛，这一切都在影响着我们大家。

　　我们在国内进行重建的同时，面对这个新世界的挑战不会退缩不前，也下会坐失良机。我们将同盟友一起努力进行变革，以免被变革所吞没。当我们的重要利益受到挑战，或者，当国际社会的意志和良知受到蔑视，我们将采取行动--可能时就采用和平外交手段，必要时就使用武力。

　　今天，在波斯湾、索马里和任何其他地方为国效力的勇敢的美国人，都证明了我们的决心。

　　但是，我们最伟大的力量是我们思想的威力。这些思想在许多国家仍然处于萌芽阶段。看到这些思想在世界各地被接受，我们感到欢欣鼓舞。我们的希望，我们的心，与每一个大陆正在建立民主和自由的人们是连在一起的。他们的事业也是美国的事业。

　　美国人民唤来了我们今天所庆祝的变革。你们毫不含糊地齐声疾呼。你们以前所未有的人数参加了投票。你们使国会、总统职务和政治进程本身全都面目一新。是的，是你们，我的美国同胞们，促使春回大地。

　　现在，我们必须做这个季节需要做的工作。现在，我就运用我的全部职权转向这项工作。我请求国会同我一道做这项工作。任何总统、任何国会、任何政府都不能单独完成这一使命。同胞们，在我国复兴的过程中，你们也必须发挥作用。

　　我向新一代美国年轻人挑战，要求你们投入这一奉献的季节--按照你们的理想主义行动起来，使不幸的儿童得到帮助，使贫困的人们得到关怀，使四分五裂的社区恢复联系。要做的事情很多--确实够多的，以至几百万在精神上仍然年轻的人也可作出奉献。

　　在奉献过程中，我们认识到相互需要这一简单而又强大的真理。我们必须相互关心．今天，我们不仅是在赞颂美国，我们再一次把自己奉献给美国的理想：这个理想在革命中诞生，在两个世纪的挑战中更新；这个理想经受了认识的考验，大家认识到，若不是命运的安排，幸运者或不幸者有可能互换位置；这个理想由于一种信念而变得崇高，即我国能够从纷繁的多佯性中实现最深刻的统一性，这个理想洋溢着一种信：美国漫长而英勇的旅程必将永远继续。同胞们，在我恻即将跨入21世纪之际，让我们以旺盛的精力和满腔的希望，以坚定的信心和严明的纪律开始工作，直到把工作完成。《圣经》说："我们行善，不可丧志，若不灰心，到了时候，就要收成。"

　　在这个欢乐的山巅，我们听见山谷里传来了要我们作出奉献的召唤。我们听到了号角声。我们已经换岗。现在，我们必须以各自的方式，在上帝的帮助下响应这一召唤。

　　 谢谢大家。上帝保佑大家。

 

 

Second Inaugural Address of William J. Clinton;
 January 20, 1997
 My fellow citizens :
 At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century. It is our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not only at the edge of a new century, in a new millennium, but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs, a moment that will define our course, and our character, for decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever young. Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let us set our sights upon a land of new promise.
 The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of the bold conviction that we are all created equal. It was extended and preserved in the 19th century, when our nation spread across the continent, saved the union, and abolished the awful scourge of slavery.
 Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto the world stage to make this the American Century.
 And what a century it has been. America became the world's mightiest industrial power; saved the world from tyranny in two world wars and a long cold war; and time and again, reached out across the globe to millions who, like us, longed for the blessings of liberty.
 Along the way, Americans produced a great middle class and security in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning and opened public schools to all; split the atom and explored the heavens; invented the computer and the microchip; and deepened the wellspring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights for African Americans and all minorities, and extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity and dignity to women.
 Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and another time to choose. We began the 19th century with a choice, to spread our nation from coast to coast. We began the 20th century with a choice, to harness the Industrial Revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation, and human decency. Those choices made all the difference.
 At the dawn of the 21st century a free people must now choose to shape the forces of the Information Age and the global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our people, and, yes, to form a more perfect union.
 When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our nation.
 In these four years, we have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement. America stands alone as the world's indispensable nation. Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Once again, we are building stronger families, thriving communities, better educational opportunities, a cleaner environment. Problems that once seemed destined to deepen now bend to our efforts: our streets are safer and record numbers of our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to work.
 And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government. Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We,- the American people, we are the solution. Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.
 As times change, so government must change. We need a new government for a new century - humble enough not to try to solve all our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less. Yet where it can stand up for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives, government should do more, not less. The preeminent mission of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity,- not a guarantee, but a real opportunity to build better lives.
 Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us. Our founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty and our union depends upon responsible citizenship. And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new century. There is work to do, work that government alone cannot do: teaching children to read; hiring people off welfare rolls; coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime; taking time out of our own lives to serve others.
 Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families, but for our neighbors and our nation. Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century. For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America.
 The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future, will we be one nation, one people, with one common destiny, or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?
 The divide of race has been America's constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different. These forces have nearly destroyed our nation in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. And they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all around the world.
 These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of course, those who are hated, robbing both of what they might become. We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere. We shall overcome them. And we shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another.
 Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.
 As this new era approaches we can already see its broad outlines. Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren. Scientists now are decoding the blueprint of human life. Cures for our most feared illnesses seem close at hand.
 The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps. Instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once were our adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and culture give us a chance to lift the fortunes and spirits of people the world over. And for the very first time in all of history, more people on this planet live under democracy than dictatorship.
 My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America and to avoid the awful bloodshed that stained its legacy? To that question, every American here and every American in our land today must answer a resounding "Yes."
 This is the heart of our task. With a new vision of government, a new sense of responsibility, a new spirit of community, we will sustain America's journey. The promise we sought in a new land we will find again in a land of new promise.
 In this new land, education will be every citizen's most prized possession. Our schools will have the highest standards in the world, igniting the spark of possibility in the eyes of every girl and every boy. And the doors of higher education will be open to all. The knowledge and power of the Information Age will be within reach not just of the few, but of every classroom, every library, every child. Parents and children will have time not only to work, but to read and play together. And the plans they make at their kitchen table will be those of a better home, a better job, the certain chance to go to college.
 Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our children, because no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore. Everyone who can work, will work, with today's permanent under class part of tomorrow's growing middle class. New miracles of medicine at last will reach not only those who can claim care now, but the children and hardworking families too long denied.
 We will stand mighty for peace and freedom, and maintain a strong defense against terror and destruction. Our children will sleep free from the threat of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Ports and airports, farms and factories will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas. And the world's greatest democracy will lead a whole world of democracies.
 Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations, a nation that balances its budget, but never loses the balance of its values. A nation where our grandparents have secure retirement and health care, and their grandchildren know we have made the reforms necessary to sustain those benefits for their time. A nation that fortifies the world's most productive economy even as it protects the great natural bounty of our water, air, and majestic land.
 And in this land of new promise, we will have reformed our politics so that the voice of the people will always speak louder than the din of narrow interests, regaining the participation and deserving the trust of all Americans.
 Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever moving forward toward realizing the full potential of all its citizens. Prosperity and power, yes, they are important, and we must maintain them. But let us never forget: The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit.
 Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall, in words that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he told of his dream that one day America would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the law and in the heart. Martin Luther King's dream was the American Dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and labors we will redeem the promise of America in the 21st century.
 To that effort I pledge all my strength and every power of my office. I ask the members of Congress here to join in that pledge. The American people returned to office a President of one party and a Congress of another. Surely, they did not do this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship they plainly deplore. No, they call on us instead to be repairers of the breach, and to move on with America's mission.
 America demands and deserves big things from us,- and nothing big ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said, "It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division."
 Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of this time. For all of us are on that same journey of our lives, and our journey, too, will come to an end. But the journey of our America must go on.
 And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there is much to dare. The demands of our time are great and they are different. Let us meet them with faith and courage, with patience and a grateful and happy heart. Let us shape the hope of this day into the noblest chapter in our history. Yes, let us build our bridge. A bridge wide enough and strong enough for every American to cross over to a blessed land of new promise.
 May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land into a new century with the American Dream alive for all her children; with the American promise of a more perfect union a reality for all her people; with America's bright flame of freedom spreading throughout all the world.
 From the height of this place and the summit of this century, let us go forth. May God strengthen our hands for the good work ahead, and always, always bless our America.

 

 
　

　

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.

 

乔治·布什
第一次就职演讲
星期六,2001年1月20日
　　谢谢大家！
　　尊敬的芮恩奎斯特大法官，卡特总统，布什总统，克林顿总统，尊敬的来宾们，我的同胞们：

　　这次权利的和平过渡在历史上是罕见的，但在美国是平常的。我们以朴素的宣誓庄严地维护了古老的传统，同时开始了新的历程。首先，我要感谢克林顿总统为这个国家作出的贡献，也感谢副总统戈尔在竞选过程中的热情与风度。

　　站在这里，我很荣幸，也有点受宠若惊。在我之前，许多美国领导人从这里起步；在我之后，也会有许多领导人从这里继续前进。

　　在美国悠久的历史中，我们每个人都有自己的位置；我们还在继续推动着历史前进，但是我们不可能看到它的尽头。这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史。这是一部美国由奴隶制社会发展成为崇尚自由的社会的历史。这是一个强国保护而不是占有世界的历史，是捍卫而不是征服世界的历史。这就是美国史。它不是一部十全十美的民族发展史，但它是一部在伟大和永恒理想指导下几代人团结奋斗的历史。

　　这些理想中最伟大的是正在慢慢实现的美国的承诺，这就是：每个人都有自身的价值，每个人都有成功的机会，每个人天生都会有所作为。美国人民肩负着一种使命，那就是要竭力将这个诺言变成生活中和法律上的现实。虽然我们的国家过去在追求实现这个承诺的途中曾停滞不前甚至倒退，但我们仍将坚定不移地完成这一使命。

　　在上个世纪的大部分时间里，美国自由民主的信念犹如汹涌大海中的岩石。现在它更像风中的种子，把自由带给每个民族。在我们的国家，民主不仅仅是一种信念，而是全人类的希望。民主，我们不会独占，而会竭力让大家分享。民主，我们将铭记于心并且不断传播。２２５年过去了，我们仍有很长的路要走。

　　有很多公民取得了成功，但也有人开始怀疑，怀疑我们自己的国家所许下的诺言，甚至怀疑它的公正。失败的教育，潜在的偏见和出身的环境限制了一些美国人的雄心。有时，我们的分歧是如此之深，似乎我们虽身处同一个大陆，但不属于同一个国家。我们不能接受这种分歧，也无法容许它的存在。我们的团结和统一，是每一代领导人和每一个公民的严肃使命。在此，我郑重宣誓：我将竭力建设一个公正、充满机会的统一国家。我知道这是我们的目标，因为上帝按自己的身形创造了我们，上帝高于一切的力量将引导我们前进。

　　对这些将我们团结起来并指引我们向前的原则，我们充满信心。血缘、出身或地域从未将美国联合起来。只有理想，才能使我们心系一处，超越自己，放弃个人利益，并逐步领会何谓公民。每个孩子都必须学习这些原则。每个公民都必须坚持这些原则。每个移民，只有接受这些原则，才能使我们的国家更具美国特色。

　　今天，我们在这里重申一个新的信念，即通过发扬谦恭、勇气、同情心和个性的精神来实现我们国家的理想。美国在它最鼎盛时也没忘记遵循谦逊有礼的原则。一个文明的社会需要我们每个人品质优良，尊重他人，为人公平和宽宏大量。

　　有人认为我们的政治制度是如此的微不足道，因为在和平年代，我们所争论的话题都是无关紧要的。但是，对我们美国来说，我们所讨论的问题从来都不是什么小事。如果我们不领导和平事业，那么和平将无人来领导；如果我们不引导我们的孩子们真心地热爱知识、发挥个性，他们的天分将得不到发挥，理想将难以实现。如果我们不采取适当措施，任凭经济衰退，最大的受害者将是平民百姓。

　　我们应该时刻听取时代的呼唤。谦逊有礼不是战术也不是感情用事。这是我们最坚定的选择--在批评声中赢得信任；在混乱中寻求统一。如果遵循这样的承诺，我们将会享有共同的成就。

　　美国有强大的国力作后盾，将会勇往直前。

　　在大萧条和战争时期，我们的人民在困难面前表现得无比英勇，克服我们共同的困难体现了我们共同的优秀品质。现在，我们正面临着选择，如果我们作出正确的选择，祖辈一定会激励我们；如果我们的选择是错误的，祖辈会谴责我们的。上帝正眷顾着这个国家，我们必须显示出我们的勇气，敢于面对问题，而不是将它们遗留给我们的后代。

　　我们要共同努力，健全美国的学校教育，不能让无知和冷漠吞噬更多的年轻生命。我们要改革社会医疗和保险制度，在力所能及的范围内拯救我们的孩子。我们要减低税收，恢复经济，酬劳辛勤工作的美国人民。我们要防患于未然，懈怠会带来麻烦。我们还要阻止武器泛滥，使新的世纪摆脱恐怖的威胁。

　　反对自由和反对我们国家的人应该明白：美国仍将积极参与国际事务，力求世界力量的均衡，让自由的力量遍及全球。这是历史的选择。我们会保护我们的盟国，捍卫我们的利益。我们将谦逊地向世界人民表示我们的目标。我们将坚决反击各种侵略和不守信用的行径。我们要向全世界宣传孕育了我们伟大民族的价值观。

　　正处在鼎盛时期的美国也不缺乏同情心。

　　当我们静心思考，我们就会明了根深蒂固的贫穷根本不值得我国作出承诺。无论我们如何看待贫穷的原因，我们都必须承认，孩子敢于冒险不等于在犯错误。放纵与滥用都为上帝所不容。这些都是缺乏爱的结果。监狱数量的增长虽然看起来是有必要的，但并不能代替我们心中的希望——人人遵纪守法。

　　哪里有痛苦，我们的义务就在哪里。对我们来说，需要帮助的美国人不是陌生人，而是我们的公民；不是负担，而是急需救助的对象。当有人陷入绝望时，我们大家都会因此变得渺小。

　　对公共安全和大众健康，对民权和学校教育，政府都应负有极大的责任。然而，同情心不只是政府的职责，更是整个国家的义务。有些需要是如此的迫切，有些伤痕是如此的深刻，只有导师的爱抚、牧师的祈祷才能有所感触。不论是教堂还是慈善机构、犹太会堂还是清真寺，都赋予了我们的社会它们特有的人性，因此它们理应在我们的建设和法律上受到尊重。

　　我们国家的许多人都不知道贫穷的痛苦。但我们可以听到那些感触颇深的人们的倾诉。我发誓我们的国家要达到一种境界：当我们看见受伤的行人倒在远行的路上，我们决不会袖手旁观。

　　正处于鼎盛期的美国重视并期待每个人担负起自己的责任。

　　鼓励人们勇于承担责任不是让人们充当替罪羊，而是对人的良知的呼唤。虽然承担责任意味着牺牲个人利益，但是你能从中体会到一种更加深刻的成就感。

　　我们实现人生的完整不单是通过摆在我们面前的选择，而且是通过我们的实践来实现。我们知道，通过对整个社会和我们的孩子们尽我们的义务，我们将得到最终自由。

　　我们的公共利益依赖于我们独立的个性；依赖于我们的公民义务，家庭纽带和基本的公正；依赖于我们无数的、默默无闻的体面行动，正是它们指引我们走向自由。

　　在生活中，有时我们被召唤着去做一些惊天动地的事情。但是，正如我们时代的一位圣人所言，每一天我们都被召唤带着挚爱去做一些小事情。一个民主制度最重要的任务是由大家每一个人来完成的。

　　我为人处事的原则包括：坚信自己而不强加于人，为公众的利益勇往直前，追求正义而不乏同情心，勇担责任而决不推卸。我要通过这一切，用我们历史上传统价值观来哺育我们的时代。

　　（同胞们），你们所做的一切和政府的工作同样重要。我希望你们不要仅仅追求个人享受而忽略公众的利益；要捍卫既定的改革措施，使其不会轻易被攻击；要从身边小事做起，为我们的国家效力。我希望你们成为真正的公民，而不是旁观者，更不是臣民。你们应成为有责任心的公民，共同来建设一个互帮互助的社会和有特色的国家。

　　美国人民慷慨、强大、体面，这并非因为我们信任我们自己，而是因为我们拥有超越我们自己的信念。一旦这种公民精神丧失了，无论何种政府计划都无法弥补它。一旦这种精神出现了，无论任何错误都无法抗衡它。

　　在《独立宣言》签署之后，弗吉尼亚州的政治家约翰·佩齐曾给托马斯·杰弗逊写信说：“我们知道，身手敏捷不一定就能赢得比赛，力量强大不一定就能赢得战争。难道这一切不都是上帝安排的吗？”

　　杰斐逊就任总统的那个年代离我们已经很远了。时光飞逝，美国发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是有一点他肯定能够预知，即我们这个时代的主题仍然是：我们国家无畏向前的恢宏故事和它追求尊严的纯朴梦想。

　　我们不是这个故事的作者，是杰斐逊作者本人的伟大理想穿越时空，并通过我们每天的努力在变为现实。我们正在通过大家的努力在履行着各自的职责。

　　带着永不疲惫、永不气馁、永不完竭的信念，今天我们重树这样的目标：使我们的国家变得更加公正、更加慷慨，去验证我们每个人和所有人生命的尊严。

　　这项工作必须继续下去。这个故事必须延续下去。上帝会驾驭我们航行的。

　　愿上帝保佑大家！愿上帝保佑美国！

 

 

President Bush's Second Inaugural Address

Federal News Service, Jan 21. 2005
The full text of President Bush's second inaugural address:

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, members of the United States Congress, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use but by the history we have seen together. For a half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical. And then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability, and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny -- prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder, violence will gather and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth. Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.

Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own.

America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal, instead, is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but, fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.

America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.

America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators. They are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some I know have questioned the global appeal of liberty, though this time in history -- four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen -- is an odd time for doubt.

Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals.

Eventually the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country. The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did, "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know to serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies defeat.

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens. From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet, because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well as a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress. And one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause -- in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies.

Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives, and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home -- the unfinished work of American freedom.

In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time.

To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance, preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society.

By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others and the rule of conscience in our own lives.

Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth.

And our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom.

We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes. And I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul.

When our founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now," they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled.

History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the author of liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength, tested but not weary, we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

　

乔治·布什
第二任就职演讲
星期五,2005年1月21日

 

 今天，按照宪法规定我们举行这个仪式。我们在此欢庆我国宪法常青的智慧，追寻我们团结全国的深切责任感。我感佩这个时刻带来的荣耀，意识到我们时代的期盼并期待着完成我的誓言，请你们做证。
　　
　　这是我们第二次聚会，我们的责任并非由我的讲演来确定，它源于我们当前历史时期的要求。半个世纪以来，美国在遥远的边界上捍卫着我们的自由。共产主义破产后我们有相对平静、懒散的岁月，而后是火光四射的那一天。
　　
　　我们已明了自身的弱点，我们也深知其根源。只要世界某些区域酝酿着不满、滋生着暴君，就会产生宣扬仇恨和为屠杀寻找借口的意识形态，就会聚集暴力和毁灭的能量，它们会越过严密把守的边界带来毁灭的威胁。这个世界只存在一种力量可以冲决仇恨、揭露暴君的虚伪、扶植容忍、培育尊严，那就是人类的自由。
　　
　　我们受常识的指引和历史的教诲，得出如下结论：自由是否能在我们的土地上存在，正日益依赖于自由在别国的胜利，对和平的热切期望只能源于自由在世界上的扩展。
　　
　　关系到美国生死存亡的利益和我们基本的信念合而为一。自立国始，我们就宣示：生于世间的每个男女都拥有他们的权力、尊严和无可比拟的价值，因为他们拥有创造天地之神的形象。每一世代，我们重申着民有政权的重要性，没有什么人应该是主人而另一些人应该做奴隶。实现这一理念的使命是我们的立国之本。我们的先父荣耀地完成了这一使命。进一步扩展这一理念是国家安全的要求，是我们的当务之急。
　　
　　有鉴于此，美国的政策是寻求并支持世界各国和各种文化背景下成长的民主运动，寻求并支持民主的制度化。最终的目标是终结世间的任何极权制度。
　　
　　这个目标最终不应由暴力达成，尽管在必要时，我们将以武力自卫，并保卫我们的朋友。自由的性质要求公民去自觉地选择它，捍卫它，并通过立法加以维护，同时保障劣势者。当一个国家的魂魄最终选择自由时，它的制度将反映着不同于我们的文化和传统。美国将不会强迫任何国家接受我们的国家体制。我们的目的，是帮助其他国家找到自己的声音，获得自身的自由，发现自己的自由之路。
　　
　　终结专制统治的巨大使命是几代人努力的目标。其难度不是无所作为的借口，美国的影响有限，但值得庆幸的是，美国的影响也是有力的，我们将充满信心地在追求自由的道路上帮助你们。
　　
　　我最庄严的责任是保护我的国家和它的人民不再受到任何袭击和威胁。有些人不明智地选择了试探美国的决心，他们发现了我们坚定的意志。
　　
　　我们坚定地给每一个统治者每一个国家提出这样的选择：请在压迫---这终究是错的，与自由---这永远是正确的，之间做道义的选择。美国不会装模作样地默认被关押的异议者自我选择了枷锁，也不会默认妇女成为可耻的代名词，看着她们变成奴仆，同样不会默认任何人类的一员仰人鼻息地生活。
　　
　　我们将鼓励其它政府的改革，我们将明确表示与美国良好的关系要求他们善对自己的公民。美国对人的尊严的信念将指导我们的政策，但是人民权力并不是源于独裁者违心的让步，它们应该源于人民反对的自由和被统治者的平等参与。从长远看，没有自由，就没有正义，没有人民的自由就不存在人权。
　　
　　我知道，有些人质疑全球自由，尽管经过四十年自由迅猛的发展，这个怀疑似乎不合时宜。美国全体人民不应被我们理念的力量所惊吓。最终，自由呼唤将发自每一个心灵。我们拒绝接受永恒的专制，因为我们拒绝接受永久的奴役，自由将来到热爱她的人们中间。
　　
　　今天，美国再次向世界人民说话：
　　
　　那些生活在专制下绝望的人民应该知道，美利坚合众国不会漠视你们被压迫，不会原谅你们的压迫者。当你们保卫自己的自由时，美国将站在你们一边。
　　
　　那些面对着压制、监狱和流放的民主变革的参与者应该知道，美国知道你们的潜力：你们自由国家未来的领袖。
　　
　　那些无法无天的统治者应该知道，我们仍然抱有林肯总统的信念：“那些剥夺他人自由的人不配享有自由，而且在公正的上帝面前，他们也不会长久。”
　　
　　那些习惯于控制人民的统治者应该知道，为了服务你的人民你应该给予他们信任。开始踏上进步和正义之路，那样，美国将站在你这一边。
　　
　　美国的所有盟友们应该知道：我们珍视我们的友谊，我们尊重你们的建议，我们依赖于你们的帮助。分裂自由国家的团结是自由敌人的目的，自由国家相互配合地推进民主是我们的敌人失败的开始。
　　
　　今天，我也要对我的同胞、公民们说：
　　
　　我要求得到你们所有人的耐心，保卫国家安全是艰巨的任务，这样的耐心你们已经给予我很多了。我们的国家承担着一个困难重重的义务，中途放弃是可耻的。正是因为我们继续着我们国家解放者的传统，成千上万的人们获得了自由。希望催生新的希望，更多的人将获得自由。通过我们的努力，我们点燃了火种，那火种在人们心中。它温暖着感受它力量的人们，它烧毁那些试图阻挠进步的人。终有一天，这无可熄灭的自由之火将照亮我们这个世界最阴暗的角落。
　　
　　一些美国人已经接受这个事业中最困难的工作---那些默默无闻的情报和外交工作，这种理想主义激励他们帮助自由政府的工作，那些打击我们的敌人危险而必要的工作。他们中的一些人献出了生命，他们的国家永远以他们为荣---我们也会永远记住他们的名字和他们的贡献。
　　
　　所有的美国人都见证了这种理想主义，有些人是第一次看到。我要求我们的青年相信自己的观察，你们看到了我们士兵们充满责任和忠诚的坚毅面孔。你们也看到了生命的脆弱和魔鬼的真实，你们更看到了战胜的勇气。请选择参加这一进程，它比起个人需要重要得多，比个人伟大得多。一旦轮到你们，你们不但增加了我们国家的财富，也将为她增添光彩。
　　
　　美国需要理想主义和勇气，因为我们要完成国内的任务。美国自由的未竞之业，在一个走向自由的世界里，我们要展示自由的真义和我们对自由的承诺。
　　
　　在美国自由的信念里，公民享有尊严和经济上的独立，不是生活在潦倒的边缘。这是更广义自由的定义,它促生了《房屋法案》,《社会安全法案》和《人权法案》，现在，我们将改革形成伟大的制度来服务于我们的时代，并扩展这一定义。每个美国人将分享国家的承诺和未来，我们将用最高的标准来要求我们的学校，建立一个有产者的社会。我们要让更多的人拥有自己的住房和事业，拥有自己的退休基金和医疗保险。让我们的人民对自由社会未来的挑战做好准备，让每个公民做他自己命运的主人。我们将把美国人民从匮乏和担忧中解脱，并把我们的社会建成更为富强平等的社会。
　　
　　在美国的自由信念中，公共利益依赖于个人品质，这包括完善人格和宽容他人，以及有理性的生活。自我管理依赖于管理良好的自我，个人的全部特征建立于家庭内，得到邻里的支持和约束，并在国家生活里贯彻始终，它依赖于西奈的真知、宝山临训、可兰经的教诲,与各种各样的信仰，在每一代美国人民的推动下前进着，他们坚信源于历史的有益和真实---公正的理念和适宜的行为---都将被保有，从昨天、今天，直到永远的未来。
　　
　　在美国自由的信念中，个人权力的运用是由服务，宽容和对弱者的同情构成的。为全体的自由并不意味着人们的互相背离.我们国家依赖于那些互相守望的邻里和用爱围绕失落者的人们。美国人最良好的表现在于珍重我们每一个人的生活，而且永远记得那些所谓无用之辈也有他们的价值。我们的国家一定要丢弃一切种族主义的偏见，因为要知道我们不可能肩负自由的使命而又同时携带偏见的包袱。
　　
　　从每一天看，就以今天为例，我们国家面临着诸多问题。从一个世纪看，我们面对的问题是集中而突出的：我们这一代有没有推进自由的事业？我们的所作所为有没有为这事业增添光彩？
　　
　　这些问题是我们的裁判，也团结了我们。因为无论是何党派、自我选择或是否出生于此，美国人在自由的道路上是不可分离的。我们知道分裂必须弥合我们才能向伟大的目标前进。我将做出最大的努力去弥合分裂，但是这种裂痕不能左右美国。当自由受到威胁时，我们深感相互的团结和关联，我们的反击也如出自同手一心，当美国仗义而行，当灾民们得到救助，当正义得到伸张，当人民获得自由，我们也同样自豪地感到我们是统一体。
　　
　　我们所有人都满怀信心地踏着自由胜利之路前进。这并非因为这是不可避免的历史进程。而是因为人类的选择构成进步，我们并不认为我们的国家就是上帝的选民。上帝自有他的意志和选择，我们坚信这是因为自由是人类永恒的希望，是黑暗中的渴望，是灵魂的渴望。当我们的立国先贤宣布新时代的准则时，当一批批士兵为了保卫基于自由的联邦而牺牲时，当公民手举“立即自由”的横幅和平抗议时---他们在实践着那古老的希望，这希望一定会成为现实。虽然公正在历史上潮起潮落，但是历史也有一条清晰的脉络，那是由自由和自由的实践者确定的。
　　
　　当独立宣言第一次对公众宣读，自由的钟声敲响。一个亲眼目睹的人这样说道：“它在鸣响着，似乎意味深长。”在我们的时代，这钟声依然意味深长。美国在这年轻的世纪向世界、向所有它的居民传播着自由。我们充满活力，我们经历过艰难的斗争，但并没有疲倦---我们已做好准备去完成自由史上最伟大的功绩。
　　
　　上帝保佑你们，愿他眷顾美国。

 

 

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address

       Jan 21. 2009

奥巴马手按林肯当年用《圣经》宣誓就任美总统

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address

My fellow citizens:

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.

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.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

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 health care 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.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

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.

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.

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-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

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 Sanh.

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.

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 decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. 

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not 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 health care’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.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that 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 works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors 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 of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even 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 apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, 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. 

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know 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.

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.

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 honor 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 moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

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.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these 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 responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

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.

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:

"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]."

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.    巴拉克·胡赛因·奥巴马就职演讲
        星期三,2009年1月21日  

亲爱的同胞们：

    今天我站在这里，为我们将面对的任重道远而慨叹。感谢你们对我寄托的信任，同时缅怀我们的前人所做出的牺牲。感谢布什总统为美国做出的贡献，以及他在总统任期交叠过程中的慷慨合作。至此，共有四十四位美国人曾进行过总统宣誓。这一誓言曾在国家和平、欣欣向荣时做出过。然而这一誓词更曾在乌云笼罩和风暴袭来之时被宣读。美国人民之所以能够走过那些艰难的时刻，不仅仅是因为领袖的能力或远见；更是因为我们，我们人民，保持着对先人理想的忠诚，对我们国家创始文件的追随。对于我们这一代美国人来说，也是这样，也必须这样。艺品堂网商学院

     国家正面临危机，这一点大家已经没有疑问。美国处在战争之中，面对一个有巨大影响力、充满暴力和仇恨的网络。我们的经济严重衰退。这来源于部分人的贪婪和不负责任，更由于作为一个整体，我们未能做出面对一个新时代的艰难决策。人民失去房屋、工作机会减少、商业活动遭到破坏。医疗保障过于昂贵，学校教育系统出现太多失败。而我们对能源的使用，日益让对手强大，与此同时又威胁着我们的星球。

     这些，是从数据和统计中可以看到的危机信号。还有难以度量但同样深远的问题，那就是整个国家信心的缺失。那萦绕在我们头上的恐惧，认为美国的衰败不可避免，认为我们的下一代人不可能再有太高的期望。今天我要对你们说，我们面临的挑战是真切的、严重的，而且有很多重。解决他们不可能很轻松，也不可能在短时间内发生。但美国人民，请记住这一点：这些挑战会被解决。
     今天，我们聚集在一起，因为我们选择了希望而不是恐惧；我们选择了为共同的目标团结在一起，而不是冲突与争执。今天，我们共同终结那些虚假的承诺、陈腐的教条、以及指摘与怨言。这些已经困扰了我们的政治体系太长时间。

     我们的国家仍旧年轻，但借用圣经中的话，该是抛开那些孩子气的时候了。现在，需要重新拿出我们的坚韧精神，选择自己的历史。我们要延续代代相传的宝贵礼物，延续神圣的理想，那就是上帝赐予我们的承诺－－人人平等，人人自由，人人都有机会去追求最大程度的幸福。在重温我们国家伟大的同时，我们必须明白，伟大不是凭空而来的，而是赢得的。在我们的历程中，从来没有走捷径或是退而求其次。这一历程不是为懦弱者准备的，不是为那些享乐高于工作、只知追求名利的人准备的。相反，是那些甘于承担风险的人，实干家，创造者－－有些众人皆知，而更多的在辛勤工作中默默无闻－－是他们带着我们穿越漫长、崎岖的道路走向繁荣与自由。为了我们，他们把仅有的财物装进行囊，漂洋过海追求新的生活。为了我们，他们开拓西部，在条件恶劣的工厂中流血流汗；他们忍受鞭笞，开垦贫瘠的土地。为了我们，他们战斗和牺牲在协和镇（Concord）、葛底斯堡（Gettysburg）、诺曼底和科萨恩(KheSahn)。一次又一次，这些男男女女，他们奋斗和牺牲；他们将双手磨破为了给我们带来更好的生活。在他们眼中，美国超越了我们每个人雄心的总和，超越了个人、财富和派系的差别。

     今天，我们仍在这样的历程上。我们仍旧是地球上最繁荣、最强大的国家。美国工人们的效率并不比危机开始之前低。我们的头脑具有同样的创造力。我们的产品与服务和上周、上月、或者去年一样有需求。我们的能力从未被削弱。但墨守陈规、维护狭隘的利益、面对艰难的决策畏首畏尾的日子将一去不复返了。从今天开始，我们必须重新找回我们自己，掸去身上的尘土，开始重塑美国的重任。环顾四周，有无数工作等着我们。经济状况期待着我们大胆和快速的行动。我们会付诸行动－－不仅仅是创造就业机会，同时还要为未来的增长打下新的基础。我们将建设公路、桥梁和电网，以及将我们紧密联系起来、提供商业信息的数字高速公路。我们会重新树立科学应有的地位，并利用技术手段提高医疗保障的质量，同时降低其费用。我们将利用太阳、风与土壤，来驱动我们的汽车和工厂。我们将改革我们的学校和大学，以满足新时代的需要。这些都有可能实现，更会去实现。现在，有人还在怀疑我们的信心──他们认为我们的国家无法承担这样的重大计划。他们太健忘了，他们忘记了这个国家曾经取得的成就，他们忘记了当拥有了理想、共同的目标和必要的勇气，这些自由的人民曾经取得的辉煌成就。这些愤世嫉俗的人无法理解这个国家所发生的转变──那些陈腐的政治已经缠绕了我们太久太长。我们现在面临的问题不是政府太大还是太小，而是政府所扮演的角色──应该帮助家庭获得体面的收入，购买他们的所需，有尊严地退休。当这些答案都是肯定的时，我们才能继续前进。如果答案是否定的，一切都将不复存在。我们这些管理公共财产的人应该负起责任──把钱花在刀刃上、改掉恶习、光明正大地行事──因为只有这样我们才能重塑人民和政府之间的信任。

     市场力量的好坏不是我们的问题。市场在创造财富和推进自由进程方面是无可代替的，但是这场危机也提醒了我们没有审慎的监管，市场的力量将如野马一样脱缰──一个仅有财富的国家不可能持续繁荣。我们在经济上所取得的成功不仅体现在我们的经济总量上，也体现在我们的繁荣程度上，体现在我们为每个渴望成功的心灵所提供的机会上─这并非出自恻隐之心，而是我们实现共同利益的必经之路。我们拒绝在安全和理想之间妥协。我们的建国先辈们，面对我们无法想象的凶险，却依然用几代人的鲜血维护了神圣的法律人权。那些理想依然在照亮着这个世界，我们不会因一时的困难而放弃这些理想。我要对那些正在看着我们的国家和人民说，无论你身处繁华的都市还是像养育了我父亲那样的小村庄：对于那些追求和平与尊严的男人、女人和孩子，美国将永远是你们的朋友，我们将继续和你们一起前进。

     我们是这种传统的捍卫者。我们继续追寻这些信念的指引，我们将直面这些挑战并更加努力─更多的沟通与合作。我们会负责地将伊拉克还给当地的人民，并在阿富汗保卫来之不易的和平。我们将与老朋友和原来的敌人一道，共同消除核威胁，解决全球变暖的根源。我们不会为自己的做法道歉，更不会动摇捍卫和平的决心，对于那些崇尚恐怖、滥杀无辜的人，我们的精神是强大而不可战胜的。你拖不垮我们，我们将会打败你。

     我们多种族混居是一种优势。我们是一个由基督徒、穆斯林、犹太教徒、印度教徒和无神论者共同组成的国家。我们吸收了各种文化的精髓，从世界的每个角落学习。因为我们经历过内战和种族隔离的痛苦洗礼，并在黑暗中更加坚强和团结，我们无法保证，但是我们相信憎恨终将消弭，分隔终将散去。随着世界越来越紧密地联系在一起，我们共同的人性将显露出来，美国必须承担引领新时代和平的重任。对于穆斯林世界，我们将基于共同的利益和信仰，寻找更好的合作之路。对于那些在世界各个地方挑起冲突或一味批评西方不良影响的领导者：你的人民评判你的依据是你建立了什么，而不是破坏了什么。对于那些依靠*和欺骗并压制异议而追求权利的人们：你们站在了人类历史的对立面。如果你们能张开紧握的拳头，我们也将伸出友谊之手。对于那些贫穷的人们，我们保证和你们一起建设繁茂的农场和干净的水源，滋养那些饥寒交迫的身体和心灵。对于那些与我们一样相对富裕的国家，我们不能再对外界的苦难漠不关心，更不能继续大肆索取世界的资源。世界必须改变，我们都必须改变。
     当我们审视前方的道路时，我们会感激那些跨越千山万水来到这里的人们。今天，他们有话对我们说，也是安息在阿林顿国家公墓里的先烈们时刻提醒我们的。我们尊敬他们不仅因为是他们捍卫了我们的自由，更因为他们正是奉献精神的化身；他们致力于寻找远高于自身的生命真谛。而此时，在这个特殊的时代，我们更需让这种精神长存。

     因为归根结底，政府所能做的，也是必须做到的，是体现每个美国人的信念和决心，这也是这个国家赖以生存的精神力量。这种力量是洪灾泛滥时，陌生人之间的温暖善举；是经济困难时期，人们自损利益保全朋友工作的无私忘我。这是消防员们毅然冲入浓烟火海的勇气，也是父母培养孩子的无私之心，这些都决定了我们的命运。

    或许，我们今日遇到挑战前所未有，所有的情况完全陌生。但是，我们赖以走向成功的价值观从未改变——诚实、勤勉、勇敢、公正、宽容、好学、忠贞和爱国。我们的历史亦由这些真理推进，亘古不变。如今，我们面对的是一个全新的责任时代——人人都需重视，对我们自己，我们的国家乃至整个世界，都有一份责任。我们会欣然接受这份责任，人生也正因此而充实。

    这是公民的价值和承诺。

    这是我们信心的源泉——上帝赐予我们知识以应对无常的命运。

    这是我们所崇尚的自由与信念的真谛——这就是为什么今天，不同肤色，不同信仰的男女老少在此汇聚一堂；这就是为什么六十年前，一位父亲走入餐厅甚至无人理睬，而今天他的儿子可以站在这里，在你们面前许下最庄严的誓言。 

    所以让我们记住这一天，记住自己，记住为此的付出。在我们的国家诞生之初，先辈们在最寒冷的日子里，围聚在结冰的河边靠微弱的篝火取暖。离乡背井，后有敌军，鲜血染红了白雪。就在革命的道路如此模糊，意志也开始踌躇之时，我们的国父有这样几句话：“告诉未来的世界……当一切陷入寒冬，万物俱灭，只有希望和勇气可以长存……这座城市和这个国家，在共同的危机下团结起来，共同面对前方的艰难。”美国，面对我们共同的危机，在这艰难的寒冬，让我们牢记那些永恒的字句。怀着希望和美德，让我们再一次勇敢地面对冰冷的现实，迎接任何可能的风浪。让我们的子孙传唱，当我们面对挑战时，我们没有怯懦、没有退缩，更没有踟蹰不前。我们在上帝的关爱下眺望远方，我们在自由的道路上继续前进，我们的精神将永远闪耀着光芒。

  

 

 美国历届总统介绍  

第44任美国总统：贝拉克·奥巴马
任期：2009年1月20日——现在
所属政党：民主党
　　
               贝拉克·奥巴马 (Barack Obama) 1961年8月4日出生在美国夏威夷檀香山，父亲是来自肯尼亚的留学生，母亲是堪萨斯州人。他们二人在就读夏威夷大学期间相识。由于父亲此后前往哈佛大学求学，奥巴马从小由母亲抚养。奥巴马两岁多时，他的父母婚姻破裂。6岁时，奥巴马随母亲和继父前往印度尼西亚生活。

　　4年后，奥巴马回到夏威夷。中学毕业后，他进入加利福尼亚州西方学院学习，后转入位于纽约的哥伦比亚大学，1983年毕业。1985年，他来到芝加哥，从事社区工作。1988年，他进入哈佛大学法学院深造。1991年在获得哈佛大学法学博士学位后，他返回芝加哥，成为一名律师，并在芝加哥大学法学院教授宪法。

　　1997年，奥巴马进入政坛，当选伊利诺伊州参议员。2000年，他竞选联邦众议员，但没有成功。2004年，他在民主党全国代表大会上发表主题演讲后引起广泛关注。同年11月，他当选伊利诺伊州联邦参议员。

　　在担任联邦参议员期间，他参与起草了有关控制常规武器的议案，推动加强公众监督联邦基金使用，并支持有关院外游说、选举欺诈、气候变化和核恐怖主义等问题的一系列议案。他还出访了东欧、中东和非洲的一些国家。

　　2007年2月，奥巴马正式宣布竞选总统。他在竞选中以“变革”为主题，强调结束伊拉克战争、实现能源自给、停止减税政策和普及医疗保险等，并承诺实现党派团结、在国际上重建同盟关系、恢复美国领导地位。2008年8月27日，他在民主党全国代表大会上获得总统候选人提名。11月4日，他在美国总统大选中获胜，当选美国第56届总统，并成为美国历史上首位非洲裔总统。2009年1月20日，奥巴马正式宣誓就职。

　　奥巴马著有《来自我父亲的梦想》和《无畏的希望：重申美国梦》。《来自我父亲的梦想》是奥巴马的自传，于1995年首次出版。《无畏的希望：重申美国梦》于2006年问世，主要介绍奥巴马的政治理想和观点。

　　奥巴马1992年与米歇尔·罗宾森结婚，育有两个女儿。

第43任美国总统：乔治．沃克．布什 任期：2001年1月20日～2009年1月20日出生：1946年7月6日
所属政党：共和党
一般称小布什，1946年7月6日出生，在得克萨斯州的米德兰和休斯敦长大，其父为美国第51届总统乔治•布什。小布什毕业于耶鲁大学并获学士学位，1978年获哈佛商学院工商管理硕士学位，曾在得克萨斯州国民警卫队空军任飞行员。
1975年，小布什在米德兰创建了一家石油和天然气勘探公司，并在该公司工作至1986年。
1989年他与人合伙购买了得克萨斯流浪者棒球队，他任球队总经理至1994年11月8日。1994年11月8日小布什当选为得克萨斯州州长，1998年11月再次当选得州州长。小布什作为共和党总统候选人在2000年11月的美国总统选举中战胜民主党总统候选人戈尔，当选美国历史上的第54届(43任)总统，并于2001年1月20日宣誓就职，正式入主白宫。
小布什的夫人劳拉曾是一名图书管理员，他们有一对双胞胎女儿芭芭拉和詹纳，1981年出生。小布什的弟弟：约翰．埃利斯．布什(John Ellis Bush，又称杰布．布什)为佛罗里达州州长。


第42任美国总统：威廉•杰斐逊•克林顿 任期：1993年1月20日～2001年1月20日
绰号：比尔
出生：1946年8月19日霍普，阿肯色州
第一夫人：希拉里•Rodham•克林顿
副总统：艾伯特•戈尔
所属政党：民主党
1962年，16岁的克林顿作为阿肯色州学生代表，到首都华盛顿出席全国青少年团体代表大会，1964年高中毕业后考入乔治敦大学，主修外交专业，曾担任大学学生会主席并协助联邦参议员威廉．富布赖特工作。1968年，克林顿大学毕业，获国际政治学学士学位，并考取罗兹奖学金赴英国牛津大学学习。1970年，他考入美国耶鲁大学法学院，1973年毕业，获法学博士学位，同年到阿肯色州州立大学担任教授。
1976年，克林顿出任阿肯色州司法部长，1978年至1980年任阿肯色州州长，1982年至1992年又连续五次担任州长。克林顿任州长期间，在推动州教育改革和实施经济发展计划方面取得成就，被选为美国南部经济发展政策委员会主席，兼任全美州长联席会议主席，并曾协助总统主持国家最高教育当局的工作。1990年，克林顿被选为民主党最高委员会主席。
1992年11月3日，克林顿当选美国总统，1996年11月再次当选。执政期间，经济持续增长，财政赤字下降，通货膨胀率和失业率均保持在较低水平，国际竞争力得到恢复。对外实行以促进经济繁荣、维护国家安全、促进民主为三大支柱的外交政策。认为欧洲的稳定“对美国的安全至关重要”，欧洲经济为美国提供大量就业和投资机会，主张加强北约，支持北约东扩。认为亚洲对美国的经济和安全都十分重要。
克林顿兴趣广泛，尤其爱好音乐，擅长演奏萨克斯管，曾担任阿肯色州管乐队首席萨克斯管演奏员。


第41任美国总统：乔治•赫伯特•沃克•布什 任期：1989年1月～1993年1月
绰号：poppy
出生：1924年6乐12日，密尔顿，马萨诸塞州
所属政党：共和党
乔治．赫伯特．沃克，布什(1924.6.24—)是美国历史上的第41任总统，生于马萨诸塞州。父亲普雷斯科特．布什是华尔街银行家、参议员。母亲是萝西．沃克。布什家教很严，年轻时受到良好教育。耶鲁大学毕业前参加空军，二战中表现英勇。大学毕业后，在石油部门工作。1964年，布什参加得克萨斯州参议员竞选失败。1966年竞选国会众议员成功。1970年竞选参议员失败，被尼克松总统任命为驻联合国代表。1972年任共和党全国委员会主席。1974年任驻中国联络处主任。1975年任中央情报局局长，1977年辞职。1979年被共和党提名副总统候选人并在竞选中获胜，1984年连任。1988年竞选总统成功。布什执政后，内政平平，但外交十分活沃。他提出“超越遏制”战略。在布什任期内，东欧剧变，苏联解体，世界格局发生了根本变化。布什提出“新大西洋主义”，调整与盟国关系。1991年，发起“沙漠风暴”的军事进攻得胜。布什以此为契机，提出了建立“世界新秩序”的主张。1992年，布什谋求连任失败。
布什非常喜欢运动，曾在大学担任过垒球队队长。爱好打网球和高尔夫球。七十年代，布什任美国驻中国联络处主任期间，他和夫人芭芭拉经常骑着自行车穿行于北京的大街小巷，既健身，又能直接了解中国社会，接触普通百姓。这位来自“汽车王国”的外交官的行为一时被传为佳话，有人把布什称为“骑自行车的大使”。布什夫妇骑车在天安门城楼前的留影一再出现在报刊杂志上。


第40任美国总统：罗纳德•里根
任期：1981年1月20日～1989年1月20日
绰号：gipper；伟大的通信员
出生：1911年2月6日，坦皮科，伊利诺伊州N
死于：2004年6月5日
所属政党：共和党
罗纳德•威尔逊•里根(1911.2.6-2004.6.5)是美国历史上的第40任总统，生于伊利诺伊州。父亲杰克是个皮鞋推销员。1911年2月6日，罗纳德•威尔逊•里根出生于伊利诺斯州的坦皮科镇(父亲约翰，里根，母亲丽娜•里根)，中学就读于附近的迪克森镇，然后半工半读完成在尤里卡学院的大学课程。他学习经济学和社会学，参加校足球队比赛和校剧社的演出。毕业后，里根成为一名电台体育播音员，1937年的一次试镜使他在好莱坞赢得了一份演出合同。进入好莱坞华纳兄弟电影公司当电影和电视演员。第二次世界大战期间应征入伍，在空军服役。退伍后重返好莱坞，在接下来的20年里，他共参加了53部电影的演出。后任电影演员公会主席、电影委员会主席。1962年、1976年两次争取共和党提名总统候选人，均未成功。1980年再次争取，被提名，并在竞选中击败卡特而获胜。1984年谋求连任成功。里根执政期间，提出一项旨在压缩政府开支、减少国营事业、降低通货膨胀率的政治改革计划，收效甚微。对外，对苏联等社会主义国家取强硬立场，并提出了“星球大战”计划。
1984年美国民族自信心的恢复，使里根和布什以前所未有的选票赢得了第二任。他们的胜利使得民主党竞选人沃尔特•蒙代尔和杰拉尔丁•费拉罗被“拒之门外”。
1984年4月26日至5月1日，里根应邀对中国进行国事访问，他是中美两国建交后首位在任时访华的美国总统。
1986年里根成功地进行了税收法典的改革，扫除了许多克扣制度：免除了数百万低收人者的税赋，在他任职末期，是美国历史上持续时间最长的、没有经济衰退和经济萧条的和平时期。
1989年1月里根辞职。
1993年里根获总统自由勋章。
1994年11月5日，里根向公众宣布，他患了老年痴呆症。


第39任美国总统：吉米•卡特
任期：1977年1月20日～1981年1月20日
绰号：吉米
出生：1924年10月1日，佐治亚州
所属政党：民主党
小詹姆斯(吉米)•厄尔•卡特(1924.10.1—)是美国历史上的第39任总统，生于南佐治亚州。卡特与父亲同名，故称小詹姆斯•厄尔•卡特。老卡特从事农业和商业，是州议会议员。母亲莉连•戈迪是个随和的妇女，不像老卡特那样严厉。卡特毕业于海军学院，毕业后在海军服役。1953年他退伍回乡，经营父亲的产业。
1970至1974年任佐治亚州州长。在当时南方的年轻州长中，他以办事富有实效、积极消除种族歧视赢得声誉。1974年卡特宣布竞选总统，并轻易获得民主党提名。1977年，他经过艰苦的竞选战以微弱优势击败福特总统，出任美国历史上的第39任总统。
在国内，卡特欲意实行行政和经济改革，但遭到国会的强烈反对。在国际上，强调人权。他当政时期，把巴拿马运河的管理权交还给了巴拿马，实现了同中华人民共和国的关系正常化，中美两国正式建立了外交关系。推动中东实现了和谈。在上世纪80年代的海地危机中，尽管美国战机已经起飞，卡特仍不顾生命危险留在海地首都谈判至最后一刻，最终说服军政府交权避免流血战争。这一事件令卡特在国际上赢得了巨大的声望。卡特在1975年出版自传《为什么不是最好的？》，以后又陆续写了《一个与其人民一样诚实的政府》(1977年)和《保持信心，一个总统的回忆录》(1982年)。
1990年7月4日卡特获费城自由勋章。1995年1月10日获得1994年度联合国教科文组织设立的费利克斯•乌弗埃-博瓦尼和平奖。1997年11月，印度英•甘地纪念基金会授予他1997年度英•甘地奖，以奖励他为全球和平、裁军和发展所作的贡献。1998年12月10日，获1998年度联合国人权奖。
卡特也是访问古巴第一人。卡特访问古巴并与卡斯特罗举行会谈，是自1959年古巴革命胜利以来，美国历任总统中访问古巴的第一人，为改善美古关系起到了积极的作用。除了担任国际和平协调人的角色，卡特与夫人还积极为全球范围内的无家可归者启动住房工程，常常不顾年事已高，亲自参加施工为无家可归者搭建福利房。


第38任美国总统：杰拉尔德•鲁道夫•福特
任期：1974年8月9日～1977年1月20日
绰号：Jerry
出生：1913年7月14日，奥马哈，内布拉斯加州
所属政党：共和党
小杰拉尔德•鲁道夫•福特(1913.7.14—)是美国历史上的第38任总统，生于内布拉斯加州。父亲莱斯利•林奇•金是个羊皮商。福特毕业于耶鲁大学。
1942～1946年在海军和海军后备队服役，曾在“蒙特雷”号航空母舰上工作。被授予中校衔。
1946～1949年重操律师业。1948年福特与伊丽莎白•安妮•布鲁默结婚，有三子一女。
1949～1974年任国会众议员，在众院公共工程委员会、拨款委员会、航空与宇宙空间特别委员会任委员。1959年作为美国代表团成员出席在波兰举行的“各国议会联盟”会议。1965年当选为众院共和党领袖。1968年和1972年两次担任共和党全国代表大会常任主席。1973年10月被尼克松总统任命为副总统。
1974年尼克松因“水门事件”被迫辞职，福特于同年8月9日继任总统。他是美国唯一一位未经总统选举的总统。同年9月8日下令赦免尼克松。就职后，福特面对几乎不能克服的任务。面对通货膨胀，恢复经济，解决能量短缺等问题，并且努力保证世界和平。政府干预和花费作为解决美国社会和经济的问题的方法控制趋势。归根结底，他相信，这变化将为全部美国人带来好生活。福特宣布“充分、自由和绝对”赦免了尼克松，并留任基辛格为国务卿。在国内，他想缓和因“水门事件”而引起的矛盾，但自己曾两次遭暗杀。
1972、1975、1981年福特曾3次访问中国。1975年12月1日-5日，福特访问中国，毛泽东主席和邓小平副总理会见了他。双方重申遵守《上海公报》。
1976年福特谋求连任，但败在卡特手下。1977年卸任后，他在弗吉尼亚棕榈泉住下来，一面经商，一面写作，很快，他成了百万富翁。他另有回忆录出版。


第37任美国总统：理查德•米尔豪斯•尼克松
任期：1969年1月20日～1974年8月9日
出生：1913年1月9日，加利福尼亚
死于：1994年4月22日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
理查德•米尔豪斯•尼克松(1913.l.9-1994.4.22)是美国历史上的第37任总统，生于加利福尼亚州，父亲是汽车加油站和百货店老板。尼克松毕业于惠蒂尔学院和迪克大学，先当律师，后入海军，复员后曾两次选人参议院。1952年参加副总统竞选成功，任副总统4年。1960年、1964年两度竞选总统失败。1968年参加总统竞选获胜。1972年谋求连任成功。执政后，尼克松对内的目标是抑制通货膨胀，重振美国经济。对外，提出尼克松主义，与中华人民共和国直接接触，于1972年实现访华，开打了两国关系的大门。1973年，结束了越南战争。同年，苏联领导人回访美国，双方宣告冷战结束。
1974年8月，尼克松因“水门事件”辞职，成为美国有史以来第一个自动辞职的总统。尼克松下台后，回到故里开始写回忆录。81岁时，尼克松因中风去世。


第36任美国总统：林登•贝恩斯•约翰逊
任期：1963年11月22日～1969年1月20日
出生：1908年8月27日，靠近约翰逊城市，Texas
死于：1973年1月22日，靠近约翰逊城市，Texas
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：投资电视与广播业、房地产业
林登•贝恩斯•约翰逊(1908.8.27—1973.1.22)是美国历史上的第36任总统，生于得克萨斯州，是父亲塞缪尔和母亲莉伯卡的五个孩子中的长子。父亲是州议员。约翰逊在西南师范毕业后从事过多种职业。1948年当选参议员，1951年成为民主党议员领袖。1960年被提名为民主党总统候选人，竞选获胜。1963年11月12曰，肯尼迪遇刺身亡，约翰逊继任总统。继任后，他提出有关人权、减税、反穷困和资源保护的立法，得以批准。1964年竞选连任成功。他提出了建立“伟大社会”的口号，并出台了一些实际措施，也取得了某些成效。但他因袭前届政府的政策，并且扩大了印支战争。1965年，还派兵对多米尼加共和国进行了干预。特别是扩大印支战争，受到美国人民的强烈反对。约翰逊为了摆脱困境，不得不与印支方面进行谈判，以便结束战争。任期届满之后，约翰逊不再竞选总统。退休后，他在得克萨斯的一个牧场住了下来。在他去世的第二天，越南停战协定在巴黎签字。


第35任美国总统：约翰•肯尼迪
任期：1961年1月20日～1963年11月22日
出生：1917年5月29日，布鲁克兰里，马萨诸塞州
死于：1963年11月22日，在达拉斯，得克萨斯
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：遗产继承
约翰•菲茨杰拉德•肯尼迪(1917.5.29-1963.11.12)是美国历史上的第35任总统，生于马萨诸塞州。父亲约瑟夫•肯尼迪是金融巨子，也是民主党坚定的后台。作为国历史上最年轻的总统，肯尼迪自幼受到良好的教育，最后读了哈佛大学和斯坦福大学，1940年毕业。第二次世界大战中肯尼迪加入美国海军，在对日作战中负伤。战后，肯尼迪29岁即当选为议员，后三次连任。
1960年肯尼迪参加总统竞选。他提出“新边疆”的竞选口号，倡导在科学技术、经济发展、战争与和平等各个领域开拓新天地。1961年，肯尼迪在选民投票过程中以极小的差距赢得总统的位置，击败了共和党人尼克松，成为美国历史上最年轻的总统，也是第一个罗马天主教总统。肯尼迪成为美国总统后，布鲁克莱市在比尔斯八十三号这栋住宅前设立了纪念牌。在肯尼迪的就职演说中：“不要问你的国家能为你做什么？而要问你能为你的国家做什么。”作为总统，他开始履行他的战役保证再次使美国运转起来。他上台后并非一切如愿。任职开始就遇到了美国入侵古巴惨败的事实。他为了寻得平等的权利采取有力措施，要求新公民权利立法。他给予民族文化的质量和艺术在一起至关重要的社会中心角色。他希望美国恢复老的任务作为致力于人权的革命的最早的民族。由于发展和和平小组的联盟，他对发展中国家的帮助为美国人带来理想主义。1962年，他又处理了古巴导弹危机。除此之外，肯尼迪政府还干涉了刚果事务，派兵越南，开始了长达10年之久的侵越战争。
1963年，正当肯尼迪踌躇满志要进一步干一番事业的时候，他遇刺身亡。两年後，比尔斯83号被命名为国家历史文物；1967年，国会批准将这栋住宅划入国家公园系统使其成为国家历史遗址。


第34任美国总统：德怀特•戴维•艾森豪威尔
任期：1953年1月20日～1961年1月20日
绰号：艾克
出生：1890年10月14日，丹尼森里，得克萨斯州
死于：1969年3月28日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：共和党
德怀特•戴维•艾森豪威尔(1890.10.14—1969.3.28)是美国历史上的第34任总统，生于得克萨斯州。父亲戴维•雅科布•艾森豪威尔半生艰难，最后任一家煤气公司经理。母亲艾达•伊丽莎白•斯托弗是个虔诚的教徒。艾克出世时，双亲除日常穿的衣服和简单的日用必需品外，一无所有。艾克靠自己的努力考入西点军校，以优异的成绩以少尉军衔毕业。艾克的军事天才受到参谋长马歇尔的赏识，他在部队中步步高升，从1941年的上校，一直升到1945年的五星上将。1945年凯旋后，杜鲁门总统任命他为陆军总长。1948年退役，任哥伦比亚校长。1952年参加总统竞选获胜。1956年连任。任期内，他结束了朝鲜战争，但建立了东南亚条约组织，提出了艾森豪威尔主义，并继续推行冷战政策。退休后，他继1948年出版《远征欧法》之后，又写了几本回忆录出版。1916年，艾森豪威尔与玛丽•吉尼娃•杜德结婚。玛丽比艾克小7岁。艾克在远征欧陆之时，玛丽留在美国。她1979年去世，亨年82岁。艾克夫妇有两个儿子。


第33任美国总统：哈里•S•杜鲁门
任期：1945年4月12日～1953年1月20日
绰号：give 'em hell harry
出生：1884年5月8日,拉马尔里,密苏里
死与：1972年12月26日,堪萨斯市,密苏里
所属政党：民主党
哈里•S•杜鲁门(1884.5.8-1972.12.26)是美国历史上的第33任总统，生于密苏里州。父亲是骡马商，没有上过大学，被人们称为“密苏里的小人物”。在第一次世界大战期间，杜鲁门参加了炮兵，并且成为一名上尉，在法国作战。返回时，他与伊丽莎白•弗吉尼亚华莱士结婚，并且在堪萨斯市开服饰杂货业。杜鲁门退役后逐步进入政界，1922年任县法官，1926年后又任首席法官、县长。他得到民主党领袖汉尼根支持，于1944年获民主党副总统候选人提名并在竞选中获胜。
1945年4月罗斯福总统病逝后，在美国历史的重大时刻，杜鲁门接任总统。作为总统，面对一系列棘手问题，杜鲁门作出了许多与美国、世界有关的重大决定，对第二次世界大战以后美国的外交政策和国际关系的发展产生深刻的影响。杜鲁门执政后国内政绩平平，但国际上却有许多大事要他处理。他上台不久即对制定联合国宪章做出安排。部署接受德国无条件投降事宜；参加波茨坦会议；签署命令在长崎、广岛投放原子弹；提出遏制政策，与苏进行冷战；提出并推行杜鲁门主义；批准并推行“马歇尔计划”；订立北大西洋公约；建立中央情报局；发动侵朝战争。1953年1月，杜鲁门离开白宫过起退休生活。他有若干著作传世。死于1972年12月26日，终年88岁。
杜鲁门1919年与伊丽莎白•维吉尼亚•沃雷丝结婚，生有一女。


第32任美国总统：富兰克林•罗斯福
任期：1933年3月4日～1945年4月12日
绰号：fdr
出生：1882年1月30日,海德公园,纽约
死于：1945年4月12日,佐治亚
所属政党：民主党     
资产来源：遗产继承
美国历史上的第32任总统富兰克林•D•罗斯福(Franklin D. Roosevelt)(1933—1945)，一直被视为美国历史上最伟大的总统之一，是20世纪美国最孚众望和受爱戴的总统，也是美国历史上惟一连任4届总统的人，从1933年3月起，直到1945年4月去世时为止，任职长达12年。曾赢得美国民众长达7周的高支持率，创下历史记录。
富兰克林•德拉诺•罗斯福出生于纽约。父亲詹姆斯•罗斯福是一个百万富翁。母亲萨拉•德拉诺比父亲小26岁。罗斯福曾就读于哈佛大学和哥伦比亚大学。1910年任纽约州参议员。1913年任海军部副部长。1921年因患脊髓灰质炎致残。1928年任纽约州长。1932年竞选总统获胜。执政后，以“新政”对付经济危机，颇有成效，故获得1936年、1940年、1944年大选连任。第二次世界大战初，美国采取不介入政策，但对希特勒采取强硬手段，以“租借法”支持同盟国。
1941年底，美国参战。罗斯福代表美国两次参加同盟国“三巨头”会议。罗斯福政府提出了轴心国必须无条件投降的原则并得到了实施。罗斯福提出了建立联合国的构想，也得到了实施。63岁时由于脑溢血去世。


第31任美国总统：赫伯特•克拉克•胡佛
任期：1929年3月4日～1933年3月3日
出生：1874年8月10日，爱荷华州
死于：1964年10月20日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
资产来源：采矿业、投资
赫伯特•克拉克•胡佛(1874.8.10—1964.10.12)是美国历史上的第31任总统，生于衣阿华州，父亲为铁匠，在胡佛6岁时死去。母亲赫尔达•明索恩则在胡佛9岁时去世。孤儿胡佛和他的一个哥哥、一个妹妹先由叔叔阿伦•胡佛抚养，两年后胡佛住在了舅舅约翰•明索恩家。胡佛毕业于斯坦福大学。1897年，胡佛为一家公司所雇用去了澳大利亚，次年来到中国，在开平煤矿工作。后胡佛自己开了公司，到1914年，他已经拥有了400万美元的财产。他以这些财产为后盾逐步步入政界。1921年任商业部长。1928年接受共和党总统候选人的提名，获胜。胡佛上台后，正赶上世界性的经济危机，美国经济坠入深渊，这使他原来的希望依靠美国科学潜力来开辟一个“新时代”的愿望破灭。尽管他进行了不少努力，但危机一天天加重，终无力回天。1932年大选中，他被罗斯福击败。退休后，他著书立说，著作颇丰。
1897年，胡佛与罗•亨利结婚。亨利受过良好的教育，婚后成为胡佛的贤内助。他们有两个儿子。


第30任美国总统：卡尔文•库利奇
任期：1923年8月3日～1929年3月3日
绰号：silent 
出生：1872年7月4日，普利茅斯，佛蒙特
死于：1933年1月5日，诺桑普顿，马萨诸塞
所属政党：共和党
卡尔文•库利奇(1872.7.4-1933.1.5)是美国历史上的第30任总统，生于佛蒙特州，父亲是店主、州议会议员，母亲在他12岁时去世。树立芝从阿默斯特学院毕业后参加政治活动，职业是律师。1899年任北安普顿市议员。1915年当选马萨诸塞州副州长。1918年当选为州长。1920年被提名为共和党副总统候选人，成为哈定的竞选搭挡，竞选成功、1923年，哈定去世后继任总统。何立芝执政时，共和党四分五裂，国家呈现无政府状态，联邦政府信誉扫地。柯立芝抓住国人渴求安定的心理特点，稳扎稳打，改变上述状态，取得一定成效，从而赢得了1924年的大选，获得连任。此后，在国内，对经济活动采取不干涉的方针，而用减轻税赋、保卫关税的政策间接管理经济，使国家呈现出没有危机、繁荣发展的景象。对外，则回到了孤立主义。第二任届满后，柯立芝拒绝再次提名总统候选人，退休后著书立说，偶尔也参加一些政治活动。60岁时，因心脏病在北安普顿去世。
1905年，柯立芝与格雷丝•安娜•古德林结婚，生有二子。


第29任美国总统：沃伦•甘梅利尔•哈定
任期：1921年3月4日～1923年8月2日
出生：1865年11月2日，科西加(现在的布卢明)，俄亥俄
死于：1923年8月2日，旧金山，加利福尼亚
所属政党：共和党
沃伦•G.哈丁为美国历史上的第29位总统(1921年3月4日～1923年8月2日)，生于俄亥俄州，1865年。父亲乔治•哈丁在南北战争时应征入伍，后教过书，从过医。母亲菲比是个医生。哈丁在农村长大，先当一个小报记者。他与弗洛伦斯•克林•德沃尔夫于1891年结婚，婚后，弗洛伦斯即经营报纸来支持哈丁投身政界。
弗洛伦斯曾结过婚，九年之前离婚。弗洛伦斯比哈丁大5岁，曾有一个儿子叫马歇尔•德沃尔夫，死于肺结核。这段婚姻持续了32年。虽然有种种传言，但哈丁一直没有公开的子女。
1899年，共和党代表大会上哈丁被提名为俄亥俄州参议员候选人，竞选获胜。1903年当选副州长。1909年被提名州长候选人，竞选失败。1912年为威廉•塔夫脱竞选连任班子负责人，塔夫脱失败。1914年当选国会参议员。1919年参加总统竞选，竞选成功。竞选时，哈定声称一定要组织一个强有力的内阁。但内阁名单公布后却令人失望。他上台后正式结束了美国对德国的战争状态，取消了威尔逊在国内采取的战时措施，鼓励投资，让资本家放手自由经营，同时实行贸易保护政策。哈丁任职期间，经常与所谓的“俄亥俄帮”在白宫喝酒玩牌，大部分实际工作均在这些场合决定，故人称哈丁的内阁为“扑克内阁”。在这样的情况下，哈丁内阁丑闻迭出就不足为怪了。对美国来说，哈丁总统也不是什么好事都没有做。由他倡导、由国务卿休斯策划筹备召开的有关限制军备的华盛顿会议就是一件。这次会议是1921年11月至转年2月召开的。会议达成了美、英、日、法、意限制战舰吨位的协定，规定五国战舰、巡洋舰、航空母舰的比率为美：英：日：法：意=5:5:3:1.75:1.75。这个协定限制了英、日的军事力量，推迟了美国与日本海军激烈竞争的时间，同时还导致了《四国公约》和《九国公约》的签订，从而继续维护了“门户开放”政策。
哈丁本人私生活失检，两性丑闻迭出。1905年春，哈丁与有夫之妇卡里•富尔顿•菲利普斯开始有暧昧关系。菲利普斯比哈丁小10岁。他们的关系一直持续到1919年.这时，哈丁被提名为共和党总统候选人。共和党全国委员会伯暴露丑闻，遂出资让卡里夫妇去日本“长期旅游”。
1963年公开的情书证实了哈丁和他好友的妻子卡里•菲利普斯有15年的婚外恋情。但这段关系没有留下孩子。就在哈丁与卡里•菲利普斯有染的同时，他又与一个比他小30岁的女人南•布里顿发生了关系，并持续到哈丁就任总统之后。1919年，哈丁移居白宫之前，布里顿生了一个女儿，名叫伊丽莎白•安•克里斯琴。哈丁在任职期间去世。1923年8月，哈丁决定作一次横跨全国的“谅解旅行”。途中，哈丁去世。医生们的结论是死于中风，但要求验尸时，哈丁的夫人弗洛伦斯加以拒绝。后来有人说他是被弗洛伦斯毒死的，她之所以毒死他，是因为忌恨他的外遇。
美国报刊曾就如何评价历届总统在美国学者中进行过调查，结果是哈丁三次被列为美国最糟糕的十个总统的第一名。


第28任美国总统：伍德罗•威尔逊
任期：1913年3月4日～1921年3月3日
绰号：政界校长
出生：1856年12月28日，斯汤顿，弗吉尼亚
死于：1924年2月3日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：民主党
伍德罗•威尔逊(1856.12.28—1924.2.3)是美国历史上的第28任总统。出生于弗吉尼亚州。父亲约瑟夫•威尔逊是大学教授。威尔逊毕业于普林斯顿大学，毕业后任教多年。1910年当选为新泽西州州长。1912年获民主党总统候选人提名，占败西奥多•罗斯福获胜。执政期间推行改革.取代罗斯福为进步主义改革旗手。1916年连任。当时，上值第一次世界大战，开始，威尔逊政府避战，后参战，于1918年1月提出《公正与和平》为14点方案。德国战败后，此方案为与战败国和谈方案的基础。威尔逊本人也作为总统破大荒第一次出国，出席了巴黎和会。这时，国内政治形势出现逆转，被共和党人控制的国会拒绝批准威尔逊方案，后付诸公民表决。结果，这一方案仍未完全被通过，因此，提出国际联盟的美国，却未能参加国联。1920年总统选举，民主党人失败。当年，下野的威尔逊获诺贝尔和平奖。四年后，他在睡眠中死去。


第27任美国总统：威廉•霍华德•塔夫脱
任期：1909年3月4日～1913年3月3日
出生：1857年9月15日，辛辛那提，俄亥俄州
死于：1930年3月8日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：共和党
威廉•霍华德•塔夫脱(1857.9.15-1930.3.8)是美国历史上的第27任总统，出生于俄亥俄州，是阿方索•塔夫脱与路易斯•托里的独子。他的继母还有二子一女。父亲在格兰特总统任期内曾任陆军部长和司法部长。塔夫脱耶鲁大学毕业后在俄亥俄州当律师。1887年任州高法院法官。1890—1892年任司法部副部长。1901年任菲律宾总督。1904年任陆军部长。1908年，在罗斯福的支持下，获共和党总统候选人提名，并在竞选中获胜。任期内政绩平平。
1912年塔夫脱谋求连任失败。他对法律有着浓厚的兴趣，卸任后去耶鲁大学执教，任法学教授、律师协会主席。沃伦•哈定当总统后，塔夫脱被任命为美国首席大法官。1930年从法官职位上退休，一年后因病逝世。 


第26任美国总统：西奥多•罗斯福
任期：1901年9月14日～1909年3月3日
出生：1858年10月27日，纽约
死于：1919年1月6日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
西奥多•罗斯福(1858.10.27—1919.1.6)是美国历史上的第26任总统，西奥多•罗斯福继任总统时，不到43岁，所以成为美国历史上最年轻的总统。罗斯福出生于纽约一个富有的家庭。他是老西奥多•罗斯福与马撒(米蒂)布洛克的第二个孩子，有兄妹四人。父亲是银行家。罗斯福毕业于哈佛大学。因为他是第三十二任总统富兰克林•罗斯福的远房堂叔，又是富兰克林•罗斯福夫人的伯父，所以现在人们通常称西奥多•罗斯福为“老罗斯福总统”。23岁参加纽约州议会，并成为共和党领袖之一。罗斯福于1880年与他的第一个妻子，艾丽斯•李•罗斯福结婚，有一女。在伦敦，1886年12月，罗斯福与艾迪斯•卡罗结婚，生有四子一女。在美国与西班牙战争期间，罗斯福是拉夫骑手团的陆军中校，他管理关于圣胡安战斗的费用。同时他也是战争中最显著的英雄之一。在1898年，罗斯福成为共和党候选人。1901年任副总统。罗斯福的后台是摩根财团，也得到与库恩—罗比公司有联系的铁路大王哈里曼的支持。1904年连任。罗斯福执政期间，对内以“改革家”面貌出现，借助政府权力管理和监督私人经济活动，特别是发起保护自然资源的“社会诊治工业文化综合症”运动，收到明显效果。他的前三任总统已将1600万公顷土地转化为国有，他执政7年，又将7800公顷土地转化为国有，从而为后代保存了大量的国家森林、公园、矿藏、石油、煤田和水力资源，为公共事业预留土地，并且促进农田水利项目。对外，他积极推行扩张主义政策，以扩大美国势力范围。为此，他大力扩充了海军，保证巴拿马运河的建设。采取一些有利于经济建设和资源保护的措施。第二任期满后罗斯福没有再谋求连任。卸任后，他曾到非洲和南美洲进行科学探险，到欧洲做了旅行。1912年，他谋求再次出山，但是失败。罗斯福博览群书，是博物学家、历史学家、演说家，被认为是美国最多才多艺的总统之一，他的著作和翻译甚多，据说从1 8 7 7年到他去世为止，总共有二千到三千件。一生所写书信不下1 5万封，在尺牍文学中有很高地位，他写的《给孩子们的信》已成名著。他还著有《在西部的胜利》、《1 9 1 2年海战史》等书。他的著作大部分收入罗斯福文集。文集有多种版本，有的达2 4卷。
罗斯福60岁时在纽约去世。


第25任美国总统：威廉•麦金利
任期：1897年3月4日～1901年9月14日
绰号：俄亥俄的偶像
出生：1843年1月29日，奈尔斯里，俄亥俄州
死于：1901年9月14日，布法罗，纽约
所属政党：共和党
威廉•麦金利(1843.l.29—1901.9.14)是美国历史上的第25任总统，生于俄亥俄州，在老威廉•麦金利和南希•艾利森的八个孩子中排行第七。父亲是铸铁厂老板。在1843年，麦金利到阿勒格尼学院学习了一段时间，并且在内战爆发时，正在一所国家学校教学。应征参加联合部队，战争结束时成为享有主要志愿者的荣誉。他研究法律，在俄亥俄州开一个办公室，并且与一位地方银行家詹姆斯•萨克森的女儿爱达•萨克斯顿结婚。
南北战争期间，麦金利是未来总统海斯上校的副官。1867年任俄亥俄州州长。在他34岁时，麦金利在国会中赢得了一个席位。他具有吸引力的个性，可仿效的特征，和敏捷的智慧。他被任命为筹款委员会。1896年，麦金利被共和党提名为总统候选人并在竞选中获胜。任总统期间，正值美国垄断资本形成并开始对外大肆扩张时期，他的当务之急是复兴经济。执政后，他采取提高关税和稳定货币的政策，加上其他措施，美国的经济有了很大起色，麦莱从而获得“繁荣总统”的美名。对外，他发动美西战争。在100天的战争中，美国在古巴圣地亚哥海港外边破坏西班牙舰队，打败了西班牙海军力量。在和谈中，坚持夺取了原本属于西班牙的古巴、波多黎各、菲律宾、关岛；并且吞并了夏威夷。他怂恿列强对中国实行“门户开放”政策，派兵参加了“八国联军”大肆掠夺中国。
1900年麦金利连任。在1901年9月，麦金利在出席布法罗泛美博览会时，被一名无政府主义者射伤，不久便去世身亡。麦金利是美国立国后被刺身亡的第三位总统。


第24任美国总统：格罗弗•克利夫兰
任期：1893年3月3日～1897年3月4日
出生：1837年3月18日，考德威尔里，新泽西
死于：1908年6月24日，普林斯顿，新泽西
所属政党：民主党
格罗弗•克利夫兰(1837.3.18—1908.6.24)是美国历史上的第22任和第24任总统，出生于新泽西州，是查理•法利•克利夫兰和安•尼尔•克利夫兰九个孩子中的第五个。父亲是律师。16岁时，克利夫兰丧父，故此不能上学深造。他先在律师事务所做办事员，自学法律，1859年操律师业并开始参加政治活动。1881年任布法罗市长，次年任纽约州州长。1884年被民主党提名为总统候选人并在竟选中获胜。就任总统后，坚决推行文官制，反对实行保护关税。1888年谋求连任未果，去纽约市当了律师。四年后再次参加竟选并获胜。重新上台后，正遇美国金融大恐慌，工人频频罢工，克利夫兰采取了诸多强硬措施，包括对罢工工人进行镇压。对外，克利夫兰采取孤立主义政策，反对领土扩张。
第二次任满后，克利夫兰返回新泽西。此时，他拥有30—35万美元的财产，他本人还在一家人寿保险公司供职。他先后两次出任总统，但任期不相连接。由于政绩平平，被历史学家称为“虎头蛇尾”的总统。他于1908年逝世。


第23任美国总统：本杰明•哈里森
任期：1887年～1889年3月3日
出生：1833.8.20
死于：1901.3.13
所属政党：共和党
本杰明•哈里森(1833.8.20—1901.3.13)是美国历史上的第23任总统。他出身望族，祖父是美国历史上的第9任总统。哈里森是约翰•斯科特•哈里森与伊丽莎白•拉姆西的第六个孩子，连他父亲与第一个妻子的三个孩子，哈里森共有兄妹九人。哈里森生于俄亥俄州。他受到良好的教育，毕业于迈阿密大学，毕业后操律师业。南北战争期间参加联邦军，获将军衔。1881年，他成为参议员。1888年，他被共和党提名总统候选人并在竟选中获胜。上台时，美国工业化臻于完成，经济结构发生了历史性变革。哈里森顺应潮流，制定了旨在稳定局势、防止社会动荡的《谢尔曼反托拉斯法》。对外，哈里森积极扩大美国影响，组织召开了第一届泛美会议，成立泛美联盟。哈里森政府还与许多国家签订了贸易互惠协定。
任期期满之后，他谋求连任失败，返回印第安那州重操律师业并开始写作。并且在1896年与寡居的玛莉•迪米克太太结婚。他是一位受尊敬的年长的政治家，哈里森于1901年逝世。


第22任美国总统：格罗弗•克利夫兰
任期：1885年3月4日～1889年3月3日
格罗弗•克利夫兰也担任了美国历史上的第24任总统。


第21任美国总统：切斯特•艾伦•阿瑟
任期：1881年9月19日～1885年3月4日
出生：1830.10.5  
死于：1886.11.18
所属政党：共和党
切斯特•艾伦•阿瑟(1830.10.5—1886.11.18)是美国历史上的第21任总统，是威廉•阿瑟和马尔维娜•斯通•阿瑟八个孩子中的第五个。阿瑟生于佛蒙特州边界对面加拿大境内(但阿瑟后来否认这一点，断言自己生在美国境内，因为按美国宪法规定，只有在美国出生的美国人才有资格当选总统)，父亲是牧师。阿瑟一家后来迁居纽约州，阿瑟毕业于斯克内克塔迪的莱森姆学院。1854年，阿瑟获得律师资格证。阿瑟是坚定的废奴主义者。50年代阿瑟加入共和党，积极参加地方政治活动。南北战争期间任纽约州军需主任。U•S•格兰特任总统后任命阿瑟为纽约海关税收官。新总统海斯上台后阿瑟被免职，于是他重操旧业。1880年阿瑟成为共和党派系斗争的得益者，不但被提名做了副总统候选人，而且竞选获胜。1881年7月2日，当选总统詹姆斯•加菲尔遇刺身亡，当了6个月副总统的阿瑟当上了总统。
阿瑟就职后采取了超党派的态度，主持通过了有名的《文官改革法》。阿瑟还十分重视海军建设，使海军有了较大的发展。
阿瑟任满后百病缠身，不到一年便在纽约去世。
阿瑟与埃伦•刘易斯•赫恩登于1857年结婚，生有二子一女。


第20任美国总统：詹姆斯•艾布拉姆•加菲尔德 （James Abram Garfield）
任期：1881年3月4日～1881年
出生：1831年11月19日，俄亥俄
死于：1881年9月19日，新泽西
所属政党：共和党
詹姆士•加菲尔德1831年生于俄亥俄州。加菲尔德家境贫寒，父亲在他4岁时去世。母亲在丈夫死后卖掉农场的大部分土地还了债，在很少的土地上勤苦劳作，抚养着四个儿女。加菲尔德全靠自己半工半读由中学升入大学。他上了几所大学，成绩优异。在他26岁时即出任大学校长。1858年加菲尔德与卢克丽霞•鲁道夫结婚。卢克丽霞是一位农场主的女儿，与加菲尔德同龄。他们生有五子二女。 
1859年选入俄亥俄州议会。南北战争期间参加联邦军，为反对奴隶制，投笔从戎，32岁时即晋升为陆军少将。后被林肯赏识，弃军从政，1860年进入国会。同时，在1862年，俄亥俄州人推选他进入国会。林肯总统说服他辞去委员会工作。在1880共和党人大会上，加菲尔德不能为他的朋友约翰•舍曼赢得总统提名。最后，在第36张选举票上，加菲尔德成为"黑马"被提名，当选为第二十任总统。执政后，加菲尔德面临激烈的党争，弄得焦头烂额。他明知“政党分肥”的弊端，但又缺乏改革的信心，只好在分配文官职务时尽量照顾平衡，这样做后各派又均不满意。他自己成为这一做法的牺牲品。1881年7月2日晨，他被一个谋官未成者枪杀，昏迷79天后，死于感染和内出血。是美国历史上的第二位被暗杀的总统。


第19任美国总统：拉瑟福德•伯查德•海斯
任期：1877年3月～1881年3月
出生：1822年生于俄亥俄州
死于：1893年
所属政党：共和党
拉瑟福德•B•海斯1822年生于俄亥俄州.父亲瑟福德•海斯是一个小店主。母亲是索菲亚•伯查德•海斯。海斯毕业于凯尼恩学院和哈佛大学。毕业后，开始律师生涯。1852年，海斯与露西•韦尔•韦伯结婚，生有七子一女。内战中参加联邦军。南北战争时期，因军功屡次晋升，在行动过程中受伤，并且提高到荣誉陆军少将的职位。后海斯开始了政治生涯。1865年当选为国会议员。1868年当选俄亥俄州州长。以“为人正直和办事有效率”著称。1876年被共和党提名总统候选人。大选中，选举人和候选人之间进行了激烈竞争，因发生了美国历史上最大一次选票计算纠纷，最后，由国民议会议员和最高法官组成的特别委员会裁定海斯获胜。海斯直至总统就职日前两天才被宣布为合法总统。但共和党答应了民主党提出的先决条件。海斯就任总统后，努力改善内战后国内状况，取得了一些成就。在打破“政党分肥”、实行文官制方面做了一些有益工作，开了文官公开考试、择优录取的先河。海斯任期内，美国科技有了飞速发展，1877年贝尔发明了电报，1878年爱迪生发明了留声机，次年又发明了电灯。海斯在外交方面有些成就，值得一提的是，他采取了对华友好的政策。他是第一个接见中国常驻使节的总统。海斯在黑人教育、监狱改造等方面有一定贡献。海斯保证黑人在南方内的权利，但是同时提倡"聪明，诚实，和平地方独立的恢复"。这也意味着军队的撤回。
在1881年，海斯回到俄亥俄州。死于1893年。


第18任美国总统：尤利塞斯•辛普森•格兰特
任期：1869年3月3日～1877年3月3日
绰号： 常胜将军
出生：1822年4月27日，俄亥俄州
死于：1885年7月23日
所属政党：共和党
格兰特是美国历史上第一位从美国军事院校(西点军校)毕业的军人总统。他在美国南北战争中屡建奇功，有“常胜将军”之称。
格兰特1822年生于俄亥俄州。父亲杰西•鲁特•格兰特经营皮革业。母亲汉娜•辛普森是位农场主的女儿。格兰特的名字是家人用抓阄的方式起的。尤利塞斯是《奥德塞》中大英雄奥德修斯的名字。格兰特身材矮小，其貌不扬，但一生的事业却有声有色，轰轰烈烈。格兰特毕业于西点军校。他在南北战争中发迹。
格兰特与朱莉亚于1848年结婚，生有三子一女。参战时他已42岁，当时为上校，指挥一个团。但短短的4年当中，他从上校升为中将，担任联邦军总司令。林肯在1864年3月任命他为最主要的将军。格兰特迫使南方军总司令、罗伯特•李向他投降。凭借自己的军威，格兰特于1868年当选总统。1872年连任。尽管格兰特能征惯战，但并不等于善于理政，格兰特的平平政绩与他的赫赫战功成为明显对照。特别是在第二次总统任期内，他对南方奴隶主妥协让步以及对贪污腐化的属员采取姑息纵容态度，引起了选民的普遍不满。尽管他渴望继续当政，但事与愿违，他落选不得不离开白宫。
格兰特卸职后曾周游世界，并想在政治上东山再起，但未能如愿。有趣的是，落选后，格兰特夫妇仍迟迟不搬出白宫，直到新总统海斯就职了，还得来白宫参加由格兰特夫人一手操办的午宴。更有趣的是，格兰特夫妇觉得无家可归，于是退职后决定四海为家。他们花了三年多的时间，游遍了英格兰、比利时、德国、瑞士、意大利、丹麦、法国、埃及、巴勒斯坦、挪威、俄罗斯、印度、暹罗、中国和日本。
格兰特退休后，成为一家金融公司合伙人，但是经商失败，以破产告终。在那段期间，他获悉自己有喉咙癌症。他开始写回忆录，并且以还清他的债务，供养家庭，他和死神赛跑，最终回忆录挣到了450，000美元。在完成最后几页不久，于1885年，格兰特病逝。


第17任美国总统：安德鲁•约翰逊
任期：1865年4月15日～1869年3月3日
出生：1808年12月29日，罗利里，北卡罗来纳
死于：1875年7月31日，卡特车站，田纳西
所属政党：民主党
安德鲁•约翰逊生于北卡罗来纳州，1808年。约翰逊年幼时家境贫寒，未受过正规教育，当过徒工，后来做过裁缝。他在格林维尔，田纳西开了一家裁缝商店。1827年安德鲁与伊莱扎•麦卡德尔结婚，生有三子二女。
21岁时当选为格林维尔市参议员，后任市长。1853年当选为田纳西州州长。1856年当选国会参议员。林肯当选总统后，约翰逊从支持民主党转为支持共和党，反对南方脱离联邦。
进入政界，约翰逊成为一名擅长于政治方面的发言者，并且拥护平民，轻视贵族政府。在19世纪40年代和50年代，作为一名众议员和参议院的成员，他提倡为穷人提供一个免税的农场。1857年，约翰逊当选为国会参议员，是南北战争时期参议院里受到北方欢迎和林肯总统信任的唯一的南方人。1861年田纳西州脱离联邦时，他是唯一留职反对的人。1862年任田纳西州军事长官。1864年大选时当选为副总统。林肯总统被刺身亡后由约翰逊继任总统。接任后，约翰逊面临对于分裂主义分子如何惩治和奴隶的选举权问题。对前者，约翰逊采取了宽大政策，对后者，则实行严厉政策。他上台后站在南方种植园奴隶主的立场，实施了一系列重建南方的反动措施，遭到控制国会的共和党激进派的强烈反对。他们发起了弹劾约翰逊的运动，约翰逊险遭弹劾。虽然未能成功，但使约翰逊因此而名声扫地。
1875年，约翰逊返回到田纳西参议院。几个月之后便死去。


第16任美国总统：亚伯拉罕•林肯
任期：1861年3月4日～1865年4月15日
绰号：honest abe
出生：1809年2月12日，哈丁镇(现在的larue)，肯塔基
死于：1865年4月15日，华盛顿
所属政党：共和党
林肯是美国伟大的民主主义政治家。他出生于社会低层，具有勤劳、俭朴、谦虚和诚恳的品格。他进白宫后，在奴隶制等问题上，政界发生倾轧，国家出现分裂，遇到了很多困难。在日常工作中他不顾个人安全，每天挤出大量时间接见群众，听取申诉，尽力解决他们的问题在他任职期间，由于各种反动势力的影响，政策上有过踌躇和动摇，但在人民群众的支持和推动下，能够顺应历史潮流，最终签署了著名的《解放宣言》，解决了当时美国社会经济政治生活中存在的主要矛盾。在四年国内战争中，他亲自指挥作战。领导联邦政府同南部农场奴隶主进行了坚决斗争，维护了国家的统一，有力地推动了美国社会的发展。
林肯于1 8 6 5年4月1 5日遇刺身亡。由于林肯在美国历史上所起的进步作用，人们称赞他为“新时代国家统治者的楷模”。


第15任美国总统：詹姆斯•布坎南
任期：1857年3月3日～1861年3月3日
出生：1791年生于宾夕法尼亚
死于：1867
所属政党：民主党
詹姆士•布坎南是唯一一位没有结婚的总统。詹姆斯•布坎南，1791年生于宾夕法尼亚州，一个富有的家庭。父亲詹姆斯•布坎南在一家店铺里工作。小布坎南是父亲的第二个孩子，父亲把自己的名字给了他。布坎南从狄更斯学院毕业后继续律师职业。他曾5次被推选进入众议院；后在州议会和美国众议院工作。属杰克逊一派的民主党人。1831年任驻俄公使。1834年当选参议员。1845年任国务卿。1853年任英国公使。出任总统前，任公职达40年，颇有成就。1856年被民主党提名总统候选人，在竟选中获胜。布坎南出任总统时，正值美国处于历史上的一个重大关头。当时，南北双方在奴隶制问题上的斗争愈演愈烈。执政后，奴隶制引起的危机日益加深，南北冲突步步升级，国内形势日趋严峻，而民主党四分五裂。许多对内对外计划均因国内奴隶制问题的矛盾尖锐化而未得到实现。
詹姆士•布坎南不谋求连任，民主党内又推举不出像样的候选人，于是，1860年的大选让共和党人林肯赢得。布坎南卸任后回到宾夕法尼亚。退休一个多月内战爆发，他敦促民主党人支持林肯。由此他受到指责，成了替罪羊。但是，布坎南也遭到一些非议，说他支持南方分裂主义者，从而吃到了一些苦头。曾著书阐述在任后期政府政策以表明他对内战的爆发无责任。
77年里他一直独身。虽然在28岁时曾订婚，但未婚妻在1819年由于过量服用镇静剂死亡。从此他再没提过订婚或结婚之事。77岁时病故。


第14任美国总统：富兰克林•皮尔斯
任期：1853年3月4日～1857年3月3日
绰号：young hickory of the granite hills
出生：1804年11月23日，hillsborough，美国新罕布什尔州
死于：1869年10月8日，康科德，美国新罕布什尔州
所属政党：民主党
富兰克林•皮尔斯生于新罕布什尔州。他的父亲本杰明•皮尔斯曾任新罕布什尔州州长。1820年，皮尔斯考入鲍登学院，毕业之后，继续留在鲍登学院，改学法律。在毕业之后他继续研究法律，然后进入政界。24岁时他被选入新罕布什尔立法机关。在19世纪30年代，皮尔斯去了华盛顿，首先是一名众议院成员，然后成为参议员。
1827年被律师公会接纳，从此走上了政治生涯。先后任州议员、美国众议员和参议员。1852年，民主党代表大会上，他作为妥协人选被提名，意外地赢得了提名及大选。在他就职两个月前，他和他的妻子亲眼看见他们11岁的儿子死于车祸。他们非常悲伤。在他的就职演说里声明一个国家的和平和繁荣的重要性，并与其他国家保持很好的关系。就职后，在对外政策方面，他尽力扩大美国的领土和增加商业利益。为购买古巴，他曾命令美国驻西班牙公使索雷鼓动欧洲金融家对西班牙政府施加影响，说服西班牙出售古巴。
1853年，他以1000万美元从墨西哥购买了近3万平方英里的土地。
富兰克林•皮尔斯是同情南方政治主张的北方人。1854年美国国会通过《堪萨斯—内布拉斯加法案》，允许该两州公开畜奴，南方人和北方人因于控制地区而竞争，结果冲到了堪萨斯，引起堪萨斯内战爆发。皮尔斯站在南方奴隶主的立场上，派兵镇压反对奴隶制的移民。在对内政策方面，曾筹建横贯大陆的铁路，开发西北地区并向这一地区移民。这是南方奴隶主集团积极向北扩张的产物。由于皮尔斯包庇、纵容南方，他对这次事件有着不可推卸的责任。他对外奉行扩张政策，对我国台湾省怀有野心，并于英、法帝国主义对我国和其他国家进行侵略活动。由于他对南方的同情不能见容于北部各州，促成了国家的分裂，故任满后便隐退。死于1869年。


第13任美国总统：米勒德•菲尔莫尔
任期：1850年7月9日～1852年3月3日
出生：纽约州
死于：1874年
所属政党：辉格党
米勒德•菲尔莫尔生于纽约州，于1800年。他的父亲撒尼尔•菲尔莫尔原是一位农场主，后来成为佃农。菲尔莫尔很早就帮助家中务农，也当过学徒。他曾经在他的父亲的农场工作过，并且15岁时被送去当学徒。他只受过最基本的教育，靠自学成材。他爱上了一个红发教师阿比盖尔.鲍尔斯，过后成为他的妻子。
1823年，23岁的菲尔莫尔通过了律师考试，当上了律师。7年以后他把他所学到的法律实践于
纽约的布法罗。作为辉格党政治家瑟洛威德的同事，菲尔莫尔一直是众议员的成员。1828年参加反共济会运动。1829年当选纽约州议会议员。
1834年参加辉格党，成为北方的杰出领袖。
1832年被选入美国国会。在1848年，成为纽约的审计员。与此同时，在辉格党的全国代表大会上，Z•泰勒被提为总统候选人，菲尔莫尔被提名为副总统候选人。
1850年泰勒总统去世后，他继任总统。菲尔莫尔是美国历史上第二位以副总统身份继承总统职位的人。菲尔莫尔总统立刻任命丹尼尔为国务卿。在整个从政时期，菲尔莫尔在奴隶制问题上始终保持妥协态度。他于1850年签署了对南方奴隶主妥协的法案。这一法案既为北方所不满，又未赢得南方的信任。一些更好斗的北方辉格党党员拒绝原谅菲尔莫尔签署的这一法案。由于两面不讨好，他在1852年的总统选举中落选。他一直鼓吹美国国内的发展，并很早就支持向太平洋扩张。1853年派美国舰队前往日本，强迫日本政府改变闭关锁国的传统政策，与西方发展外交、贸易关系。他在任期间派遣海军少将佩里率领舰队前往日本，迫使日本政府开放海口与美国通商，从而“打开日本的大门”。
在19世纪50年代，当辉格党瓦解时，菲尔莫尔拒绝参加共和党；但是，他允许美国党提名他竟选总统。尽管在整个内战期间他反对林肯总统，支持约翰逊总统的重建。由于竞选失败，开始隐退。他死于1874年。


第12任美国总统：扎卡里•泰勒
任期：1849年3月5日～1850年7月9日
绰号：old rough and ready
出生：1784年11月24日，弗吉尼亚
死于：1850年7月9日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：辉格党
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
扎卡里•泰勒在1784年出生于弗吉尼亚。泰勒的父亲理查德•泰勒和母亲萨拉•达布尼•斯特罗瑟•泰勒都受过良好的教育。泰勒是父母的第三个孩子，父亲是个种植园主，对开发西部地区非常向往，终于把家迁至肯塔基的路易斯维，开始了拓荒生活。泰勒基本上没有受过正规教育。他从小就希望成为一名军人。1803年，不足20岁的泰勒参加了肯塔基民团。扎卡里•泰勒经历过拓荒者的艰苦生活，颇能吃苦耐劳。1808年5月，泰勒25岁时，被任命为第七步兵团少尉军官，从此开始了他的军事生涯。在军中前后40年，由于机智、勇敢，不断晋升。直到1846年升为少将。在军队里的40年中，使他成为一名民族主义者。1846年5月，美国对墨西哥宣战，他率领部队参战，屡屡获胜，取得辉煌胜利，成为美国的英雄。他拥有很高的声誉，被人称为“最大的英雄”，“顶用的大老粗”。1848年大选时被辉格党看中，被推上了总统宝座，当选为总统。泰勒从全局出发，他主张把从墨西哥割取的领土(即加利福尼亚和新墨西哥)给予州的地位，反对把从墨西哥夺到的土地开辟为蓄奴州，他的决定在国会中遭到反对。虽然泰勒已经向辉格党预定了立法领导的原则，但是他不倾向于成为一名辉格党领导人的傀儡。传统意义上，当他们拟定新宪法时，决定是否想要奴隶制度。因此，为了结束对在新地区是否建立奴隶制度的争论，泰勒对在新墨西哥和加利福尼亚的移民起草了一个宪法，并且申请国家地位。这导致了南方人的狂怒，因为他们感到总统正篡夺他们的决策特权。泰勒与企图脱离联邦的势力作斗争。又揭发出他的内阁中有三个人不符合入阁资格。在此情况下他决定改组内阁。然而事情又发生了想不到的变化。在7月4日华盛顿纪念碑，泰勒参加了一个典礼后，开始生病，在5天内就逝世了，在职仅16个月。在白宫病逝。


第11任美国总统：詹姆斯•诺克斯•波尔克
任期：1845年3月4日～1849年3月4日
出生：格克伦伯格县，北卡罗来纳   死于：1849年
所属政党：民主党
詹姆士•K•波尔克是被称为美国历史上的第一位“黑马”的总统。
詹姆士•K•波尔克出生于格克伦伯格县，北卡罗来纳。他的父亲是一位种植园主。波尔克11岁时随家迁居田纳西州。20岁时，考入北卡罗来纳大学。波尔克上大学时由于勤奋好学，所以成绩优异，极有辩才，有“讲坛上的拿破仑”之称。在1818年荣誉毕业。大学毕业后他回到了田纳西州。1820年取得律师资格，成为一名年轻的律师，并且进入政界，效力于田纳西立法机关，并且结识了父友安德鲁•杰克逊将军，成为朋友。安德鲁•杰克逊是他的少数好友之一。
詹姆斯•波尔克28岁时与20岁的萨拉•奇尔德雷斯结婚。婚后25年一直没有生育。以虔诚著名的萨拉•波尔克把全部时间和精力都献给了丈夫的事业。
由于杰克逊的帮助，波尔克进入美国众议院，成为陆军中尉。1825—1839年，他曾任众议员14年，并两次担任议长。1839年任田纳西州州长，任州长一年。1844年大选时，民主党总统候选人提名陷入僵局。经幕后协商，并在杰克逊影响下，原非候选人的波尔克得到提名，并在大选中击败辉格党人亨利•克雷当选，成了美国历史上的第一个“黑马”总统。他在任职期间选择了几位很得力的助手。波尔克政府大规模扩张了领土。与墨西哥进行了两年战争，使得克萨斯成为美国的一个州，西南和远西地区加利福尼亚)也成为美国领土的一部分。扩大了美国版图，被誉为“最有效能的”总统。
在战争期间签订了确定西北边界的条约，一个横跨北美大陆的合众国开始出现。此外，波尔克政府与新格拉纳达哥伦比亚)签订条约，解决了美国公民穿越巴拿马地峡的通行权问题。他主持制定了新的关税法，降低关税，促进了美国对外贸易的发展。尽管波尔克总统给美国扩大了地区，但是它的成功也加剧了北方和南方之间关于奴隶制度之间的争斗。
波尔克恪守诺言，不谋连任。1849年波尔克离职，卸任后三个月即病逝。 


第10任美国总统：约翰•泰勒
任期：1841年4月6日～1846年3月4日
出生：1790年3月29日   死于：1862年1月18日
所属政党：辉格党
泰勒原是副总统，因哈里森总统就职后不久病逝，遂由他继任。任职期间，美国同中国签订了第一个不平等条约：《中美望厦条约》，美国通过这一条约获得了协定关税、五口通商、领事裁判、最惠国待遇等特权。
泰勒原是民主党人，由于反对第七任总统杰克逊，转投了辉格党。但他出身于南部种植园奴隶主家庭，主张维护奴隶制，反对辉格党的许多政策主张，因而被开除出党.美国内战初期，他支持南方的分裂行动，被选为“南部同盟”的国会议员，北方各州对他十分憎恨。他去世时，联邦政府毫无悼念的表示。


第9任美国总统：威廉•亨利•哈里森
任期：1841年3月4日～1841年4月4日
出生：1773年2月9日，伯克利，弗吉尼   死于：1841年4月4日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：辉格党
哈里森出身名门，父亲是《独立宣言》签署人之一。他在第二次对英战争中有过显著功绩。1 8 4 0年竞选总统获胜，就职时年已6 8岁。在就职典礼时感受风寒，后转为肺炎，一病不起，在职仅一月即病故。为美国历史上的第一位在白宫去世，死于任所的总统。他本人无明确政纲，执政期间未采取任何重大行动。


第8任美国总统：马丁•范布伦
任期：1837年3月4日～1841年3月4日
绰号：小魔术师
出生：1782年12月5日
 死于：1862年7月24日
所属政党：民主党
范布伦是荷兰人的后裔，1 7 8 2年生于纽约州金德胡克镇。他当选总统前，曾任纽约州参议员、国会参议员、纽约州长、国务卿和副总统等职。1 8 3 7年范布伦上台后，美国爆发了严重的经济危机。他提出独立国库制度等措施。在他四年任期内，美国和加拿大边界发生严重冲突，最后签订了《韦伯斯特—阿斯伯顿条约》。由于严重的经济萧条延续多年，人民对范布伦失去信心。1 8 4 0年他竞选连任时，败于哈里森。后来又两度参加竞选，都遭到失败，从此退出政坛，影息故乡。


第7任美国总统：安德鲁•杰克逊
任期：1829年3月4日～1837年3月3日
绰号：老胡桃木
出生：1767年3月15日，南卡罗来纳
死于：1845年6月8日，纳什维尔，田纳西
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：地产与种植园收入
杰克逊是美国历史上第一位平民出身的总统。出生之前，父即去世。他少年时期住在西部边远地区，在那里度过了独立战争年代。他从一名边区律师起家，当过众议员、参议员、州最高法院法官、州民兵少将。第二次对英战争中，他坚韧不拔，肯与士兵共甘苦，被誉为“老胡桃木”。在新奥尔良战役中，他率兵大败英军，振奋全国，成为举国闻名的英雄。他第一次竞选总统时失败，第二次才获胜，是美国历史上的第一位民主党总统。任内大力加强总统职权，维护联邦统一，颇有政绩，史称“民主政治”，几与第三届总统杰斐逊齐名。


第6任美国总统：约翰•昆西•亚当斯
任期：1825年3月4日～1829年3月3日
绰号：有口才的老人
出生：1767年7月11日，布伦特里(现在昆西)里，马萨诸塞
死于：1848年2月23日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：璐易丝•凯瑟林•约翰逊(Louisa Catherine Johnson) 
副总统：约翰•C•卡尔霍恩
约翰•昆西•亚当斯是美国历史上的第六任总统。他是第二任总统约翰•亚当斯及第一夫人爱比盖尔•亚当斯的长子。他是美国历史上第一位继其父亲之后成为总统的总统。他二十岁就成了有名的外交官，曾出使欧洲多年，熟悉欧洲事务。1817年门罗总统上台以后，亚当斯被任命为国务卿，任职八年，曾协助起草《门罗宣言》，解决与英国的许多纠纷，从西班牙手中取得佛罗里达，因此，被认为是美国历史上“最有成就的国务卿之一”。1 8 2 5年亚当斯当选总统。1829年卸任后被选为国会众议员，直至逝世。


第5任美国总统：詹姆斯•门罗
任期：1817年3月4日～1825年3月4日
生于：1758年4月28日 维吉尼亚州威斯特摩兰郡
死于：1831年7月4日 纽约州纽约市
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：伊丽莎白•科特莱特•门罗
副总统：丹尼尔•D•汤普金斯
门罗沉浮政界48年，先后当过律师、议员、驻外使节、州长、国务卿、陆军部长和总统以及州制宪会议主席等职。 
门罗任总统时，正值美国结束连年战争进入和平建设时期，他对内强调国家意识，对外大力开拓疆土，为美国资本主义发展创造了有利条件。1823年门罗在国情咨文中提出的美国外交政策方针，世称《门罗宣言》或“门罗主义”，即在“美洲是美洲人的美洲”的口号下，公然把拉丁美洲划为美国的势力范围。门罗老境凄凉，病逝在女儿家中，享年73岁。


第4任美国总统：詹姆士•麦迪逊
任期：1809年3月4日～1817年3月3日
绰号：宪法之父
出生：1751年3月16日，弗吉尼亚
死于：1836年6月28日，蒙彼利埃，弗吉尼亚
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：多利•佩恩•托德
总统年薪：25，000美元
麦迪逊生于1751年，橙县，弗吉尼亚，毕业于(当时叫新泽西学院)普林斯顿。他学习历史和政府的课程，法律读的很好。少年好学，青年时期即投身于独立战争。他在1776年参加弗吉尼亚宪法的制定，在大陆的国会提供，并且是弗吉尼亚会议的一位领导人。制宪会议在费城，36岁的麦迪逊把频繁和显著的部分加在辩论内。麦迪逊与亚历山大汉密尔顿和约翰坚鸟，联邦主义者散文的宪法做了较大的对照。在晚些年，他被称为"宪法之父"，在国会，他帮助修改权利法案，制定第一个收入立法。从他的领导当中反对汉密尔顿的金融提议，他感到将过于向北方的金融家给予财富和能力，变成共和党人的发展。当时总统杰斐逊国务卿，麦迪逊给交战法国和英国抗议他们的美国船的被扣押，与国际法律相反。尽管1807年不受欢迎的禁止行动，这没使交战的国家改变他们的方式，但是引起了美国的消沉，麦迪逊在1808年被选举为总统。他废除了在麦迪逊任职的第一年，禁止美国与英国和法国进行交易；然后在1810年5月，审定的国会进行两个交易，指导总统，如果两者中任何一个将接受美国的中立的权利的意见，禁止与其它国家进行交易。拿破仑假装答应。在1810年后期，麦迪逊与英国宣布非交往。在国会包括亨利•克雷和约翰•C•卡尔霍恩的年轻的一组，"好战分子"，为一个更好斗的政策敦促总统。美国海员的英国强迫服役和货物的扣押使麦迪逊不得不对压力让步。在1812年6月1日，他向国会宣战。他的人权主张和三权分立学说迄今仍是美国宪法的指导原则。他和杰斐逊共同创建和领导了民主共和党，使美国开始形成了两党政治。他担任总统期间曾领导进行第二次反英战争，保卫了美国的共和制度，为美国赢得彻底独立建立了功绩。


第3任美国总统：托马斯•杰斐逊
任期：1801年3月4日～1809年3月3日
绰号：人民的人
出生：1743年4月13日，在沙德韦尔里，弗吉尼亚
死于：1826年7月4日，在monticello(弗吉尼亚附近)
所属政党：民主共和党 
第一夫人：玛莎Wayles斯凯尔顿
总统年薪：25，000美元
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
托马斯•杰斐逊生于1743年的Albermarle县，他是一位种植员和检查员，从他父亲那里继承了大约5，000英亩土地。母亲拥有很高的社会地位。他在威廉玛莉学院学习，然后读法律。在1772年，他与玛莎结婚。1767年取得律师资格。1767年进入殖民地议会。1775年参加第H次大陆会议。次年，参加《独立宣言》五人起草委员会，成为宣言的主要起草人。1776年重返弗吉尼亚议会，制定宗教信仰自由法案。1779一1781年任弗吉尼亚州长。1784年出任驻法公使。
1789年任国务卿。1800年当选总统。
托马斯•杰斐逊是美国独立革命运动的一位积极领导者和组织者，著名的美国《独立宣言》的起草人。他前后从事政治活动近六十年之久，在美国人民的心目中是一位伟大的英雄。杰斐逊是资产阶级民主主义思想家，主张人权平等、言论、宗教和人身自由。他起草的《废止限嗣继承法规》，沉重打击了从英国带到美洲的封建主义残余。他起草了《弗吉尼亚宗教自由法规》，并使这一法规在州议会获得通过，实现了政教分离。杰斐逊任总统期间，美国从法国人手中“购买”了路易斯安那地区，使美国领土扩大近一倍。他还派遣远征队西行，使美国的西部边界伸向太平洋海岸。他执政期间进行过一些民主改革，领导了反对亲英保守势力、争取保持资产阶级民主的斗争，起了积极和进步作用，为美国资本主义的迅速发展准备了条件。杰斐逊好学多才，兴趣广泛。他是土地测量师、建筑师、古生物学家、哲学家、音韵学家和作家。他懂得拉丁语、希腊语、法语、西班牙语和意大利语。他还对数学、农艺学和建筑学，甚至提琴等感兴趣。人们称他是天资最高、最多才多艺的美国总统。杰斐逊一生著述很多，涉及问题很广，后人为纪念他而出版了他的文集，共20卷，杰斐逊作为美国资产阶级民主派杰出代表，与华盛顿和林肯齐名。
1803年，他决定购买路易斯安那，使美国国土几乎扩大了一倍。1804年连任。离职后，他开始了退隐生活。此间，他创建了弗吉尼亚大学，担任了该校第一任校长。在《独立宣言》50周年纪念日的前几天，杰斐逊已病得很重，处于昏迷状态。一次他清醒后问医生“是不是那一天？”他指是7月4日。就在这一天，他与世长辞，与亚当斯同时西去。


第2任美国总统：约翰•亚当斯 任期：1797年3月4日～1801年3月3日
绰号：美国独立的巨人
出生：1735年10月30日，布伦特里(现在的昆西)，马萨诸塞 
死于：1826年7月4日，布伦特里(现在的昆西)，马萨诸塞
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：阿比盖尔•史密斯
总统年薪：25，000美元/年
约翰•亚当斯作为一位政治哲学家有着更惊人的学问和思想力。"人民和国家在逆境里被锻造，"他说，毫无疑问，这是他的想法也是美国的经验。
亚当斯出生于1735年的马萨诸塞海湾殖民地。一个受过哈佛教育的律师，导致他和一些爱国者达成了共识；1772年被选为马萨诸塞州众议员。1774年参加第一次大陆会议。1775年参加第二次大陆会议。1776年参加《独立宣言》五人起草委员会。1777年出使法国。1778年返国参加宪法起草工作。是《独立宣言》的起草人之一。
革命战争期间，他作为外交官服务于法国和荷兰之间，并且帮助谈判和平条约。从1785年到1788年，他是詹姆士法庭的部长，在乔治•华盛顿下被选举为副总统。当亚当斯成为总统时，法国和英国之间的战争引起巨大困难给美国两个党派之间造成了纷争。亚当斯派出3个官员去法国，在1798的春天抵达，法国外交部长Talleyrand和DIRECTORY拒绝与他们谈判，除非他们支付相当可观的贿赂。亚当斯把这份带有侮辱性的报告递交国会，参议院打印了相应的信件，其中Frenchmen被作为"X，Y和Z."提交。国会拨款完成3艘新护卫舰并且建造添加了船只，并且审定一支临时的军队。它同样经历了一些外国的和煽动性的言论，打算使国外代理人害怕而抑制住共和党人编辑的攻击。亚当斯总统没有发表战争宣言，但是敌对在海上开始了。最初，美国船只几乎无防备于法国的武装民船，以1800名武装好了的商人和美国军舰清扫了海路。尽管几次光辉的海上胜利，战争依旧延续了下去。此外法国似乎对战争不感兴趣，亚当斯并且成为一名受到尊敬的特使。长时间的谈判类似一场战争。在华盛顿担任八年总统期间，他一直任副总统。1796年当选为总统。由于他任职期间在内政、外交方面均无明显成就，因而在1800年大选中败于杰斐逊。在1800年11月1日，在选举前，亚当斯在新首都白宫里居住。在潮湿的房间里，给他的妻子写了封信，"在我结束我的信之前，我祈祷天堂给予最好的祝福诸给在这屋檐下诚实和聪明的人们。


第1任美国总统：乔治•华盛顿 任期：1789年4月30日～1797年3月3日
绰号：“国家之父”
出生：1732年2月22日，威斯特摩兰县，弗吉尼亚  死于：1799年12月14日，弗农，弗吉尼亚山
所属政党：联邦主义者   资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
美国首任总统(1789～1797)，美国独立战争大陆军总司令。他毕生未进大学学习，但注意自学，使自己具备了突出的才干。早年当过土地测量员。1752年，成为维农山庄园的主人。曾参加七年战争，获中校和上校衔，积累了军事指挥的经验。1758年当选为弗吉尼亚议员。翌年与富孀M.D.卡斯蒂斯结婚，获得大批奴隶和60.75平方千米土地，成为弗吉尼亚最大的种植园主。在经营农场、手工作坊的过程中，华盛顿饱尝了英国殖民当局限制、盘剥之苦。1774年和1775年，先后作为弗吉尼亚议会的代表出席第一届、第二届大陆会议。1775年7月3日，华盛顿就任大陆军总司令。他把一支组织松散、训练不足、装备落后、给养匮乏，主要由地方民军组成的队伍整编和锻炼成为一支能与英军正面抗衡的正规军。通过特伦顿、普林斯顿和约克德等战役，击败英军，取得了北美独立战争的胜利。1783年《巴黎和约》签订，英国被迫承认美国独立。同年12月23日递交辞呈，解甲归田。1787年他主持召开费城制宪会议。制定联邦宪法，为根除君主制，制订和批准维护有产者民主权利的宪法作出不懈的努力。
1789年，当选为美国历史上的第一任总统。他组织机构精干的联邦政府，颁布司法条例，成立联邦最高法院。他在许多问题上倾向于联邦党人的主张，但力求在联邦党和民主共和党之间保持平衡。他支持A.汉密尔顿关于成立国家银行的计划，确立国家信用。批准T.杰斐逊所支持的公共土地法案，奠定了西部自由土地制度的基础。1793年，再度当选总统。为了缓和同英国的矛盾，1794年11月4日华盛顿派出首席法官J.杰伊与英国谈判，签订杰伊条约，因有损于美国利益，遭反对。1796年9月17日，他发表告别词，表示不再出任总统。从而开创美国历史上摒弃终身总统，和平转移权力的范例。次年，回到维农山庄园。因对美国独立作出重大贡献，被尊为美国国父。        历届美国总统就职典礼  
 


1789年美国第一任总统华盛顿宣誓就职





1841年哈里森总统就职大典





1861年林肯就职大典





1933年富兰克林罗斯福当选美国总统就职大典





1937年富兰克林·罗斯福连任就职宣誓





1941年富兰克林·罗斯福第三次连任美国总统







1945年富兰克林·罗斯福第四次连任典礼





1949年杜鲁门总统就职大典





1953年奥森豪威尔宣誓就职





1957奥森豪威尔连任就职大典





1961年肯尼迪就职大典








1965年约翰逊就职大典











1969年尼克松就职大典





1974年福特就任总统宣誓










1977年卡特总统就职大典











1981年里根当选总统就职演说










1985年里根连任就职大典







1989年老布什就职大典宣誓








1993年克林顿首次当选就职宣誓





1997年克林顿就职典礼演说








布什2001年首次当选就职大典





布什就职典礼上克林顿握手祝贺








布什2005年连任就职大典








2008年11月5日，在美国首都华盛顿，建筑工人在白宫北门搭建观礼台。白宫、国会等处目前正在进行2009年新总统就职典礼的搭台施工，准备迎接已当选下届美国总统的奥巴马宣誓就职。  

美国时间一月二十日，四十七岁的奥巴马在华盛顿国会山宣誓就职。美国建国二百三十二年来，第一次迎来了一位非洲裔总统。 20多万人见证了这个历史时刻。就职典礼的流程大致是这样的：奥巴马夫妇要先到白宫见布什夫妇,合影并举行茶聚。然后他们一行再到国会山。奥巴马在美国最高法院首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨的主持下宣誓就职，他举起右手，将左手放在林肯曾使用过的一本圣经上宣誓。宣誓完毕后，奥巴马接管“核足球”，它是一个黑色公文包，里面装有高度机密文件和美国总统发动核袭击所需要的指令程序。然后奥巴马发表他生命中最重要的讲演。奥巴马讲演结束后，海军陆战队军乐队奏《向统帅致敬》，黑人诗人伊丽莎白·亚历山大朗读专门为奥巴马就职所写的诗歌。随后，奥巴马将陪他的前任布什总统及其夫人前往正在等待他们的直升机。最后在国会大厦的雕塑厅举行官方午餐，200名宾客参加午餐会。他们包括最高法院法官、奥巴马内阁成员、来访的各国领导人。

 

 

20多万人见证了这个历史时刻

看大屏幕直播的人无数

这是保安人员在典礼开始前肃清Pennsylvania 大街。这条大道是总统通往白宫，还有从白宫到国会山要经过的。

 新总统的车队来了

特工们护驾总统车

奥巴马夫妇下车从Pennsylvania 大街走向白宫。沿途一片欢呼。总统周围穿黑大衣的都是保安特工。安全的确做到家了。

 

奥巴马全家到白宫了

和布什夫妇在一起

摩托车开道，引着二位总统车队开往国会山

到达国会山

国会山准备好的仪式

新总统进来了

 

在国会山前，在他们的前方，奥巴马将手放在林肯用过的圣经上，面向三公里以外的林肯纪念堂，誓言将竭尽所能保护、遵守和捍卫美国宪法，向一百四十多年前第一个解放了黑奴的美国总统致敬。

总统和副总统宣誓

做他一生中最重要演讲详见《奥巴马就职演说全文》

 

激动的人群

最感觉复杂的还是黑人。这是一个历史性的时刻

 

华谊大提琴家表演

仪仗队

 

和布什夫妇告别。二人乘坐直升机离开。布什时代正式结束

 

      

44届美国总统头像大全     

乔治·华盛顿（George Washington 1789-1797）

约翰·亚当斯（John Adams 1797-1801）

托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809）

詹姆斯·麦迪逊（James Madison 1809-1817）

詹姆斯·门罗（James Monroe 1817-1825）

约翰·昆西·亚当斯（John Quincy Adams 1825-1829）

安德鲁·杰克逊（Andrew Jackson 1829-1837）

马丁·范布伦（Martin Van Buren 1837-1841

威廉·亨利·哈里森（William Henry Harrison
1841

约翰·泰勒（John Tyler 1841-1845）

詹姆斯·K·波尔克（James K. Polk 1845-1849）

扎卡里·泰勒（Zachary Taylor 1849-1850）

米勒德·菲尔莫尔（Millard Fillmore 1850-1853）

富兰克林·皮尔斯（Franklin Pierce 1853-1857）

詹姆斯·布坎南（James Buchanan 1857-1861）

阿伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865）

安德鲁·约翰逊（Andrew Johnson 1865-1869）

尤利西斯·S·格兰特（Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877）

拉瑟富德·B·海斯（Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881）

詹姆斯·A·加菲尔德（James A. Garfield 1881）

切斯特·A·阿瑟（Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885）

格罗佛·克利夫兰 （Grover Cleveland 1885-1889，1893-1897）

本杰明·哈里森（Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893）

威廉·麦金莱（William McKinley 1897-1901）

西奥多·罗斯福（Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909）

威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱（William Howard Taft 1909-1913）

伍德罗·威尔逊（Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921）

沃伦·G·哈定（Warren G. Harding 1921-1923）

卡尔文·柯立芝（Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929）

赫伯特·胡佛（Herbert Hoover 1929-1933）

富兰克林·D·罗斯福（Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945）

哈里·S·杜鲁门（Harry S. Truman 1945-1953）

德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔（Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961）

约翰·F·肯尼迪（John Kennedy 1961-1963）

林顿·B·约翰逊（Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969）

理查德·M·尼克松（Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974）

杰拉尔德·R·福特（Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977）

吉米·卡特（Jimmy Carter 1977-1981）

罗纳德·里根（Ronald Reagan 1981 - 1989）

 

乔治·H·W·布什（George H. W. Bush 1989 - 1993）

威廉姆·J·克林顿（William J. Clinton 1993 - 2001）

乔治·W·布什（George W. Bush 2001 - 2009

巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama 2009- ）（路透）  阅读链接：   奥巴马宣誓就任美国第44任总统（组图）   奥巴马就职典礼中的十大经典时刻（组图）    1月20日奥巴马总统就职演说全文    奥巴马的第一个总统办公日（组图）     入职音乐会拉开奥巴马就职庆典序幕 盛况空前（组图）    奥巴马启程前往华盛顿就职 专列途经威尔明顿（组图）   回首布什风云8年总统路（组图）   英报盘点布什当总统做的最糟糕的20件事（图）    布什今日9时发表告别演说（图）            

美国历届总统照片大全 

   托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809）  詹姆斯·麦迪逊（James Madison 1809-1817）  詹姆斯·门罗（James Monroe 1817-1825）  约翰·昆西·亚当斯（John Quincy Adams 1825-1829）  安德鲁·杰克逊（Andrew Jackson 1829-1837）  马丁·范布伦（Martin Van Buren 1837-1841  威廉·亨利·哈里森（William Henry Harrison 1841  约翰·泰勒（John Tyler 1841-1845）  詹姆斯·K·波尔克（James K. Polk 1845-1849）  扎卡里·泰勒（Zachary Taylor 1849-1850）  米勒德·菲尔莫尔（Millard Fillmore 1850-1853）  富兰克林·皮尔斯（Franklin Pierce 1853-1857）  詹姆斯·布坎南（James Buchanan 1857-1861）  阿伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865）  安德鲁·约翰逊（Andrew Johnson 1865-1869）  尤利西斯·S·格兰特（Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877）  拉瑟富德·B·海斯（Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881）  詹姆斯·A·加菲尔德（James A. Garfield 1881）  切斯特·A·阿瑟（Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885）  格罗佛·克利夫兰 （Grover Cleveland 1885-1889，1893-1897）  本杰明·哈里森（Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893）  威廉·麦金莱（William McKinley 1897-1901）  西奥多·罗斯福（Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909）  威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱（William Howard Taft 1909-1913）  伍德罗·威尔逊（Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921）  沃伦·G·哈定（Warren G. Harding 1921-1923）  卡尔文·柯立芝（Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929）  赫伯特·胡佛（Herbert Hoover 1929-1933）  富兰克林·D·罗斯福（Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945）  哈里·S·杜鲁门（Harry S. Truman 1945-1953）  德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔（Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961）  约翰·F·肯尼迪（John Kennedy 1961-1963）  林顿·B·约翰逊（Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969）  理查德·M·尼克松（Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974）  杰拉尔德·R·福特（Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977）  吉米·卡特（Jimmy Carter 1977-1981）  罗纳德·里根（Ronald Reagan 1981 - 1989）  乔治·H·W·布什（George H. W. Bush 1989 - 1993）  威廉姆·J·克林顿（William J. Clinton 1993 - 2001）  乔治·W·布什（George W. Bush 2001 - 2009  巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama 2009- ）  奥巴马2009年开始       历任美国总统图文简介  

在美国南达科他州的拉什莫尔，有一个著名的“总统山”，山上雕刻着美国四位著名总统的巨大头像，他们是华盛顿、杰斐逊、林肯和西奥多·罗斯福（任期1901－1908年，不是二战时期的那个罗斯福）。“总统山”是它的俗称，正式名称是“国立拉什莫峰纪念地”，于1927年开始兴建，由当时著名的雕塑家格鲁·博格勒姆精心选址设计而成。当时，博格勒姆看中了现在的山峰，因为这里的花岗岩特别坚硬，抗蚀能力强，90%的雕刻首先都是通过炸药炸开山峰再进行雕刻而成，整个工程于1941年完工。遗憾的是，博格勒姆没能等到这一天，工程完工前7个月他不幸逝世，后由他的儿子接替工作，完成了父亲的遗愿。“总统山”雕像头部高18米，4位总统头像从左至右依次为：乔治·华盛顿、托马斯·杰佛逊、西奥多·罗斯福、亚伯拉罕·林肯。“总统山”是美国雕刻艺术史上的杰作，也是世界上最大的石雕像群，它因此成为美国七大人造奇景之一。据悉，现年每年前来“总统山”参观的游客有200万人次之多。


历任美国总统

1 乔治·华盛顿 (George Washington) 1789年－1797年 开国总统
2 约翰·亚当斯 (John Adams) 联邦党 1797年－1801年 人称「老亚当斯」，儿子是第6任美国总统，和儿子是为美国历史上第一对父子档总统。
3 托玛斯·杰弗逊 (Thomas Jefferson) 民主共和党 1801年－1809年
4 詹姆斯·麦迪逊 (James Madison) 民主共和党 1809年－1817年
5 詹姆斯·门罗 (James Monroe) 民主共和党 1817年－1825年
6 约翰·昆西·亚当斯 (John Quincy Adams) 民主共和党 1825年－1829年 人称「小亚当斯」，父亲是第2任美国总统，和父亲是为美国历史上第一对父子档总统。
7 安德鲁·杰克逊 (Adrew Jackson) 民主党 1829年－1837年
8 马丁·范布伦 (Martin Van Buren) 民主党 1837年－1841年
9 威廉·亨利·哈里森 (William Henry Harrison) 辉格党 1841年 上任一个月后便死在任期内，其孙是第23任美国总统。
10 约翰·泰勒 (John Tyler) 辉格党 1841年－1845年 第一个由副总统接任总统的人
11 詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克 (James Knox Polk) 民主党 1845年－1849年
12 扎卡里·泰勒 (Zachary Taylor) 辉格党 1849年－1850年 死于任内
13 米勒德·菲尔莫尔 (Millard Fillmore) 辉格党 1850年－1853年
14 福兰克林·皮尔斯 (Franklin Pierce) 民主党 1853年－1857年
15 詹姆斯·布坎南 (James Buchanan) 民主党 1857年－1861年
16 亚伯拉罕·林肯 (Abraham Lincoln) 共和党 1861年－1865年 在任内被暗杀致死
17 安德鲁·约翰逊 (Andrew Johnson) 民主党 1865年－1869年 任内曾遭国会的弹劾动议，以一票之差没有通过
18 尤里西斯·辛普森·格兰特 (Ulysses Simpson Grant) 共和党 1869年－1877年
19 拉瑟福德·B·海斯 (Rutherford B. Hays) 共和党 1877年－1881年
20 詹姆斯·加菲尔德 (James Garfield) 共和党 1881年 上任半年后被暗杀，死于任内
21 切斯特·A·阿瑟 (Chester A. Arthur) 共和党 1881年－1885年
22 格罗弗·克利夫兰 (Stephen Grover Cleveland) 民主党 1885年－1889年
23 本杰明·哈里森 (Benjemin Harrison) 共和党 1889年－1893年 祖父是第9任美国总统
24 格罗弗·克利夫兰 (Stephen Grover Cleveland) 民主党 1893年－1897年 曾经担任第22任美国总统，落选一届后再度竞选成功
25 威廉·麦金莱 (William McKinley) 共和党 1897年－1901年 任内遇刺身亡
26 西奥多·罗斯福 (Theodore Roosevelt) 共和党 1901年－1909年
27 威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱 (William Howard Taft) 共和党 1909年－1913年
28 伍德罗·威尔逊 (Woodrow Wilson) 民主党 1913年－1921年
29 沃伦·G·哈定 (Warren G. Harding) 共和党 1921年－1923年 在任内去世
30 卡尔文·柯立芝 (Calvin Coolidge) 共和党 1923年－1929年
31 赫伯特·胡佛 (Herbert Hoover) 共和党 1929年－1933年
32 富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福 (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) 民主党 1933年－1945年 任期最长的美国总统，连任四届，最后死于任内
33 哈利·S·杜鲁门 (Harry S. Truman) 民主党 1945年－1953年
34 德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔 (Dwight D. Eisenhower) 共和党 1953年－1961年
35 约翰·F·肯尼迪 (John F. Kennedy) 民主党 1961年－1963年 任内被暗杀
36 林登·约翰逊 (Lyndon Johnson) 民主党 1963年－1969年
37 理查德·尼克松 (Richard Nixon) 共和党 1969年－1974年 任内因水门事件而辞职
38 杰拉尔德·福特 (Gerald Ford) 共和党 1974年－1977年 唯一一名未经选举就接任副总统，然后又接任总统的人
39 吉米·卡特 (Jimmy Carter) 民主党 1977年－1981年
40 罗纳德·里根 (Ronald Reagan) 共和党 1981年－1989年
41 乔治·H·W·布什 (George H.W. Bush) 共和党 1989年－1993年 其长子是第43任美国总统
42 比尔·克林顿 (Bill Clinton) 民主党 1993年－2001年 任内国会曾提起弹劾动议，但未获通过
43 乔治·W·布什 (George W. Bush) 共和党 2001年－2009年 父亲是第41任美国总统


历任美国总统点评

美国开国元勋华盛顿 领导美国人民赢得独立，制订宪法，创建国家，担任首任总统，公众尊称他为“国父”、“摩西第二”。

第二任总统亚当斯 他极力赞成13州宣布独立，并积极参与起草和领导辩论而通过独立宣言，公众尊称他为“独立擎天柱”、“革命建筑师”。

第三任总统杰弗逊 他参与起草独立宣言，当选总统之后，坚信个人权力和自由，把民主政治向前推进一大步，公众尊称他为“革命斗士”、“民主巨擘”。

第四任总统麦迪逊 他对宪法制定、通过、批准尽力最多，公众尊称他为“宪法之父”。

第五任总统门罗 他是革命战争年代最后一位任总统的人，人们尊称他为“革命先贤最后一人”。

第六任总统亚当斯 他是一个道德和生活都很严谨的人，人们称其为“清教徒”。

第七任总统杰克逊 他在战争中立下汗马功劳，在新奥尔良之役打败英军，成为举国闻名的英雄，当选总统后，具有领袖魅力，深受人民爱戴，被公众尊称为“老英雄”和“人民的总统”。

第八任总统范布伦 他从当纽约州长到协助杰克逊当选总统并出任国务卿，进而当副总统、总统，人称“小大人物”(身高1.67米左右)、“老练政客”。

第九任总统哈里逊 1811年，他在印第安纳州打败肖尼印第安人，人称“提帕卡农英雄”。

第十任总统约翰·泰勒 美国历史上第一个由副总统直接接任总统的人。

第十一任总统波尔克 他是美国政治历史上第一匹“黑马”总统候选人，任职期间孜孜不倦，人称“黑马波尔克”、“辛苦工作的波尔克”。

第十二任总统泰勒 他军旅生涯40年，屡建奇功，人称他当总统“老粗而管用”。

第十四任总统皮尔斯 他因容貌英俊，被人称为“美男子富兰克林”。

第十五任总统布坎南 他终生未娶，人称“老光棍”。

第十六任总统林肯 他不矫揉造作，说话、办事老实。1863年发布奴隶解放令，公众尊称他为“诚实的老亚伯”和“伟大的解放者”。

第十七任总统安德鲁·约翰逊 任内曾遭国会的弹劾动议，以一票之差没有通过。

第十八任总统格兰特 他每战必胜，公众称他为“无敌尤利西斯”，又因他接受李将军投降，结束4年内战，被称为“阿波麦托克斯英雄”。

第十九任总统海斯 内战期间，他表现勇敢，数次受伤，人称“勇敢的拉塞福德”。

第二十任总统加菲尔德 他遵母命奋发读书当了总统，人称“运河少年郎总统”。

第二十一任总统阿瑟 他任内款待宾客有术，被华府社交界称为“好客巨子”。

第二十二任总统克利夫兰 他公、私均极诚实，人称“好人格罗夫”，又因在第一任4年行使414次否决权，超过从华盛顿到阿瑟21位前总统行使总和的两倍有余，人们戏称他为“否决总统”。

第二十三任总统本杰明·哈里逊 他因维护退伍军人权益而获“军人之友”的美称。

第二十四任总统克利夫兰曾经担任第22任美国总统，落选一届后再度竞选成功.

第二十五任总统麦金莱 他在总统任期间，使经济复苏，国家繁荣，工人收入增加，人称他为“繁荣的先驱”和“工人的最佳友人”。

第二十六任总统西奥多·罗斯福 他因美西战争战功卓著，而获称“圣胡安山英雄”。

第二十七任总统塔夫脱 他是个笑口常开，跟谁都要好的人，人们称他为“微笑的比尔”。

第二十八任总统威尔逊 他是美国惟一一位学者从政、竞选总统的人，他提出的“新自由”经济计划，恢复竞争，赢得人们欢心，后称他为“学者从政”和“人民总统”。

第二十九任总统哈定 他作风平易近人，被称为“逢人便攀谈的人”。

第三十任总统柯立芝 他因谨言慎行而被称为“谨言慎行的卡尔”。

第三十一任总统胡佛 第一次世界大战期间，他从事国际救济工作卓有成效，被称为“伟大的人道主义者”。

第三十二任总统小罗斯福 他因领导第二次世界大战取得胜利，被称为“赢得战争的总统”。

第三十三任总统杜鲁门 他发表杜鲁门主义，面对危机从不退缩，被称为“美国最伟大的平民总统”。

第三十四任总统艾森豪威尔 他是五星上将，二战英雄，人称“高耸云霄的艾森豪威尔”。

第三十五任总统肯尼迪 他当选总统后成功解决了古巴导弹危机，被称为“60年代风云人物”和“林肯之后最年轻、最机智、最具领袖魅力、死后最受怀念的总统”。

第三十六任总统约翰逊 他被人称为“精力充沛的得克萨斯人”。

第三十七任总统尼克松 他推动对苏缓和，同中国关系正常化，人称“最有争议，最善于自我宣传，最难捉摸的总统”。

第三十八任总统福特 他为人诚实体贴，被称为“好好先生”，又因他当副总统和总统都不是竞选的，又称“意外副总统和意外总统”。

第三十九任总统卡特 他被称为“读书最勤，品行端庄，诚实无欺的总统”。

第四十任总统里根 1981年他就职时70岁，人称“年龄最大的总统”。

第四十一任总统布什 他获称为“最有外交经验的总统”。

第四十二任总统克林顿 他喜欢折哀，不喜欢对抗，遇事绕圈子，使对方捉摸不透，被称为“圆滑的比尔”、“惟一历经四门(白水门、奶妈门、差旅门、州警门)而屹立不动”，最终因“拉链门及斯塔尔门而倒霉的总统”。

第四十三任总统小布什 他是一位遭到大毁大誉的人物，有人赞美他是“坚定有力的反恐斗士”，有人指责他是“只会蛮干的牛仔”。


美国总统之最

最具“侵略性”的总统西奥多·罗斯福 老罗斯福是蹲踞在美国历史上众多老鹰式人物中的惟一雄狮。他是1903年巧取豪夺马拿马运河的策划者；他是“大棒外交”最忠实的奉行者，使美国对世界事务的干涉变本加厉，1906年他还因“成功调解了日俄战争”而古怪地获得了一项诺贝尔和平奖；1907年他派美国舰队环游世界耀武扬威，还把俄克拉何马正式并入了美利坚合众国的版图。对世界各国人民来说，西奥多·罗斯福就是霸权主义的代名词。

最伟大的总统亚伯拉罕·林肯 苏格拉底说过，和一个好女人结婚，会成为一个平凡的丈夫；和一个恶女人结婚，则会造就一位哲学家。林肯有一位著名的恶妻玛丽，于是他成为美国历史上最伟大的哲学家型总统。他思想开放，肯容纳新事物；又能吸收经验，古为今用，没有他，美国联邦也许不会在南北战争中获胜，黑奴的解放也要延迟许多时日。在美国从封建奴隶制向资本主义转换的历史进程中，林肯扮演的是一个极为重要的角色。可以说，没有他，就没有今日的美国。林肯在任期间签署了著名的《宅地法》，这个法律是促成美国南北战争以后西部拓荒热的主要原因，对后来美国版图的形成具有重要意义。

结局最尴尬、最有争议的总统理查德·尼克松 作为美国历史上第一位也是迄今为止惟一被迫辞职的美国总统，尼克松将名留史册。美国人评论他“狡猾、不可捉摸”。对外他果断地让美国拔出了深陷在越南战争中的那只泥脚，与此同时将战火扩大到了柬埔寨和老挝，为该地区种下了不安定的种子；他与前苏联签订了一系列限制武器发展的条约，使剑拔弩张的“冷战”局势一度得到缓和；1971年他又戏剧性地放弃了其对中国的一贯敌视态度，不可谓没有战略眼光。在国内，尼克松加强打击犯罪，重视环境保护，更让宇航员踏上了月球，不可谓没有政绩。但他却出了美国历史上最糟糕的政治丑闻———水门事件。

最内向却最滑稽的总统卡尔文·柯立芝 柯立芝是个公认的平庸总统，在他任职的那几年，白宫可以说是“无为而治”。但他有自己的一套幽默术，被称为“滑稽大师”。他是以其逸闻趣事而不是显赫功名蜚声海内外的。他的绰号是：“沉默的卡尔”。当他还在白宫任职时，有关他“嘴紧”、“手紧”和节俭的故事就到处传扬。

最老实的总统杰拉尔德·R·福特 福特是第一位没有经过选举而直接被任命的总统。由于阿格纽不光彩的辞职，福特被尼克松任命为副总统；而后尼克松本人也在受到弹劾的威胁下主动下台，福特便成为了美国的第38任总统。两次他都是接替了丢人现眼的首脑辞去的职务。福特是个“好好先生”，生性温厚谦逊、随和，以至于有人说他是“白宫里的童子军”。尽管他是一个经历了30年政治斗争的老手，历年来所树的政敌却少得惊人。福特在任期间没有什么政绩，却常常因为走路摔跤和说话失言而被新闻界嘲笑。

最年长的总统罗纳德·里根 里根是惟一成为总统的好莱坞专业演员。在演员的领域，他没能成为传奇式的大明星，但导演们都喜欢他。因为他总是准时出场，台词熟练，并且虚心。1981年里根以70岁高龄当选美国总统，是历来最年长的一位。之后，里根宁愿出头露面，而不愿陷入制定政策的繁琐细节。他长相英俊、表情丰富，常能消除别人对他政见的敌意。里根连任两届总统，对内实行削减税收、削减开支的经济政策，被指为偏向富人，引起诸多争议；对外，里根走强硬路线。招惹非议的“星球大战”计划也是由里根政府开始。80年代后半期，里根改变其右倾政策，与前苏联领导人进行了一系列有关签订削减战略武器条约的谈判，获得世界各国积极评价。

最有魅力的总统约翰·F·肯尼迪 1960年11月，肯尼迪在大选中以微弱的优势战胜对手，成为美国有史以来最年轻的总统(年仅43岁)。肯尼迪极富个人魅力。他年轻英俊，言谈举止风趣有活力，即使在局势动乱的年头也给美国民众带来了极大的希望和勇气。人们称他是美国历史上最有魅力的总统。可惜的是，肯尼迪没有一个好的结局，1963年11月22日遇刺身亡。

最像演员的总统比尔·克林顿 人们说到克林顿时，除了最出名的莱温斯基之事外，好像脑海里就是一片空白。克林顿爱表现，基本上属于“演员型”总统：吹萨克斯、频频出访确立外交形象，连带自己的夫人和女儿也大大出名。然而他的内政也确实搞得不错，他在任的几年，美国的经济比里根、布什时代都好，失业率也降到最低。因而不管克林顿的风流韵事有多少，讲求实际的美国人仍然拥护他，这或许是他能逃脱尼克松般被弹劾的命运的根本原因吧!



美国第1位总统(1789年4月30日--1797年3月3日)
姓名：乔治·华盛顿
绰号：“国家之父”
出生：1732年2月22日，威斯特摩兰县，弗吉尼亚
死于：1799年12月14日，弗农，弗吉尼亚山
所属政党：联邦主义者
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
美国首任总统(1789～1797)，美国独立战争大陆军总司令。他毕生未进大学学习，但注意自学，使自己具备了突出的才干。早年当过土地测量员。1752年，成为维农山庄园的主人。曾参加七年战争，获中校和上校衔，积累了军事指挥的经验。1758年当选为弗吉尼亚议员。翌年与富孀M.D.卡斯蒂斯结婚，获得大批奴隶和60.75平方千米土地，成为弗吉尼亚最大的种植园主。在经营农场、手工作坊的过程中，华盛顿饱尝了英国殖民当局限制、盘剥之苦。1774年和1775年，先后作为弗吉尼亚议会的代表出席第一届、第二届大陆会议。1775年7月3日，华盛顿就任大陆军总司令。他把一支组织松散、训练不足、装备落后、给养匮乏，主要由地方民军组成的队伍整编和锻炼成为一支能与英军正面抗衡的正规军。通过特伦顿、普林斯顿和约克德等战役，击败英军，取得了北美独立战争的胜利。1783年《巴黎和约》签订，英国被迫承认美国独立。同年12月23日递交辞呈，解甲归田。1787年他主持召开费城制宪会议。制定联邦宪法，为根除君主制，制订和批准维护有产者民主权利的宪法作出不懈的努力。
1789年，当选为美国第一任总统。他组织机构精干的联邦政府，颁布司法条例，成立联邦最高法院。他在许多问题上倾向于联邦党人的主张，但力求在联邦党和民主共和党之间保持平衡。他支持A.汉密尔顿关于成立国家银行的计划，确立国家信用。批准T.杰斐逊所支持的公共土地法案，奠定了西部自由土地制度的基础。1793年，再度当选总统。为了缓和同英国的矛盾，1794年11月4日华盛顿派出首席法官J.杰伊与英国谈判，签订杰伊条约，因有损于美国利益，遭反对。1796年9月17日，他发表告别词，表示不再出任总统。从而开创美国历史上摒弃终身总统，和平转移权力的范例。次年，回到维农山庄园。因对美国独立作出重大贡献，被尊为美国国父。



美国第2位总统(1797年3月4日--1801年3月3日)
姓名：约翰·亚当斯
绰号：美国独立的巨人
出生：1735年10月30日，布伦特里(现在的昆西)，马萨诸塞
死于：1826年7月4日，布伦特里(现在的昆西)，马萨诸塞
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：阿比盖尔·史密斯
总统年薪：25，000美元/年
约翰·亚当斯作为一位政治哲学家有着更惊人的学问和思想力。"人民和国家在逆境里被锻造，"他说，毫无疑问，这是他的想法也是美国的经验。
亚当斯出生于1735年的马萨诸塞海湾殖民地。一个受过哈佛教育的律师，导致他和一些爱国者达成了共识；1772年被选为马萨诸塞州众议员。1774年参加第一次大陆会议。1775年参加第二次大陆会议。1776年参加《独立宣言》五人起草委员会。1777年出使法国。1778年返国参加宪法起草工作。是《独立宣言》的起草人之一。
革命战争期间，他作为外交官服务于法国和荷兰之间，并且帮助谈判和平条约。从1785年到1788年，他是詹姆士法庭的部长，在乔治·华盛顿下被选举为副总统。
当亚当斯成为总统时，法国和英国之间的战争引起巨大困难给美国两个党派之间造成了纷争。
亚当斯派出3个官员去法国，在1798的春天抵达，法国外交部长Talleyrand和DIRECTORY拒绝与他们谈判，除非他们支付相当可观的贿赂。亚当斯把这份带有侮辱性的报告递交国会，参议院打印了相应的信件，其中Frenchmen被作为"X，Y和Z."提交。
国会拨款完成3艘新护卫舰并且建造添加了船只，并且审定一支临时的军队。它同样经历了一些外国的和煽动性的言论，打算使国外代理人害怕而抑制住共和党人编辑的攻击。
亚当斯总统没有发表战争宣言，但是敌对在海上开始了。最初，美国船只几乎无防备于法国的武装民船，以1800名武装好了的商人和美国军舰清扫了海路。
尽管几次光辉的海上胜利，战争依旧延续了下去。此外法国似乎对战争不感兴趣，亚当斯并且成为一名受到尊敬的特使。长时间的谈判类似一场战争。
在华盛顿担任八年总统期间，他一直任副总统。1796年当选为总统。
由于他任职期间在内政、外交方面均无明显成就，因而在1800年大选中败于杰斐逊。
在1800年11月1日，在选举前，亚当斯在新首都白宫里居住。在潮湿的房间里，给他的妻子写了封信，"在我结束我的信之前，我祈祷天堂给予最好的祝福诸给在这屋檐下诚实和聪明的人们。

美国第3 位总统(1801年3月4日--1809年3月3日)
姓名：托马斯·杰斐逊
绰号：人民的人
出生：1743年4月13日，在沙德韦尔里，弗吉尼亚
死于：1826年7月4日，在monticello(弗吉尼亚附近)
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：玛莎Wayles斯凯尔顿
总统年薪：25，000美元
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
托马斯·杰斐逊生于1743年的Albermarle县，他是一位种植员和检查员，从他父亲那里继承了大约5，000英亩土地。母亲拥有很高的社会地位。他在威廉玛莉学院学习，然后读法律。在1772年，他与玛莎结婚。
1767年取得律师资格。1767年进入殖民地议会。1775年参加第H次大陆会议。次年，参加《独立宣言》五人起草委员会，成为宣言的主要起草人。1776年重返弗吉尼亚议会，制定宗教信仰自由法案。1779一1781年任弗吉尼亚州长。1784年出任驻法公使。1789年任国务卿。1800年当选总统。
托马斯·杰斐逊是美国独立革命运动的一位积极领导者和组织者，著名的美国《独立宣言》的起草人。他前后从事政治活动近六十年之久，在美国人民的心目中是一位伟大的英雄。杰斐逊是资产阶级民主主义思想家，主张人权平等、言论、宗教和人身自由。他起草的《废止限嗣继承法规》，沉重打击了从英国带到美洲的封建主义残余。他起草了《弗吉尼亚宗教自由法规》，并使这一法规在州议会获得通过，实现了政教分离。杰斐逊任总统期间，美国从法国人手中“购买”了路易斯安那地区，使美国领土扩大近一倍。他还派遣远征队西行，使美国的西部边界伸向太平洋海岸。他执政期间进行过一些民主改革，领导了反对亲英保守势力、争取保持资产阶级民主的斗争，起了积极和进步作用，为美国资本主义的迅速发展准备了条件。
杰斐逊好学多才，兴趣广泛。他是土地测量师、建筑师、古生物学家、哲学家、音韵学家和作家。他懂得拉丁语、希腊语、法语、西班牙语和意大利语。他还对数学、农艺学和建筑学，甚至提琴等感兴趣。人们称他是天资最高、最多才多艺的美国总统。杰斐逊一生著述很多，涉及问题很广，后人为纪念他而出版了他的文集，共20卷，杰斐逊作为美国资产阶级民主派杰出代表，与华盛顿和林肯齐名。
1803年，他决定购买路易斯安那，使美国国土几乎扩大了一倍。1804年连任。离职后，他开始了退隐生活。此间，他创建了弗吉尼亚大学，担任了该校第一任校长。在《独立宣言》50周年纪念日的前几天，杰斐逊已病得很重，处于昏迷状态。一次他清醒后问医生“是不是那一天？”他指是7月4日。就在这一天，他与世长辞，与亚当斯同时西去


美国的第4位总统(1809年3月4日--1817年3月3日)
姓名：詹姆士·麦迪逊
绰号：宪法之父
出生：1751年3月16日，弗吉尼亚
死于：1836年6月28日，蒙彼利埃，弗吉尼亚
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：多利·佩恩·托德
总统年薪：25，000美元
麦迪逊生于1751年，橙县，弗吉尼亚，毕业于(当时叫新泽西学院)普林斯顿。他学习历史和政府的课程，法律读的很好。少年好学，青年时期即投身于独立战争。他在1776年参加弗吉尼亚宪法的制定，在大陆的国会提供，并且是弗吉尼亚会议的一位领导人。
制宪会议在费城，36岁的麦迪逊把频繁和显著的部分加在辩论内。麦迪逊与亚历山大汉密尔顿和约翰坚鸟，联邦主义者散文的宪法做了较大的对照。在晚些年，他被称为"宪法之父"，在国会，他帮助修改权利法案，制定第一个收入立法。从他的领导当中反对汉密尔顿的金融提议，他感到将过于向北方的金融家给予财富和能力，变成共和党人的发展。
当时总统杰斐逊国务卿，麦迪逊给交战法国和英国抗议他们的美国船的被扣押，与国际法律相反。尽管1807年不受欢迎的禁止行动，这没使交战的国家改变他们的方式，但是引起了美国的消沉，麦迪逊在1808年被选举为总统。他废除了在麦迪逊任职的第一年，禁止美国与英国和法国进行交易；然后在1810年5月，审定的国会进行两个交易，指导总统，如果两者中任何一个将接受美国的中立的权利的意见，禁止与其它国家进行交易。
拿破仑假装答应。在1810年后期，麦迪逊与英国宣布非交往。在国会包括亨利·克雷和约翰·C·卡尔霍恩的年轻的一组，"好战分子"，为一个更好斗的政策敦促总统。
美国海员的英国强迫服役和货物的扣押使麦迪逊不得不对压力让步。在1812年6月1日，他向国会宣战。他的人权主张和三权分立学说迄今仍是美国宪法的指导原则。他和杰斐逊共同创建和领导了民主共和党，使美国开始形成了两党政治。他担任总统期间曾领导进行第二次反英战争，保卫了美国的共和制度，为美国赢得彻底独立建立了功绩。


美国第5 位总统（总统任期：1817年3月4日——1821年3月4日 1821年3月4日——1825年3月4日）
姓名：詹姆斯·门罗
生于：1758年4月28日 维吉尼亚州威斯特摩兰郡
死于：1831年7月4日 纽约州纽约市
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：伊丽莎白·科特莱特·门罗
副总统：丹尼尔·D·汤普金斯
门罗沉浮政界48年，先后当过律师、议员、驻外使节、州长、国务卿、陆军部长和总统以及州制宪会议主席等职。
门罗任总统时，正值美国结束连年战争进入和平建设时期，他对内强调国家意识，对外大力开拓疆土，为美国资本主义发展创造了有利条件。1823年门罗在国情咨文中提出的美国外交政策方针，世称《门罗宣言》或“门罗主义”，即在“美洲是美洲人的美洲”的口号下，公然把拉丁美洲划为美国的势力范围。门罗老境凄凉，病逝在女儿家中，享年73岁。
美国第6位总统(1825年3月4日--1829年3月3日)
姓名：约翰·昆西·亚当斯
绰号：有口才的老人
出生：1767年7月11日，布伦特里(现在昆西)里，马萨诸塞
死于：1848年2月23日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：民主共和党
第一夫人：璐易丝·凯瑟林·约翰逊(Louisa Catherine Johnson)
副总统：约翰·C·卡尔霍恩
约翰·昆西·亚当斯是美国第六任总统。他是第二任总统约翰·亚当斯及第一夫人爱比盖尔·亚当斯的长子。他是美国历史上第一位继其父亲之后成为总统的总统。
他二十岁就成了有名的外交官，曾出使欧洲多年，熟悉欧洲事务。1 8 1 7年门罗总统上台以后，亚当斯被任命为国务卿，任职八年，曾协助起草《门罗宣言》，解决与英国的许多纠纷，从西班牙手中取得佛罗里达，因此，被认为是美国历史上“最有成就的国务卿之一”。1 8 2 5年亚当斯当选总统。1 8 2 9年卸任后被选为国会众议员，直至逝世。


美国第7位总统(1829年3月4日--1837年3月3日)
姓名：安德鲁·杰克逊
绰号：老胡桃木
出生：1767年3月15日，南卡罗来纳
死于：1845年6月8日，纳什维尔，田纳西
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：地产与种植园收入
杰克逊是美国历史上第一位平民出身的总统。出生之前，父即去世。他少年时期住在西部边远地区，在那里度过了独立战争年代。他从一名边区律师起家，当过众议员、参议员、州最高法院法官、州民兵少将。第二次对英战争中，他坚韧不拔，肯与士兵共甘苦，被誉为“老胡桃木”。在新奥尔良战役中，他率兵大败英军，振奋全国，成为举国闻名的英雄。他第一次竞选总统时失败，第二次才获胜，是美国第一位民主党总统。任内大力加强总统职权，维护联邦统一，颇有政绩，史称“民主政治”，几与第三届总统杰斐逊齐名。


美国第8位总统（1837年3月4日——1841年3月4日）
姓名：马丁.范布伦
绰号：小魔术师
出生：1782年12月5日
死于：1862年7月24日
所属政党：民主党
范布伦是荷兰人的后裔，1 7 8 2年生于纽约州金德胡克镇。他当选总统前，曾任纽约州参议员、国会参议员、纽约州长、国务卿和副总统等职。1 8 3
7年范布伦上台后，美国爆发了严重的经济危机。他提出独立国库制度等措施。在他四年任期内，美国和加拿大边界发生严重冲突，最后签订了《韦伯斯特—阿斯伯顿条约》。由于严重的经济萧条延续多年，人民对范布伦失去信心。1 8 4 0年他竞选连任时，败于哈里森。后来又两度参加竞选，都遭到失败，从此退出政坛，影息故乡。


美国第9位总统(1841年3月4日--1841年4月4日)
姓名：威廉·亨利·哈里森
出生：1773年2月9日，伯克利，弗吉尼
死于：1841年4月4日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：辉格党
哈里森出身名门，父亲是《独立宣言》签署人之一。他在第二次对英战争中有过显著功绩。1 8 4 0年竞选总统获胜，就职时年已6 8岁。在就职典礼时感受风寒，后转为肺炎，一病不起，在职仅一月即病故。为美国第一位在白宫去世，死于任所的总统。他本人无明确政纲，执政期间未采取任何重大行动。

    
美国第10位总统(1841年4月6日——1846年3月4日）
姓名：约翰·泰勒
出生：1790年3月29日
死于：1862年1月18日
所属政党：辉格党
泰勒原是副总统，因哈里森总统就职后不久病逝，遂由他继任。任职期间，美国同中国签订了第一个不平等条约———《中美望厦条约》，美国通过这一条约获得了协定关税、五口通商、领事裁判、最惠国待遇等特权。
泰勒原是民主党人，由于反对第七任总统杰克逊，转投了辉格党。但他出身于南部种植园奴隶主家庭，主张维护奴隶制，反对辉格党的许多政策主张，因而被开除出党.
美国内战初期，他支持南方的分裂行动，被选为“南部同盟”的国会议员，北方各州对他十分憎恨。他去世时，联邦政府毫无悼念的表示。

美国第11位总统(1845年3月4日——1849年3月4日)
姓名：詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克
出生：格克伦伯格县，北卡罗来纳
死于：1849年
所属政党：民主党
詹姆士·K·波尔克是被称为美国第一位“黑马”的总统。
詹姆士·K·波尔克出生于格克伦伯格县，北卡罗来纳。他的父亲是一位种植园主。波尔克11岁时随家迁居田纳西州。20岁时，考入北卡罗来纳大学。波尔克上大学时由于勤奋好学，所以成绩优异，极有辩才，有“讲坛上的拿破仑”之称。在1818年荣誉毕业。大学毕业后他回到了田纳西州。1820年取得律师资格，成为一名年轻的律师，并且进入政界，效力于田纳西立法机关，并且结识了父友安德鲁·杰克逊将军，成为朋友。安德鲁·杰克逊是他的少数好友之一。詹姆斯·波尔克28岁时与20岁的萨拉·奇尔德雷斯结婚。婚后25年一直没有生育。以虔诚著名的萨拉·波尔克把全部时间和精力都献给了丈夫的事业。
由于杰克逊的帮助，波尔克进入美国众议院，成为陆军中尉。1825—1839年，他曾任众议员14年，并两次担任议长。1839年任田纳西州州长，任州长一年。1844年大选时，民主党总统候选人提名陷入僵局。经幕后协商，并在杰克逊影响下，原非候选人的波尔克得到提名，并在大选中击败辉格党人亨利·克雷当选，成了美国第一个“黑马”总统。他在任职期间选择了几位很得力的助手。波尔克政府大规模扩张了领土。与墨西哥进行了两年战争，使得克萨斯成为美国的一个州，西南和远西地区加利福尼亚)也成为美国领土的一部分。扩大了美国版图，被誉为“最有效能的”总统。
在战争期间签订了确定西北边界的条约，一个横跨北美大陆的合众国开始出现。此外，波尔克政府与新格拉纳达哥伦比亚)签订条约，解决了美国公民穿越巴拿马地峡的通行权问题。他主持制定了新的关税法，降低关税，促进了美国对外贸易的发展。
尽管波尔克总统给美国扩大了地区，但是它的成功也加剧了北方和南方之间关于奴隶制度之间的争斗。
波尔克恪守诺言，不谋连任。1849年波尔克离职，卸任后三个月即病逝。




美国第12位总统(1849年3月5日--1850年7月9日)
姓名：扎卡里·泰勒
绰号：old rough and ready
出生：1784年11月24日，弗吉尼亚
死于：1850年7月9日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：辉格党
资产来源：遗产继承、种植园收入
扎卡里·泰勒在1784年出生于弗吉尼亚。泰勒的父亲理查德·泰勒和母亲萨拉·达布尼·斯特罗瑟·泰勒都受过良好的教育。泰勒是父母的第三个孩子，父亲是个种植园主，对开发西部地区非常向往，终于把家迁至肯塔基的路易斯维尔，开始了拓荒生活。泰勒基本上没有受过正规教育。他从小就希望成为一名军人。1803年，不足20岁的泰勒参加了肯塔基民团。扎卡里·泰勒经历过拓荒者的艰苦生活，颇能吃苦耐劳。1808年5月，泰勒25岁时，被任命为第七步兵团少尉军官，从此开始了他的军事生涯。在军中前后40年，由于机智、勇敢，不断晋升。直到1846年升为少将。在军队里的40年中，使他成为一名民族主义者。
1846年5月，美国对墨西哥宣战，他率领部队参战，屡屡获胜，取得辉煌胜利，成为美国的英雄。他拥有很高的声誉，被人称为“最大的英雄”，“顶用的大老粗”。1848年大选时被辉格党看中，被推上了总统宝座，当选为总统。泰勒从全局出发，他主张把从墨西哥割取的领土(即加利福尼亚和新墨西哥)给予州的地位，反对把从墨西哥夺到的土地开辟为蓄奴州，他的决定在国会中遭到反对。虽然泰勒已经向辉格党预定了立法领导的原则，但是他不倾向于成为一名辉格党领导人的傀儡。传统意义上，当他们拟定新宪法时，决定是否想要奴隶制度。因此，为了结束对在新地区是否建立奴隶制度的争论，泰勒对在新墨西哥和加利福尼亚的移民起草了一个宪法，并且申请国家地位。这导致了南方人的狂怒，因为他们感到总统正篡夺他们的决策特权。泰勒与企图脱离联邦的势力作斗争。又揭发出他的内阁中有三个人不符合入阁资格。在此情况下他决定改组内阁。然而事情又发生了想不到的变化。在7月4日华盛顿纪念碑，泰勒参加了一个典礼后，开始生病，在5天内就逝世了，在职仅16个月。在白宫病逝。


美国第13位总统(1850年7月9日——1852)
姓名：米勒德·菲尔莫尔
出生：纽约州
死于：1874年
所属政党：辉格党
米勒德·菲尔莫尔生于纽约州，于1800年。他的父亲撒尼尔·菲尔莫尔原是一位农场主，后来成为佃农。菲尔莫尔很早就帮助家中务农，也当过学徒。他曾经在他的父亲的农场工作过，并且15岁时被送去当学徒。他只受过最基本的教育，靠自学成材。他爱上了一个红发教师--阿比盖尔.鲍尔斯，过后成为他的妻子。
1823年，23岁的菲尔莫尔通过了律师考试，当上了律师。7年以后他把他所学到的法律实践于纽约的布法罗。作为辉格党政治家瑟洛威德的同事，菲尔莫尔一直是众议员的成员。1828年参加反共济会运动。1829年当选纽约州议会议员。1834年参加辉格党，成为北方的杰出领袖。1832年被选入美国国会。在1848年，成为纽约的审计员。与此同时，在辉格党的全国代表大会上，Z·泰勒被提为总统候选人，菲尔莫尔被提名为副总统候选人。
1850年泰勒总统去世后，他继任总统。菲尔莫尔是美国历史上第二位以副总统身份继承总统职位的人。菲尔莫尔总统立刻任命丹尼尔为国务卿。在整个从政时期，菲尔莫尔在奴隶制问题上始终保持妥协态度。他于1850年签署了对南方奴隶主妥协的法案。这一法案既为北方所不满，又未赢得南方的信任。一些更好斗的北方辉格党党员拒绝原谅菲尔莫尔签署的这一法案。由于两面不讨好，他在1852年的总统选举中落选。他一直鼓吹美国国内的发展，并很早就支持向太平洋扩张。1853年派美国舰队前往日本，强迫日本政府改变闭关锁国的传统政策，与西方发展外交、贸易关系。他在任期间派遣海军少将佩里率领舰队前往日本，迫使日本政府开放海口与美国通商，从而“打开日本的大门”。
在19世纪50年代，当辉格党瓦解时，菲尔莫尔拒绝参加共和党；但是，他允许美国党提名他竟选总统。尽管在整个内战期间他反对林肯总统，支持约翰逊总统的重建。由于竞选失败，开始隐退。他死于1874年。


美国第14位总统(1853年3月4日--1857年3月3日)
姓名：富兰克林·皮尔斯
绰号：young hickory of the granite hills
出生：1804年11月23日，hillsborough，美国新罕布什尔州
死于：1869年10月8日，康科德，美国新罕布什尔州
所属政党：民主党
富兰克林·皮尔斯生于新罕布什尔州。他的父亲本杰明·皮尔斯曾任新罕布什尔州州长。1820年，皮尔斯考入鲍登学院，毕业之后，继续留在鲍登学院，改学法律。在毕业之后他继续研究法律，然后进入政界。24岁时他被选入新罕布什尔立法机关。在19世纪30年代，皮尔斯去了华盛顿，首先是一名众议院成员，然后成为参议员。
1827年被律师公会接纳，从此走上了政治生涯。先后任州议员、美国众议员和参议员。1852年，民主党代表大会上，他作为妥协人选被提名，意外地赢得了提名及大选。
在他就职两个月前，他和他的妻子亲眼看见他们11岁的儿子死于车祸。他们非常悲伤。
在他的就职演说里声明一个国家的和平和繁荣的重要性，并与其他国家保持很好的关系。就职后，在对外政策方面，他尽力扩大美国的领土和增加商业利益。为购买古巴，他曾命令美国驻西班牙公使索雷鼓动欧洲金融家对西班牙政府施加影响，说服西班牙出售古巴。1853年，他以1000万美元从墨西哥购买了近3万平方英里的土地。
富兰克林·皮尔斯是同情南方政治主张的北方人。1854年美国国会通过《堪萨斯—内布拉斯加法案》，允许该两州公开畜奴，南方人和北方人因于控制地区而竞争，结果冲到了堪萨斯，引起堪萨斯内战爆发。皮尔斯站在南方奴隶主的立场上，派兵镇压反对奴隶制的移民。在对内政策方面，曾筹建横贯大陆的铁路，开发西北地区并向这一地区移民。这是南方奴隶主集团积极向北扩张的产物。由于皮尔斯包庇、纵容南方，他对这次事件有着不可推卸的责任。他对外奉行扩张政策，对我国台湾省怀有野心，并于英、法帝国主义对我国和其他国家进行侵略活动。由于他对南方的同情不能见容于北部各州，促成了国家的分裂，故任满后便隐退。死于1869年。


美国第15位总统(1857年3月3日——1860)    
姓名：詹姆斯·布坎南
出生：1791年生于宾夕法尼亚
死于：1867
所属政党：民主党
詹姆士·布坎南是唯一一位没有结婚的总统。詹姆斯·布坎南，1791年生于宾夕法尼亚州，一个富有的家庭。父亲詹姆斯·布坎南在一家店铺里工作。小布坎南是父亲的第二个孩子，父亲把自己的名字给了他。布坎南从狄更斯学院毕业后继续律师职业。
他曾5次被推选进入众议院；后在州议会和美国众议院工作。属杰克逊一派的民主党人。1831年任驻俄公使。1834年当选参议员。1845年任国务卿。1853年任英国公使。出任总统前，任公职达40年，颇有成就。1856年被民主党提名总统候选人，在竟选中获胜。布坎南出任总统时，正值美国处于历史上的一个重大关头。当时，南北双方在奴隶制问题上的斗争愈演愈烈。执政后，奴隶制引起的危机日益加深，南北冲突步步升级，国内形势日趋严峻，而民主党四分五裂。许多对内对外计划均因国内奴隶制问题的矛盾尖锐化而未得到实现。
詹姆士·布坎南不谋求连任，民主党内又推举不出像样的候选人，于是，1860年的大选让共和党人林肯赢得。布坎南卸任后回到宾夕法尼亚。退休一个多月内战爆发，他敦促民主党人支持林肯。由此他受到指责，成了替罪羊。但是，布坎南也遭到一些非议，说他支持南方分裂主义者，从而吃到了一些苦头。曾著书阐述在任后期政府政策以表明他对内战的爆发无责任。
77年里他一直独身。虽然在28岁时曾订婚，但未婚妻在1819年由于过量服用镇静剂死亡。从此他再没提过订婚或结婚之事。77岁时病故。
美国第16位总统(1861年3月4日--1865年4月15日)
姓名：亚伯拉罕·林肯
绰号：honest abe
出生：1809年2月12日，哈丁镇(现在的larue)，肯塔基
死于：1865年4月15日，华盛顿
所属政党：共和党
林肯是美国伟大的民主主义政治家。他出生于社会低层，具有勤劳、俭朴、谦虚和诚恳的品格。
他进白宫后，在奴隶制等问题上，政界发生倾轧，国家出现分裂，遇到了很多困难。在日常工作中他不顾个人安全，每天挤出大量时间接见群众，听取申诉，尽力解决他们的问题
在他任职期间，由于各种反动势力的影响，政策上有过踌躇和动摇，但在人民群众的支持和推动下，能够顺应历史潮流，最终签署了著名的《解放宣言》，解决了当时美国社会经济政治生活中存在的主要矛盾。在四年国内战争中，他亲自指挥作战。领导联邦政府同南部农场奴隶主进行了坚决斗争，维护了国家的统一，有力地推动了美国社会的发展。
林肯于1 8 6 5年4月1 5日遇刺身亡。由于林肯在美国历史上所起的进步作用，人们称赞他为“新时代国家统治者的楷模”。


美国第17位总统(1865年4月15日--1869年3月3日)
姓名：安德鲁·约翰逊
绰号：无
出生：1808年12月29日，罗利里，北卡罗来纳
死于：1875年7月31日，卡特车站，田纳西
所属政党：民主党
安德鲁·约翰逊生于北卡罗来纳州，1808年。约翰逊年幼时家境贫寒，未受过正规教育，当过徒工，后来做过裁缝。他在格林维尔，田纳西开了一家裁缝商店。1827年安德鲁与伊莱扎·麦卡德尔结婚，生有三子二女。
21岁时当选为格林维尔市参议员，后任市长。1853年当选为田纳西州州长。1856年当选国会参议员。林肯当选总统后，约翰逊从支持民主党转为支持共和党，反对南方脱离联邦。
进入政界，约翰逊成为一名擅长于政治方面的发言者，并且拥护平民，轻视贵族政府。在19世纪40年代和50年代，作为一名众议员和参议院的成员，他提倡为穷人提供一个免税的农场。1857年，约翰逊当选为国会参议员，是南北战争时期参议院里受到北方欢迎和林肯总统信任的唯一的南方人。1861年田纳西州脱离联邦时，他是唯一留职反对的人。1862年任田纳西州军事长官。1864年大选时当选为副总统。林肯总统被刺身亡后由约翰逊继任总统。接任后，约翰逊面临对于分裂主义分子如何惩治和奴隶的选举权问题。对前者，约翰逊采取了宽大政策，对后者，则实行严厉政策。他上台后站在南方种植园奴隶主的立场，实施了一系列重建南方的反动措施，遭到控制国会的共和党激进派的强烈反对。他们发起了弹劾约翰逊的运动，约翰逊险遭弹劾。虽然未能成功，但使约翰逊因此而名声扫地。
1875年，约翰逊返回到田纳西参议院。几个月之后便死去。


美国第18位总统(1869年3月3日——1876年)
姓名：尤利塞斯·辛普森·格兰特
绰号： 常胜将军
出生：1822年4月27日
生于：俄亥俄州
死于：1885年7月23日
所属政党：共和党
格兰特是美国历史上第一位从美国军事院校(西点军校)毕业的军人总统。他在美国南北战争中屡建奇功，有“常胜将军”之称。
格兰特1822年生于俄亥俄州。父亲杰西·鲁特·格兰特经营皮革业。母亲汉娜·辛普森是位农场主的女儿。格兰特的名字是家人用抓阄的方式起的。尤利塞斯是《奥德塞》中大英雄奥德修斯的名字。格兰特身材矮小，其貌不扬，但一生的事业却有声有色，轰轰烈烈。格兰特毕业于西点军校。他在南北战争中发迹。
格兰特与朱莉亚于1848年结婚，生有三子一女。参战时他已42岁，当时为上校，指挥一个团。但短短的4年当中，他从上校升为中将，担任联邦军总司令。林肯在1864年3月任命他为最主要的将军。格兰特迫使南方军总司令、罗伯特·李向他投降。凭借自己的军威，格兰特于1868年当选总统。1872年连任。尽管格兰特能征惯战，但并不等于善于理政，格兰特的平平政绩与他的赫赫战功成为明显对照。特别是在第二次总统任期内，他对南方奴隶主妥协让步以及对贪污腐化的属员采取姑息纵容态度，引起了选民的普遍不满。尽管他渴望继续当政，但事与愿违，他落选不得不离开白宫。
格兰特卸职后曾周游世界，并想在政治上东山再起，但未能如愿。有趣的是，落选后，格兰特夫妇仍迟迟不搬出白宫，直到新总统海斯就职了，还得来白宫参加由格兰特夫人一手操办的午宴。更有趣的是，格兰特夫妇觉得无家可归，于是退职后决定四海为家。他们花了三年多的时间，游遍了英格兰、比利时、德国、瑞士、意大利、丹麦、法国、埃及、巴勒斯坦、挪威、俄罗斯、印度、暹罗、中国和日本。
格兰特退休后，成为一家金融公司合伙人，但是经商失败，以破产告终。在那段期间，他获悉自己有喉咙癌症。他开始写回忆录，并且以还清他的债务，供养家庭，他和死神赛跑，最终回忆录挣到了450，000美元。在完成最后几页不久，于1885年，格兰特病逝。


美国第19位总统(1876——1881年)
姓名：拉瑟福德·伯查德·海斯
绰号：无
出生：1822年生于俄亥俄州
死于：1893年
所属政党：共和党
拉瑟福德·B·海斯1822年生于俄亥俄州.父亲瑟福德·海斯是一个小店主。母亲是索菲亚·伯查德·海斯。海斯毕业于凯尼恩学院和哈佛大学。毕业后，开始律师生涯。1852年，海斯与露西·韦尔·韦伯结婚，生有七子一女。内战中参加联邦军。南北战争时期，因军功屡次晋升，在行动过程中受伤，并且提高到荣誉陆军少将的职位。
战后海斯开始了政治生涯。1865年当选为国会议员。1868年当选俄亥俄州州长。以“为人正直和办事有效率”著称。1876年被共和党提名总统候选人。大选中，选举人和候选人之间进行了激烈竞争，因发生了美国历史上最大一次选票计算纠纷，最后，由国民议会议员和最高法官组成的特别委员会裁定海斯获胜。海斯直至总统就职日前两天才被宣布为合法总统。但共和党答应了民主党提出的先决条件。海斯就任总统后，努力改善内战后国内状况，取得了一些成就。在打破“政党分肥”、实行文官制方面做了一些有益工作，开了文官公开考试、择优录取的先河。海斯任期内，美国科技有了飞速发展，1877年贝尔发明了电报，1878年爱迪生发明了留声机，次年又发明了电灯。海斯在外交方面有些成就，值得一提的是，他采取了对华友好的政策。他是第一个接见中国常驻使节的总统。海斯在黑人教育、监狱改造等方面有一定贡献。海斯保证黑人在南方内的权利，但是同时提倡"聪明，诚实，和平地方独立的恢复"。这也意味着军队的撤回。
在1881年，海斯回到俄亥俄州。死于1893年。


美国第20位总统(1881年3月4日--1881年)
姓名：詹姆斯·艾布拉姆·加菲尔德 James Abram Garfield
绰号：无
出生：1831年11月19日，俄亥俄
死于：1881年9月19日，新泽西
所属政党：共和党
詹姆士·加菲尔德1831年生于俄亥俄州。加菲尔德家境贫寒，父亲在他4岁时去世。母亲在丈夫死后卖掉农场的大部分土地还了债，在很少的土地上勤苦劳作，抚养着四个儿女。加菲尔德全靠自己半工半读由中学升入大学。他上了几所大学，成绩优异。在他26岁时即出任大学校长。1858年加菲尔德与卢克丽霞·鲁道夫结婚。卢克丽霞是一位农场主的女儿，与加菲尔德同龄。他们生有五子二女。
1859年选入俄亥俄州议会。南北战争期间参加联邦军，为反对奴隶制，投笔从戎，32岁时即晋升为陆军少将。后被林肯赏识，弃军从政，1860年进入国会。同时，在1862年，俄亥俄州人推选他进入国会。林肯总统说服他辞去委员会工作。在1880共和党人大会上，加菲尔德不能为他的朋友约翰·舍曼赢得总统提名。最后，在第36张选举票上，加菲尔德成为"黑马"被提名，当选为第二十任总统。执政后，加菲尔德面临激烈的党争，弄得焦头烂额。他明知“政党分肥”的弊端，但又缺乏改革的信心，只好在分配文官职务时尽量照顾平衡，这样做后各派又均不满意。他自己成为这一做法的牺牲品。1881年7月2日晨，他被一个谋官未成者枪杀，昏迷79天后，死于感染和内出血。是美国第二位被暗杀的总统。

美国第21位总统(1881年9月19日——1885年3月4日)
姓名：切斯特·艾伦·阿瑟
绰号：无
出生：1830.10.5
死于：1886.11.18
所属政党：共和党
切斯特·艾伦·阿瑟(1830.10.5—1886.11.18)是美国第21任总统，是威廉·阿瑟和马尔维娜·斯通·阿瑟八个孩子中的第五个。阿瑟生于佛蒙特州边界对面加拿大境内(但阿瑟后来否认这一点，断言自己生在美国境内，因为按美国宪法规定，只有在美国出生的美国人才有资格当选总统)，父亲是牧师。阿瑟一家后来迁居纽约州，阿瑟毕业于斯克内克塔迪的莱森姆学院。1854年，阿瑟获得律师资格证。阿瑟是坚定的废奴主义者。50年代阿瑟加入共和党，积极参加地方政治活动。南北战争期间任纽约州军需主任。U·S·格兰特任总统后任命阿瑟为纽约海关税收官。新总统海斯上台后阿瑟被免职，于是他重操旧业。1880年阿瑟成为共和党派系斗争的得益者，不但被提名做了副总统候选人，而且竞选获胜。1881年7月2日，当选总统詹姆斯·加菲尔德遇刺身亡，当了6个月副总统的阿瑟当上了总统。
阿瑟就职后采取了超党派的态度，主持通过了有名的《文官改革法》。阿瑟还十分重视海军建设，使海军有了较大的发展。
阿瑟任满后百病缠身，不到一年便在纽约去世。
阿瑟与埃伦·刘易斯·赫恩登于1857年结婚，生有二子一女。


美国第22位和第24位总统(1885年3月4日--1897年3月3日)(1889年3月3日--1893年3月4日)
姓名：格罗弗·克利夫兰
绰号：无
出生：1837年3月18日，考德威尔里，新泽西
死于：1908年6月24日，普林斯顿，新泽西
所属政党：民主党
格罗弗·克利夫兰(1837.3.18—1908.6.24)是美国第22任和第24任总统，出生于新泽西州，是查理·法利·克利夫兰和安·尼尔·克利夫兰九个孩子中的第五个。父亲是律师。16岁时，克利夫兰丧父，故此不能上学深造。他先在律师事务所做办事员，自学法律，1859年操律师业并开始参加政治活动。1881年任布法罗市长，次年任纽约州州长。1884年被民主党提名为总统候选人并在竟选中获胜。就任总统后，坚决推行文官制，反对实行保护关税。1888年谋求连任未果，去纽约市当了律师。四年后再次参加竟选并获胜。重新上台后，正遇美国金融大恐慌，工人频频罢工，克利夫兰采取了诸多强硬措施，包括对罢工工人进行镇压。对外，克利夫兰采取孤立主义政策，反对领土扩张。
第二次任满后，克利夫兰返回新泽西。此时，他拥有30—35万美元的财产，他本人还在一家人寿保险公司供职。他先后两次出任总统，但任期不相连接。由于政绩平平，被历史学家称为“虎头蛇尾”的总统。他于1908年逝世。


美国第23位总统(1887年——1889年3月3日)
姓名：本杰明·哈里森
绰号：无
出生：1833.8.20
I死于：1901.3.13
所属政党：共和党
本杰明·哈里森(1833.8.20—1901.3.13)是美国第23任总统。他出身望族，祖父是美国第9任总统。哈里森是约翰·斯科特·哈里森与伊丽莎白·拉姆西的第六个孩子，连他父亲与第一个妻子的三个孩子，哈里森共有兄妹九人。哈里森生于俄亥俄州。他受到良好的教育，毕业于迈阿密大学，毕业后操律师业。南北战争期间参加联邦军，获将军衔。1881年，他成为参议员。1888年，他被共和党提名总统候选人并在竟选中获胜。上台时，美国工业化臻于完成，经济结构发生了历史性变革。哈里森顺应潮流，制定了旨在稳定局势、防止社会动荡的《谢尔曼反托拉斯法》。对外，哈里森积极扩大美国影响，组织召开了第一届泛美会议，成立泛美联盟。哈里森政府还与许多国家签订了贸易互惠协定。
任期期满之后，他谋求连任失败，返回印第安那州重操律师业并开始写作。并且在1896年与寡居的玛莉·迪米克太太结婚。他一位受尊敬的年长的政治家，哈里森于1901年逝世。    


美国第25位总统(1897年3月4日--1901年9月14日)
姓名：威廉·麦金利
绰号：俄亥俄的偶像
出生：1843年1月29日，奈尔斯里，俄亥俄州
死于：1901年9月14日，布法罗，纽约
所属政党：共和党
威廉·麦金莱(1843.l.29—1901.9.14)是美国第25任总统，生于俄亥俄州，在老威廉·麦金利和南希·艾利森的八个孩子中排行第七。父亲是铸铁厂老板。在1843年，麦金利到阿勒格尼学院学习了一段时间，并且在内战爆发时，正在一所国家学校教学。应征参加联合部队，战争结束时成为享有主要志愿者的荣誉。他研究法律，在俄亥俄州开一个办公室，并且与一位地方银行家詹姆斯·萨克森的女儿爱达·萨克斯顿结婚。
南北战争期间，麦金利是未来总统海斯上校的副官。1867年任俄亥俄州州长。在他34岁时，麦金利在国会中赢得了一个席位。他具有吸引力的个性，可仿效的特征，和敏捷的智慧。他被任命为筹款委员会。1896年，麦金利被共和党提名为总统候选人并在竞选中获胜。任总统期间，正值美国垄断资本形成并开始对外大肆扩张时期，他的当务之急是复兴经济。执政后，他采取提高关税和稳定货币的政策，加上其他措施，美国的经济有了很大起色，麦金莱从而获得“繁荣总统”的美名。对外，他发动美西战争。在100天的战争中，美国在古巴圣地亚哥海港外边破坏西班牙舰队，打败了西班牙海军力量。在和谈中，坚持夺取了原本属于西班牙的古巴、波多黎各、菲律宾、关岛；并且吞并了夏威夷。他怂恿列强对中国实行“门户开放”政策，派兵参加了“八国联军”大肆掠夺中国。
1900年麦金利连任。在1901年9月，麦金利在出席布法罗泛美博览会时，被一名无政府主义者射伤，不久便去世身亡。麦金利是美国立国后被刺身亡的第三位总统.
美国第26位总统(1901年9月14日--1909年3月3日)
姓名：西奥多·罗斯福
出生：1858年10月27日，纽约
死于：1919年1月6日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
资产来源：遗产继、种植园收入
西奥多·罗斯福(1858.10.27—1919.1.6)是美国第26任总统，西奥多·罗斯福继任总统时，不到43岁，所以成为美国历史上最年轻的总统。罗斯福出生于纽约一个富有的家庭。他是老西奥多·罗斯福与马撒(米蒂)布洛克的第二个孩子，有兄妹四人。父亲是银行家。罗斯福毕业于哈佛大学。因为他是第三十二任总统富兰克林·罗斯福的远房堂叔，又是富兰克林·罗斯福夫人的伯父，所以现在人们通常称西奥多·罗斯福为“老罗斯福总统”。23岁参加纽约州议会，并成为共和党领袖之一。罗斯福于1880年与他的第一个妻子，艾丽斯·李·罗斯福结婚，有一女。在伦敦，1886年12月，罗斯福与艾迪斯·卡罗结婚，生有四子一女。
在美国与西班牙战争期间，罗斯福是拉夫骑手团的陆军中校，他管理关于圣胡安战斗的费用。同时他也是战争中最显著的英雄之一。
在1898年，罗斯福成为共和党候选人。1901年任副总统。罗斯福的后台是摩根财团，也得到与库恩—罗比公司有联系的铁路大王哈里曼的支持。1904年连任。罗斯福执政期间，对内以“改革家”面貌出现，借助政府权力管理和监督私人经济活动，特别是发起保护自然资源的“社会诊治工业文化综合症”运动，收到明显效果。他的前三任总统已将1600万公顷土地转化为国有，他执政7年，又将7800公顷土地转化为国有，从而为后代保存了大量的国家森林、公园、矿藏、石油、煤田和水力资源，为公共事业预留土地，并且促进农田水利项目。对外，他积极推行扩张主义政策，以扩大美国势力范围。为此，他大力扩充了海军，保证巴拿马运河的建设。采取一些有利于经济建设和资源保护的措施。第二任期满后罗斯福没有再谋求连任。卸任后，他曾到非洲和南美洲进行科学探险，到欧洲做了旅行。1912年，他谋求再次出山，但是失败。罗斯福博览群书，是博物学家、历史学家、演说家，被认为是美国最多才多艺的总统之一，他的著作和翻译甚多，据说从1 8 7 7年到他去世为止，总共有二千到三千件。一生所写书信不下1 5万封，在尺牍文学中有很高地位，他写的《给孩子们的信》已成名著。他还著有《在西部的胜利》、《1 9 1 2年海战史》等书。他的著作大部分收入罗斯福文集。文集有多种版本，有的达2 4卷。
罗斯福60岁时在纽约去世。


美国第27位总统(1909年3月4日--1913年3月3日)
姓名：威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱
绰号：无
出生：1857年9月15日，辛辛那提，俄亥俄州
死于：1930年3月8日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：共和党
威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱(1857.9.15—1930.3.8)是美国第27任总统，出生于俄亥俄州，是阿方索·塔夫脱与路易斯·托里的独子。他的继母还有二子一女。父亲在格兰特总统任期内曾任陆军部长和司法部长。塔夫脱耶鲁大学毕业后在俄亥俄州当律师。1887年任州高法院法官。1890—1892年任司法部副部长。1901年任菲律宾总督。1904年任陆军部长。1908年，在罗斯福的支持下，获共和党总统候选人提名，并在竞选中获胜。任期内政绩平平。
1912年塔夫脱谋求连任失败。他对法律有着浓厚的兴趣，卸任后去耶鲁大学执教，任法学教授、律师协会主席。沃伦·哈定当总统后，塔夫脱被任命为美国首席大法官。1930年从法官职位上退休，一年后因病逝世。    


美国第28位总统(1913年3月4日--1921年3月3日)
姓名：伍德罗·威尔逊
绰号：政界校长
出生：1856年12月28日，斯汤顿，弗吉尼亚
死于：1924年2月3日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：民主党
伍德罗·威尔逊(1856.12.28—1924.2.3)是美国第28任总统。出生于弗吉尼亚州。父亲约瑟夫·威尔逊是大学教授。威尔逊毕业于普林斯顿大学，毕业后任教多年。1910年当选为新泽西州州长。1912年获民主党总统候选人提名，占败西奥多·罗斯福获胜。执政期间推行改革.取代罗斯福为进步主义改革旗手。1916年连任。当时，上值第一次世界大战，开始，威尔逊政府避战，后参战，于1918年1月提出《公正与和平》为14点方案。德国战败后，此方案为与战败国和谈方案的基础。威尔逊本人也作为总统破大荒第一次出国，出席了巴黎和会。这时，国内政治形势出现逆转，被共和党人控制的国会拒绝批准威尔逊方案，后付诸公民表决。结果，这一方案仍未完全被通过，因此，提出国际联盟的美国，却未能参加国联。
1920年总统选举，民主党人失败。当年，下野的威尔逊获诺贝尔和平奖。四年后，他在睡眠中死去。


美国第29位总统(1921年3月4日--1923年8月2日)
姓名：沃伦·甘梅利尔·哈定
绰号：无
出生：1865年11月2日，科西加(现在的布卢明)，俄亥俄
死于：1923年8月2日，旧金山，加利福尼亚
所属政党：共和党
沃伦·G.哈丁为美国第29位总统(1921年3月4日--1923年8月2日)，生于俄亥俄州，1865年。父亲乔治·哈丁在南北战争时应征入伍，后教过书，从过医。母亲菲比是个医生。哈丁在农村长大，先当一个小报记者。他与弗洛伦斯·克林·德沃尔夫于1891年结婚，婚后，弗洛伦斯即经营报纸来支持哈丁投身政界。
弗洛伦斯曾结过婚，九年之前离婚。弗洛伦斯比哈丁大5岁，曾有一个儿子叫马歇尔·德沃尔夫，死于肺结核。这段婚姻持续了32年。虽然有种种传言，但哈丁一直没有公开的子女。
1899年，共和党代表大会上哈丁被提名为俄亥俄州参议员候选人，竞选获胜。1903年当选副州长。1909年被提名州长候选人，竞选失败。1912年为威廉·塔夫脱竞选连任班子负责人，塔夫脱失败。1914年当选国会参议员。1919年参加总统竞选，竞选成功。竞选时，哈定声称一定要组织一个强有力的内阁。但内阁名单公布后却令人失望。他上台后正式结束了美国对德国的战争状态，取消了威尔逊在国内采取的战时措施，鼓励投资，让资本家放手自由经营，同时实行贸易保护政策。哈丁任职期间，经常与所谓的“俄亥俄帮”在白宫喝酒玩牌，大部分实际工作均在这些场合决定，故人称哈丁的内阁为“扑克内阁”。在这样的情况下，哈丁内阁丑闻迭出就不足为怪了。
对美国来说，哈丁总统也不是什么好事都没有做。由他倡导、由国务卿休斯策划筹备召开的有关限制军备的华盛顿会议就是一件。这次会议是1921年11月至转年2月召开的。会议达成了美、英、日、法、意限制战舰吨位的协定，规定五国战舰、巡洋舰、航空母舰的比率为美：英：日：法：意--5。5：3。1·75。1·75。这个协定限制了英、日的军事力量，推迟了美国与日本海军激烈竞争的时间，同时还导致了《四国公约》和《九国公约》的签订，从而继续维护了“门户开放”政策。
哈丁本人私生活失检，两性丑闻迭出。1905年春，哈丁与有夫之妇卡里·富尔顿·菲利普斯开始有暧昧关系。菲利普斯比哈丁小10岁。他们的关系一直持续到1919年.这时，哈丁被提名为共和党总统候选人。共和党全国委员会伯暴露丑闻，遂出资让卡里夫妇去日本“长期旅游”。
1963年公开的情书证实了哈丁和他好友的妻子卡里’菲利普斯有15年的婚外恋情。但这段关系没有留下孩子。
就在哈丁与卡里·菲利普斯有染的同时，他又与一个比他小30岁的女人南·布里顿发生了关系，并持续到哈丁就任总统之后。1919年，哈丁移居白宫之前，布里顿生了一个女儿，名叫伊丽莎白·安·克里斯琴。
哈丁在任职期间去世。1923年8月，哈丁决定作一次横跨全国的“谅解旅行”。途中，哈丁去世。医生们的结论是死于中风，但要求验尸时，哈丁的夫人弗洛伦斯加以拒绝。后来有人说他是被弗洛伦斯毒死的，她之所以毒死他，是因为忌恨他的外遇。
美国报刊曾就如何评价历届总统在美国学者中进行过调查，结果是哈丁三次被列为美国最糟糕的十个总统的第一名。


美国第30位总统(1923年8月3日--1929年3月3日)
姓名：卡尔文·库利奇
绰号：silent
出生：1872年7月4日，普利茅斯，佛蒙特
死于：1933年1月5日，诺桑普顿，马萨诸塞
所属政党：共和党
卡尔文·柯立芝(1872.7.4—1933.1.5)是美国第30任总统，生于佛蒙特州，父亲是店主、州议会议员，母亲在他12岁时去世。树立芝从阿默斯特学院毕业后参加政治活动，职业是律师。1899年任北安普顿市议员。1915年当选马萨诸塞州副州长。1918年当选为州长。1920年被提名为共和党副总统候选人，成为哈定的竞选搭挡，竞选成功、1923年，哈定去世后继任总统。何立芝执政时，共和党四分五裂，国家呈现无政府状态，联邦政府信誉扫地。柯立芝抓住国人渴求安定的心理特点，稳扎稳打，改变上述状态，取得一定成效，从而赢得了1924年的大选，获得连任。此后，在国内，对经济活动采取不干涉的方针，而用减轻税赋、保卫关税的政策间接管理经济，使国家呈现出没有危机、繁荣发展的景象。对外，则回到了孤立主义。第二任届满后，柯立芝拒绝再次提名总统候选人，退休后著书立说，偶尔也参加一些政治活动。60岁时，因心脏病在北安普顿去世。
1905年，柯立芝与格雷丝·安娜·古德林结婚，生有二子。 美国第31位总统(1929年3月4日--1933年3月3日)
姓名：赫伯特·克拉克·胡佛
绰号：无
出生：1874年8月10日，爱荷华州
死于：1964年10月20日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
资产来源：采矿业、投资
赫伯特·克拉克·胡佛(1874.8.10—1964.10.12)是美国第31任总统，生于衣阿华州，父亲为铁匠，在胡佛6岁时死去。母亲赫尔达·明索恩则在胡佛9岁时去世。孤儿胡佛和他的一个哥哥、一个妹妹先由叔叔阿伦·胡佛抚养，两年后胡佛住在了舅舅约翰·明索恩家。胡佛毕业于斯坦福大学。1897年，胡佛为一家公司所雇用去了澳大利亚，次年来到中国，在开平煤矿工作。后胡佛自己开了公司，到1914年，他已经拥有了400万美元的财产。他以这些财产为后盾逐步步入政界。1921年任商业部长。1928年接受共和党总统候选人的提名，获胜。胡佛上台后，正赶上世界性的经济危机，美国经济坠入深渊，这使他原来的希望依靠美国科学潜力来开辟一个“新时代”的愿望破灭。尽管他进行了不少努力，但危机一天天加重，终无力回天。1932年大选中，他被罗斯福击败。退休后，他著书立说，著作颇丰。
1897年，胡佛与罗·亨利结婚。亨利受过良好的教育，婚后成为胡佛的贤内助。他们有两个儿子。


美国第32位总统(1933年3月4日--1945年4月12日)
姓名：富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福
绰号：fdr
出生：1882年1月30日,海德公园,纽约
死于：1945年4月12日,佐治亚
所属政党：民主党    
资产来源：遗产继承
美国第32任总统富兰克林·D·罗斯福(Franklin D. Roosevelt)(1933—1945)，一直被视为美国历史上最伟大的总统之一，是20世纪美国最孚众望和受爱戴的总统，也是美国历史上惟一连任4届总统的人，从1933年3月起，直到1945年4月去世时为止，任职长达12年。曾赢得美国民众长达7周的高支持率，创下历史记录。
富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福出生于纽约。父亲詹姆斯·罗斯福是一个百万富翁。母亲萨拉·德拉诺比父亲小26岁。罗斯福曾就读于哈佛大学和哥伦比亚大学。1910年任纽约州参议员。1913年任海军部副部长。1921年因患脊髓灰质炎致残。1928年任纽约州长。1932年竞选总统获胜。执政后，以“新政”对付经济危机，颇有成效，故获得1936年、1940年、1944年大选连任。第二次世界大战初，美国采取不介入政策，但对希特勒采取强硬手段，以“租借法”支持同盟国。1941年底，美国参战。罗斯福代表美国两次参加同盟国“三巨头”会议。罗斯福政府提出了轴心国必须无条件投降的原则并得到了实施。罗斯福提出了建立联合国的构想，也得到了实施。63岁时由于脑溢血去世。


美国第33位总统(1945年4月12日--1953年1月20日)
姓名：哈里·s.杜鲁门    
绰号：give 'em hell harry
出生：1884年5月8日,拉马尔里,密苏里
死与：1972年12月26日,堪萨斯市,密苏里
所属政党：民主党
哈里·S·杜鲁门(1884.5.8—1972.12.26)是美国第33任总统，生于密苏里州。父亲是骡马商，没有上过大学，被人们称为“密苏里的小人物”。
在第一次世界大战期间，杜鲁门参加了炮兵，并且成为一名上尉，在法国作战。返回时，他与伊丽莎白·弗吉尼亚华莱士结婚，并且在堪萨斯市开服饰杂货业。杜鲁门退役后逐步进入政界，1922年任县法官，1926年后又任首席法官、县长。他得到民主党领袖汉尼根支持，于1944年获民主党副总统候选人提名并在竞选中获胜。1945年4月罗斯福总统病逝后，在美国历史的重大时刻，杜鲁门接任总统。作为总统，面对一系列棘手问题，杜鲁门作出了许多与美国、世界有关的重大决定，对第二次世界大战以后美国的外交政策和国际关系的发展产生深刻的影响。
杜鲁门执政后国内政绩平平，但国际上却有许多大事要他处理。他上台不久即对制定联合国宪章做出安排。部署接受德国无条件投降事宜；参加波茨坦会议；签署命令在长崎、广岛投放原子弹；提出遏制政策，与苏进行冷战；提出并推行杜鲁门主义；批准并推行“马歇尔计划”；订立北大西洋公约；建立中央情报局；发动侵朝战争。1953年1月，杜鲁门离开白宫过起退休生活。他有若干著作传世。死于1972年12月26日，终年88岁。
杜鲁门1919年与伊丽莎白·维吉尼亚·沃雷丝结婚，生有一女。


美国第34位总统(1953年1月20日--1961年1月20日)
姓名：德怀特·d.艾森豪威尔
绰号：艾克
出生：1890年10月14日，丹尼森里，得克萨斯州
死于：1969年3月28日，华盛顿特区
所属政党：共和党
德怀特·戴维·艾森豪威尔(1890.10.14—1969.3.28)是美国第34任总统，生于得克萨斯州。父亲戴维·雅科布·艾森豪威尔半生艰难，最后任一家煤气公司经理。母亲艾达·伊丽莎白·斯托弗是个虔诚的教徒。艾克出世时，双亲除日常穿的衣服和简单的日用必需品外，一无所有。艾克靠自己的努力考入西点军校，以优异的成绩以少尉军衔毕业。艾克的军事天才受到参谋长马歇尔的赏识，他在部队中步步高升，从1941年的上校，一直升到1945年的五星上将。1945年凯旋后，杜鲁门总统任命他为陆军总长。1948年退役，任哥伦比亚校长。1952年参加总统竞选获胜。1956年连任。任期内，他结束了朝鲜战争，但建立了东南亚条约组织，提出了艾森豪威尔主义，并继续推行冷战政策。
退休后，他继1948年出版《远征欧法》之后，又写了几本回忆录出版。
1916年，艾森豪威尔与玛丽·吉尼娃·杜德结婚。玛丽比艾克小7岁。艾克在远征欧陆之时，玛丽留在美国。她1979年去世，亨年82岁。艾克夫妇有两个儿子。


美国第35位总统(1961年1月20日--1963年11月22日)
姓名：约翰·肯尼迪
绰号：无
出生：1917年5月29日，布鲁克兰里，马萨诸塞州
死于：1963年11月22日，在达拉斯，得克萨斯
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：遗产继承
约翰·菲茨杰拉德·肯尼迪(1917.5.29—1963.11.12)是美国第35任总统，生于马萨诸塞州。父亲约瑟夫·肯尼迪是金融巨子，也是民主党坚定的后台。作为国历史上最年轻的总统，肯尼迪自幼受到良好的教育，最后读了哈佛大学和斯坦福大学，1940年毕业。第二次世界大战中肯尼迪加入美国海军，在对日作战中负伤。战后，肯尼迪29岁即当选为议员，后三次连任。
1960年肯尼迪参加总统竞选。他提出“新边疆”的竞选口号，倡导在科学技术、经济发展、战争与和平等各个领域开拓新天地。1961年，肯尼迪在选民投票过程中以极小的差距赢得总统的位置，击败了共和党人尼克松，成为美国历史上最年轻的总统，也是第一个罗马天主教总统。肯尼迪成为美国总统后，布鲁克莱市在比尔斯八十三号这栋住宅前设立了纪念牌。
在肯尼迪的就职演说中：“不要问你的国家能为你做什么？而要问你能为你的国家做什么。”作为总统，他开始履行他的战役保证再次使美国运转起来。他上台后并非一切如愿。任职开始就遇到了美国入侵古巴惨败的事实。他为了寻得平等的权利采取有力措施，要求新公民权利立法。他给予民族文化的质量和艺术在一起至关重要的社会中心角色。他希望美国恢复老的任务作为致力于人权的革命的最早的民族。由于发展和和平小组的联盟，他对发展中国家的帮助为美国人带来理想主义。
1962年，他又处理了古巴导弹危机。除此之外，肯尼迪政府还干涉了刚果事务，派兵越南，开始了长达10年之久的侵越战争。
1963年，正当肯尼迪踌躇满志要进一步干一番事业的时候，他遇刺身亡。两年後，比尔斯83号被命名为国家历史文物；1967年，国会批准将这栋住宅划入国家公园系统使其成为国家历史遗址。 

美国第36位总统(1963年11月22日--1969年1月20日)
姓名：林登·贝恩斯·约翰逊
出生：1908年8月27日，靠近约翰逊城市，得克萨斯州
死于：1973年1月22日，靠近约翰逊城市，得克萨斯州
所属政党：民主党
资产来源：投资电视与广播业、房地产业
林登·贝恩斯·约翰逊(1908.8.27—1973.1.22)是美国第36任总统，生于得克萨斯州，是父亲塞缪尔和母亲莉伯卡的五个孩子中的长子。父亲是州议员。约翰逊在西南师范毕业后从事过多种职业。1948年当选参议员，1951年成为民主党议员领袖。1960年被提名为民主党总统候选人，竞选获胜。1963年11月12曰，肯尼迪遇刺身亡，约翰逊继任总统。继任后，他提出有关人权、减税、反穷困和资源保护的立法，得以批准。1964年竞选连任成功。他提出了建立“伟大社会”的口号，并出台了一些实际措施，也取得了某些成效。但他因袭前届政府的政策，并且扩大了印支战争。1965年，还派兵对多米尼加共和国进行了干预。特别是扩大印支战争，受到美国人民的强烈反对。约翰逊为了摆脱困境，不得不与印支方面进行谈判，以便结束战争。
任期届满之后，约翰逊不再竞选总统。退休后，他在得克萨斯的一个牧场住了下来。在他去世的第二天，越南停战协定在巴黎签字。


美国第37位总统(1969年1月20日--1974年8月9日)
姓名：理查德·米尔豪斯·尼克松)
绰号：无
出生：1913年1月9日，加利福尼亚
死于：1994年4月22日，纽约
所属政党：共和党
理查德·米尔豪斯·尼克松(1913.l.9—1994.4.22)是美国第37任总统，生于加利福尼亚州，父亲是汽车加油站和百货店老板。尼克松毕业于惠蒂尔学院和迪克大学，先当律师，后入海军，复员后曾两次选人参议院。1952年参加副总统竞选成功，任副总统4年。1960年、1964年两度竞选总统失败。1968年参加总统竞选获胜。1972年谋求连任成功。执政后，尼克松对内的目标是抑制通货膨胀，重振美国经济。对外，提出尼克松主义，与中华人民共和国直接接触，于1972年实现访华，开打了两国关系的大门。1973年，结束了越南战争。同年，苏联领导人回访美国，双方宣告冷战结束。
1974年8月，尼克松因“水门事件”辞职，成为美国有史以来第一个自动辞职的总统。尼克松下台后，回到故里开始写回忆录。81岁时，尼克松因中风去世。


美国第38位总统(1974年8月9日--1977年1月20日)
姓名：杰拉尔德·鲁道夫·福特
绰号：jerry
出生：1913年7月14日，奥马哈，内布拉斯加州
所属政党：共和党
小杰拉尔德·鲁道夫·福特(1913.7.14—)是美国第38任总统，生于内布拉斯加州。父亲莱斯利·林奇·金是个羊皮商。福特毕业于耶鲁大学。
1942--1946年在海军和海军后备队服役，曾在“蒙特雷”号航空母舰上工作。被授予中校衔。1946--1949年重操律师业。1948年福特与伊丽莎白·安妮·布鲁默结婚，有三子一女。1949--1974年任国会众议员，在众院公共工程委员会、拨款委员会、航空与宇宙空间特别委员会任委员。1959年作为美国代表团成员出席在波兰举行的“各国议会联盟”会议。1965年当选为众院共和党领袖。1968年和1972年两次担任共和党全国代表大会常任主席。1973年10月被尼克松总统任命为副总统。
1974年尼克松因“水门事件”被迫辞职，福特于同年8月9日继任总统。他是美国唯一一位未经总统选举的总统。同年9月8日下令赦免尼克松。就职后，福特面对几乎不能克服的任务。面对通货膨胀，恢复经济，解决能量短缺等问题，并且努力保证世界和平。政府干预和花费作为解决美国社会和经济的问题的方法控制趋势。归根结底，他相信，这变化将为全部美国人带来好生活。福特宣布“充分、自由和绝对”赦免了尼克松，并留任基辛格为国务卿。在国内，他想缓和因“水门事件”而引起的矛盾，但自己曾两次遭暗杀。
1972、1975、1981年福特曾3次访问中国。1975年12月1日-5日，福特访问中国，毛泽东主席和邓小平副总理会见了他。双方重申遵守《上海公报》。
1976年福特谋求连任，但败在卡特手下。1977年卸任后，他在弗吉尼亚棕榈泉住下来，一面经商，一面写作，很快，他成了百万富翁。他另有回忆录出版。


美国第39位总统(1977年1月20日--1981年1月20日)
姓名：吉米·卡特
绰号：吉米
出生：1924年10月1日，佐治亚州
所属政党：民主党
小詹姆斯(吉米)·厄尔·卡特(1924.10.1—)是美国第39任总统，生于南佐治亚州。卡特与父亲同名，故称小詹姆斯·厄尔·卡特。老卡特从事农业和商业，是州议会议员。母亲莉连·戈迪是个随和的妇女，不像老卡特那样严厉。卡特毕业于海军学院，毕业后在海军服役。1953年他退伍回乡，经营父亲的产业。
1970至1974年任佐治亚州州长。在当时南方的年轻州长中，他以办事富有实效、积极消除种族歧视赢得声誉。1974年卡特宣布竞选总统，并轻易获得民主党提名。1977年，他经过艰苦的竞选战以微弱优势击败福特总统，出任美国第39任总统。
在国内，卡特欲意实行行政和经济改革，但遭到国会的强烈反对。在国际上，强调人权。他当政时期，把巴拿马运河的管理权交还给了巴拿马，实现了同中华人民共和国的关系正常化，中美两国正式建立了外交关系。推动中东实现了和谈。在上世纪80年代的海地危机中，尽管美国战机已经起飞，卡特仍不顾生命危险留在海地首都谈判至最后一刻，最终说服军政府交权避免流血战争。这一事件令卡特在国际上赢得了巨大的声望。卡特在1975年出版自传《为什么不是最好的？》，以后又陆续写了《一个与其人民一样诚实的政府》(1977年)和《保持信心，一个总统的回忆录》(1982年)。
1990年7月4日卡特获费城自由勋章。1995年1月10日获得1994年度联合国教科文组织设立的费利克斯·乌弗埃-博瓦尼和平奖。1997年11月，印度英·甘地纪念基金会授予他1997年度英·甘地奖，以奖励他为全球和平、裁军和发展所作的贡献。1998年12月10日，获1998年度联合国人权奖。
卡特也是访问古巴第一人。卡特访问古巴并与卡斯特罗举行会谈，是自1959年古巴革命胜利以来，美国历任总统中访问古巴的第一人，为改善美古关系起到了积极的作用。除了担任国际和平协调人的角色，卡特与夫人还积极为全球范围内的无家可归者启动住房工程，常常不顾年事已高，亲自参加施工为无家可归者搭建福利房。


美国第40位总统(1981年1月20日--1989年1月20日)
姓名：罗纳德·里根
绰号：gipper；伟大的通信员
出生：1911年2月6日，坦皮科，伊利诺伊州
死于：２００４年６月５日
所属政党：共和党
罗纳德·威尔逊·里根(1911.2.6—)是美国第40任总统，生于伊利诺伊州。父亲杰克是个皮鞋推销员。1911年2月6日，罗纳德·威尔逊·里根出生于伊利诺斯州的坦皮科镇(父亲约翰，里根，母亲丽娜·里根)，中学就读于附近的迪克森镇，然后半工半读完成在尤里卡学院的大学课程。他学习经济学和社会学，参加校足球队比赛和校剧社的演出。毕业后，里根成为一名电台体育播音员，1937年的一次试镜使他在好莱坞赢得了一份演出合同。进入好莱坞华纳兄弟电影公司当电影和电视演员。第二次世界大战期间应征入伍，在空军服役。退伍后重返好莱坞，在接下来的20年里，他共参加了53部电影的演出。后任电影演员公会主席、电影委员会主席。1962年、1976年两次争取共和党提名总统候选人，均未成功。1980年再次争取，被提名，并在竞选中击败卡特而获胜。1984年谋求连任成功。里根执政期间，提出一项旨在压缩政府开支、减少国营事业、降低通货膨胀率的政治改革计划，收效甚微。对外，对苏联等社会主义国家取强硬立场，并提出了“星球大战”计划。
1984年美国民族自信心的恢复，使里根和布什以前所未有的选票赢得了第二任。他们的胜利使得民主党竞选人沃尔特·蒙代尔和杰拉尔丁·费拉罗被“拒之门外”。
1984年4月26日至5月1日，里根应邀对中国进行国事访问，他是中美两国建交后首位在任时访华的美国总统。
1986年里根成功地进行了税收法典的改革，扫除了许多克扣制度——免除了数百万低收人者的税赋，在他任职末期，是美国历史上持续时间最长的、没有经济衰退和经济萧条的和平时期。
1989年1月里根辞职。
1993年里根获总统自由勋章。
1994年11月5日，里根向公众宣布，他患了老年痴呆症。
2004年6月5日，93岁的里根去世。

美国第41位总统(1989年1月--1993年1月)
姓名：乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什
绰号：poppy
出生：1924年6乐12日，密尔顿，马萨诸塞州
所属政党：共和党
乔治·赫伯特·沃克，布什(1924.6.24—)是美国第41任总统，生于马萨诸塞州。父亲普雷斯科特·布什是华尔街银行家、参议员。母亲是萝西·沃克。布什家教很严，年轻时受到良好教育。耶鲁大学毕业前参加空军，二战中表现英勇。大学毕业后，在石油部门工作。1964年，布什参加得克萨斯州参议员竞选失败。1966年竞选国会众议员成功。1970年竞选参议员失败，被尼克松总统任命为驻联合国代表。1972年任共和党全国委员会主席。1974年任驻中国联络处主任。1975年任中央情报局局长，1977年辞职。1979年被共和党提名副总统候选人并在竞选中获胜，1984年连任。1988年竞选总统成功。布什执政后，内政平平，但外交十分活沃。他提出“超越遏制”战略。在布什任期内，东欧剧变，苏联解体，世界格局发生了根本变化。布什提出“新大西洋主义”，调整与盟国关系。1991年，发起“沙漠风暴”的军事进攻得胜。布什以此为契机，提出了建立“世界新秩序”的主张。1992年，布什谋求连任失败。
布什非常喜欢运动，曾在大学担任过垒球队队长。爱好打网球和高尔夫球。七十年代，布什任美国驻中国联络处主任期间，他和夫人芭芭拉经常骑着自行车穿行于北京的大街小巷，既健身，又能直接了解中国社会，接触普通百姓。这位来自“汽车王国”的外交官的行为一时被传为佳话，有人把布什称为“骑自行车的大使”。布什夫妇骑车在天安门城楼前的留影一再出现在报刊杂志上。


美国第42位总统(1993年1月20日--2001年1月20日)
姓名：威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿
绰号：比尔
出生：1946年8月19日，霍普，阿肯色州
第一夫人：希拉里·Rodham·克林顿
副总统：艾伯特·戈尔
所属政党：民主党
1962年，16岁的克林顿作为阿肯色州学生代表，到首都华盛顿出席全国青少年团体代表大会，1964年高中毕业后考入乔治敦大学，主修外交专业，曾担任大学学生会主席并协助联邦参议员威廉·富布赖特工作。1968年，克林顿大学毕业，获国际政治学学士学位，并考取罗兹奖学金赴英国牛津大学学习。1970年，他考入美国耶鲁大学法学院，1973年毕业，获法学博士学位，同年到阿肯色州州立大学担任教授。
1976年，克林顿出任阿肯色州司法部长，1978年至1980年任阿肯色州州长，1982年至1992年又连续五次担任州长。克林顿任州长期间，在推动州教育改革和实施经济发展计划方面取得成就，被选为美国南部经济发展政策委员会主席，兼任全美州长联席会议主席，并曾协助总统主持国家最高教育当局的工作。1990年，克林顿被选为民主党最高委员会主席。
1992年11月3日，克林顿当选美国总统，1996年11月再次当选。执政期间，经济持续增长，财政赤字下降，通货膨胀率和失业率均保持在较低水平，国际竞争力得到恢复。对外实行以促进经济繁荣、维护国家安全、促进民主为三大支柱的外交政策。认为欧洲的稳定“对美国的安全至关重要”，欧洲经济为美国提供大量就业和投资机会，主张加强北约，支持北约东扩。认为亚洲对美国的经济和安全都十分重要。
克林顿兴趣广泛，尤其爱好音乐，擅长演奏萨克斯管，曾担任阿肯色州管乐队首席萨克斯管演奏员。




美国第43位总统(2001年1月20日——至今)
姓名：乔治·沃克·布什
出生：1946年7月6日
所属政党：共和党
习称小布什，1946年7月6日出生，在得克萨斯州的米德兰和休斯敦长大，其父为美国第51届总统乔治·布什。小布什毕业于耶鲁大学并获学士学位，1978年获哈佛商学院工商管理硕士学位，曾在得克萨斯州国民警卫队空军任飞行员。
1975年，小布什在米德兰创建了一家石油和天然气勘探公司，并在该公司工作至1986年。
1989年他与人合伙购买了得克萨斯流浪者棒球队，他任球队总经理至1994年11月8日。1994年11月8日小布什当选为得克萨斯州州长，1998年11月再次当选得州州长。
小布什作为共和党总统候选人在2000年11月的美国总统选举中战胜民主党总统候选人戈尔，当选美国第54届(43任)总统，并于2001年1月20日宣誓就职，正式入主白宫。
小布什的夫人劳拉曾是一名图书管理员，他们有一对双胞胎女儿芭芭拉和詹纳，1981年出生。小布什的弟弟：约翰·埃利斯·布什(John Ellis Bush，又称杰布·布什)为佛罗里达州州长。





美国第44位总统(2009年1月20日——至今)
姓名：贝拉克·奥巴马 (Barack Obama)
出生：1961年8月4日出生在美国夏威夷檀香山
所属政党：民主党
        贝拉克·奥巴马 (Barack Obama) 1961年8月4日出生在美国夏威夷檀香山，父亲是来自肯尼亚的留学生，母亲是堪萨斯州人。他们二人在就读夏威夷大学期间相识。由于父亲此后前往哈佛大学求学，奥巴马从小由母亲抚养。奥巴马两岁多时，他的父母婚姻破裂。6岁时，奥巴马随母亲和继父前往印度尼西亚生活。

　　4年后，奥巴马回到夏威夷。中学毕业后，他进入加利福尼亚州西方学院学习，后转入位于纽约的哥伦比亚大学，1983年毕业。1985年，他来到芝加哥，从事社区工作。1988年，他进入哈佛大学法学院深造。1991年在获得哈佛大学法学博士学位后，他返回芝加哥，成为一名律师，并在芝加哥大学法学院教授宪法。

　　1997年，奥巴马进入政坛，当选伊利诺伊州参议员。2000年，他竞选联邦众议员，但没有成功。2004年，他在民主党全国代表大会上发表主题演讲后引起广泛关注。同年11月，他当选伊利诺伊州联邦参议员。

　　在担任联邦参议员期间，他参与起草了有关控制常规武器的议案，推动加强公众监督联邦基金使用，并支持有关院外游说、选举欺诈、气候变化和核恐怖主义等问题的一系列议案。他还出访了东欧、中东和非洲的一些国家。

　　2007年2月，奥巴马正式宣布竞选总统。他在竞选中以“变革”为主题，强调结束伊拉克战争、实现能源自给、停止减税政策和普及医疗保险等，并承诺实现党派团结、在国际上重建同盟关系、恢复美国领导地位。2008年8月27日，他在民主党全国代表大会上获得总统候选人提名。11月4日，他在美国总统大选中获胜，当选美国第56届总统，并成为美国历史上首位非洲裔总统。2009年1月20日，奥巴马正式宣誓就职。

　　奥巴马著有《来自我父亲的梦想》和《无畏的希望：重申美国梦》。《来自我父亲的梦想》是奥巴马的自传，于1995年首次出版。《无畏的希望：重申美国梦》于2006年问世，主要介绍奥巴马的政治理想和观点。

　　奥巴马1992年与米歇尔·罗宾森结婚，育有两个女儿。        历届美国总统访华图片荟萃



                               

       
 美国总统专机“空军一号”     
飞行白宫:空军一号
据国外媒体报道，“空军一号”是一个无线电呼叫名称，用于指代搭载美国总统的任何一架美国空军飞机。为避免与同一空域的其他飞机混淆，只要总统一登机，这架飞机就被全体机务人员和所有空中交通管制员一致称为“空军一号”。下面就让我们揭开“空军一号”的神秘面纱。

飞行员起名“空军一号”
美国第一架正式作为总统专机使用的军用运输机是“道格拉斯”DC-4型，这驾专机被称为“圣牛”号，从1944年起，开始作为美国总统富兰克林·罗斯福的专机。在二战爆发前，只有西奥多·罗斯福和伍德罗·威尔逊在总统任期期间离开过美国，这在国内引发了强烈抨击。但舆论不久即改变了风向。
杜鲁门入主白宫后，总统专机“道格拉斯”DC-6型被称作“独立”号，以示对杜鲁门家乡的敬意。艾森豪威尔的总统专机——洛克希德公司的“星座”飞机和“超星座”飞机则分别被称为“鸽子二号”和“鸽子三号”。艾森豪威尔还是首位以喷气机为座驾的美国总统——绰号“奎尼”(Queenie)的波音707客机。在艾森豪威尔执政期间，“空军一号”首次被用于指代美国总统专机。
“空军一号”的命名还有一段鲜为人知的故事。肯尼思·瓦尔什(Kenneth Walsh)在《空军一号:总统及其专机的历史》一书中披露，“一次，艾森豪威尔总统乘坐代号为‘鸽子二号’的空军610专机出行。当天，一架拥有相同代号的东航商业飞机与总统专机同时进入一个空域，地面人员一时分不清楚，结果将总统专机与这驾商业客机混淆。虽然只是虚惊一场，但为了安全起见，艾森豪威尔的飞行员威廉姆·德拉普当即决定给总统专机起一个响亮的名字——‘空军一号’。”
瓦尔什还在书中谈到近半个世纪后比尔·克林顿作为总统最后一次乘坐“空军一号”旅行的故事:“在飞往克林顿政治生涯的起点——阿肯色州小石城——的途中，他从机舱前面走到后面，一路巡视了机舱、厨房和会议大厅，甚至还看了看媒体舱，显得恋恋不舍。”2001年，在离开白宫的那一刻，克林顿道出了他将会怀念的三件事:“我会怀念戴维营，会怀念海军陆战队乐团，还会怀念乘坐‘空军一号’的感觉。”

西奥多·罗斯福是第一位体验空中旅行的美国总统
总统堂兄体验空中旅行
尽管富兰克林·罗斯福是第一位执政期间乘“空军一号”外出的美国总统，但他的远房堂兄西奥多·罗斯福却是第一位体验空中旅行的美国总统。合众国际社在1910年10月12日报道称，“昨天晚些时候，西奥多·罗斯福上校毫不理会死神的威胁，与飞行家阿奇·霍克斯赛(Arch Hoxsey)一起登上飞机。”
实际上，这位美国前总统并没有身处险境:不要忘了同机的贵宾、飞行家霍克斯赛，他可是大名鼎鼎的莱特兄弟空中表演队成员。霍克斯赛驾机在密苏里州圣路易斯附近的基洛奇费尔德(Kinloch Field)飞行两圈，从未超过200英尺的高度。
霍克斯赛告诉记者:“我非常地小心。我心想，‘如果他有事发生的话，我永远无法得到美国人民的原谅。’”在三分钟的短暂飞行中，西奥多显然陶醉其中，热情地向地面欢呼的人群挥手致意。西奥多对霍克斯赛说:“这是我有生以来最妙不可言的经历。对于你这份征服太空的职业，我可是十分羡慕啊。”
1932年，时任纽约州州长的罗斯福乘坐美国航空公司“福特”5-AT三引擎飞机飞往芝加哥，接受民主党总统候选人提名。
在20世纪20年代，几位美国总统在任期间喜欢在飞机旁边摆姿势拍照，但从未体验到飞行的快乐。1932年，富兰克林·罗斯福打破了这一惯例，时任纽约州州长的罗斯福乘坐美国航空公司“福特”5-AT三引擎飞机飞往芝加哥，接受民主党总统候选人提名。
范哈迪斯蒂(Von Hardesty)在《空军一号:改变现代总统的飞机》(Air Force One: The Aircraft That Shaped the Modern Presidency)一书中写道，“飞机降落于芝加哥机场之后，罗斯福在市长安顿·塞马克(Anton Cermak)的陪同下乘车前往民主党全国代表大会，罗斯福的总统提名在此获得强烈反响。
此前，从未有一位总统提名人从堪称20世纪技术奇迹的飞机‘天堂’走出来，以这种戏剧性的方式承担其领导的重任。”

1943年1月，罗斯福总统乘坐波音314“迪西飞剪号”(Dixie Clipper)的飞机参加在摩洛哥卡萨布兰卡举行的会议，这是美国历史上第一位在任期内乘飞机出行的总统。
1943年1月，罗斯福总统乘坐波音314“迪西飞剪号”(Dixie Clipper)的飞机参加在摩洛哥卡萨布兰卡举行的会议，这是美国历史上第一位在任期内乘飞机出行的总统。
在36架战斗机的护卫下，总统专机安全到达卡萨布兰卡。这次旅程分为三段:第一段行程1600英里，飞机将罗斯福从佛罗里达州迈阿密送往特立尼达岛的西班牙港；第二段是从西班牙港飞赴巴西，行程1200英里；
第三段则是将罗斯福及其随从从大西洋送到冈比亚，行程2500英里。从冈比亚，一行人乘坐C-54飞往卡萨布兰卡。其他与会领导人享受的待遇与罗斯福相比可谓有着天壤之别:英国首相温斯顿·丘吉尔搭乘一架没有暖气的B-24 “解放者”(Liberator)重型轰炸机，休息时只能屈尊躺在机舱后面的床垫上。

第一架正式的总统专机——C-54“空中霸王”(Skymaster)
由于不愿让总统在未来出行中依赖于商业飞机，美陆军航空队委托道格拉斯飞机公司制造第一架正式的总统专机——C-54“空中霸王”(Skymaster)。这架专机的绰号为“圣牛”，1945年载着罗斯福前往雅尔塔参加他第三次、亦是最后一次的战时会议。罗斯福去世后，杜鲁门总统频繁乘坐“圣牛”出行。
飞行员最喜欢的乘客
在总统专机飞行员亨利·迈尔斯的眼中，杜鲁门总统是他最喜欢的乘客；飞机起飞后，为人随和的杜鲁门常常出现在驾驶舱里，准备玩扑克，给机组人员讲故事。杜鲁门十分敬重迈尔斯，在迈尔斯考虑去驾驶商业飞机淘金时，杜鲁门非但没有恼怒，反而向他提供“将军衔”(general's star)，以及顾问的职位。迈尔斯婉言谢绝了总统的好意。
约翰·肯尼迪当选美国总统后，一架波音707-353B客机成为新的总统专机，“空军一号”的称呼从此变得流行起来。这架具有历史意义的客机服役了35个年头，既见证了肯尼迪的辉煌，也见证了他的殒落:1963年6月载着肯尼迪前往西德柏林参加会议，肯尼迪在这次会议上发表了一段可载入史册的讲话；1963年11月22日，将遇刺身亡的肯尼迪的遗体送回华盛顿特区。
在肯尼迪遇刺当天，合众国际社驻白宫记者梅利曼·史密斯(Merriman Smith)乘坐的媒体采访车就跟在总统车队的后面，他因报道这一历史事件而获得普利策奖。有两名记者被允许乘“空军一号”返回华盛顿特区，史密斯就是其中之一。
在《空军一号》一书中，美国航空航天博物馆馆长范哈迪斯蒂写道:“将肯尼迪总统遗体放在‘空军一号’货舱的建议最终没有通过。这样，唯一的选择只能将遗体放到机舱后面的乘客舱(passenger compartment)，这便需要亲自动手，对这一相对小的空间进行重新设计。一个隔段连同四把椅子被拆卸，如此一来，就能将装有肯尼迪遗体的棺椁抬进来安放好。几乎毫不费力就将900磅重的青铜棺椁经由狭窄的过道抬进乘客舱。肯尼迪女士自己在这里找了个座位坐了下来，四周是丈夫以前的助手，经过长途飞行回家。”

尼克松曾参与空军一号内部设计
空军一号首次飞北京
在理查德·尼克松1969年入主白宫时，“空军一号”急需大修。新总统满怀热情地参与了“空军一号”的内部设计，这次设计用了三个月时间。尼克松侧重于飞机的私密性，推翻了林登·约翰逊推崇的开框肋板(open floor)设计，转而要求为自己和家人设计一个三间房大小的总统套房，一间作为办公室，一间作为休息室，一间作为卧室。随队的媒体记者则被安排到一个小套房，与安全人员同处一室。

1972年2月21日，“空军一号”缓缓降落于北京机场
1972年2月21日，当“空军一号”缓缓降落于北京机场时，中国仪仗队早已等候在那里，迎接尼克松总统及随行人员的到来。尼克松在谈起与中国总理周恩来的历史性会面时说:“当我们的手握在一起的时候，一个时代结束了，一个新时代开始了。”范哈迪斯蒂在《空军一号》中披露，其实当时机组人员对这次访问非常紧张:“机组没有无线电频率、着陆程序以及中国领空飞行协议的最新数据。此外还有一些技术上的担心，如与辅助地面动力的兼容性连接(compatible linkage)。”

2001年9月11日，在恐怖袭击发生的当天早晨，乔治·布什总统被安全人员迅速转移到“空军一号”
2001年9月11日，在恐怖袭击发生的当天早晨，乔治·布什总统正身在佛罗里达州萨拉索塔。他被安全人员迅速转移到“空军一号”，然后飞往路易斯安那州的巴克斯达尔空军基地，接着是内布拉斯加州的奥福特空军基地，最后前往华盛顿特区郊外的安德鲁斯空军基地。几架F-16战斗机为“空军一号”护航。
范哈迪斯蒂在《空军一号》中披露，“自约翰·肯尼迪遭暗杀以来，‘空军一号’还从未登上过国家悲剧的中心舞台。‘空军一号’的屡次延迟和奇怪的飞行路线反映出当天极为特殊的情况，一个总统本人描述为战争‘迷雾’的时刻。”在这张照片中，布什正乘“空军一号”飞赴伊拉克的途中，拍摄于2006年。

空军一号简介　　“空军一号”(Air Force One)作为美国总统的专机，有6层楼高。这架蓝白相间的波音747飞机已成为美国的权力象征，也成为美国霸权地位的国际图腾。
[编辑本段]军事专家看空军一号　　
　　军事专家认为，美国的“空军一号”堪称世界上最精密、最具毁灭力的航空器。它的电子对抗系统可以干扰敌方雷达，迷惑导弹的瞄准系统，使其无法锁定目标。据英国《简氏防务周刊》介绍，“空军一号”还配备有一套定向武器系统，可以确定来袭导弹的方位，并发射激光或红外线光束，破坏导弹的制导系统。“空军一号”的探测设备也十分完备，能够与天基和陆基侦测网配合，及时发现具有威胁性的空中目标，并及时通知最近的美军或盟国战机提供空中支援。“空军一号”上具有空对空、空对地功能的脉冲频率无线电通信设备，则可在受到核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和通信设备的正常运转。
　　在不进行空中加油的情况下，“空军一号”的航程可达11490公里，在空中滞留的时间约为12小时；如果进行空中加油，则可在空中滞留72小时，足以将美国总统送往全球任何一个地方。
　　空军一号的设备设施
　　美国的“空军一号”是名副其实的“空中白宫”，奉行“总统在地上能干什么，在空中也照干”的原则。机上共有4000平米的空间。总统拥有一个“总统套房”，起居室内有一张席梦思床、真皮沙发、高级地毯、电动窗帘等；套房内还有一间浴室，淋浴设备齐全，总统可以舒舒服服地享受。起居室的隔壁就是总统椭圆形办公室，另外还有一间工作室，里面配有最新的录影设备、投射荧幕、地图。专机上还有第一夫人专用房间、高级官员房间等。机身中段是供总统助手、记者及其他工作人员使用的休息室。
　　“空军一号”上还有一个大餐厅和两个具有现代化功能的“空中厨房”，可以同时满足100人的就餐需要。机上还有一个医疗中心，配有一个可折叠的手术台。医疗中心的所有设备完全是采用最先进的尖端器材，遇到任何紧急状况，它都能立即发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为现代化。
　　“空军一号”上的食品采集属于随机模式，为了保证总统的食品安全，通常会在飞机起飞的当天早上，或者前一天晚上去普通超市采集，避免恐怖分子的蓄意破坏。
　　“空军一号”同时也是“空中五角大楼”，担任临时的美国三军空中指挥中心。机上配备了完善的通讯系统，能为美国总统及其助手提供全球各地正常或机密资料的传送和接收。机上各种电线长度达到3000公里，配置了85部电话机、10台高级电脑、1架大型复印机、1台传真机，以及57架各类天线。机上装配了具备空对空、空对地功能的多重脉冲频率无线电通讯设备，其主要功能是当“空军一号”在遭遇核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和通讯设备的畅通运作。
[编辑本段]空军一号的服役方式　　
　　“空军一号”专机事实上是两架鸳鸯飞机，只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。另外，美国总统出国访问时，至少还有1架国家情报局的通讯飞机陪同，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。此外还有2架总统直升飞机、多架“大力神”军用运输机以及10辆防弹汽车随行。
　　严格来说，“空军一号”只是一个象征性的称号，它不区分飞机的种类与数量，只要是美国现任总统的座机，都统称为“空军一号”(也就是说无论那架飞机，只要美国现任总统乘坐，登上飞机的那一刻起，该飞机的既被称作“空军一号”，随即归属美国空军管辖）。今天的总统座机已不仅仅只有两架波音747了，但仍然被叫做“空军一号”。
　　同样的，由美国海军控制的，每天在白宫前草坪上来来去去的总统私人飞机，被称为“海军一号”。美国总统很少乘坐的陆军飞机，也被称为“陆军一号”。副总统乘坐的飞机则被称为“空军二号”。20世纪50年代，“空军一号”首次被用于称呼总统的座机。
　　当然这样的装备是绝对不会廉价的。白宫有支付“空军一号”费用的专门预算。美国总统的出国访问是显示美国这个超级大国综合实力、显示美国名望的好机会。而“空军一号”就是一个象征，这样的开销美国人觉得很划算。
　　“空军一号”机身上覆盖的厚装甲可以抵御核弹爆炸的冲击波；所有窗户上都安装着防弹玻璃；专机内还有一个自动弹射装置，遇到紧急情况可以自动启动，把总统弹到安全的地点降落。
　　“空军一号”还拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统，专机上的ECM电子对抗系统可以干扰敌方雷达，迷惑导弹的瞄准系统，使其无法锁定目标。对于热寻的导弹，“空军一号”也自有妙招，当这种导弹来袭时，“空军一号”可发射出大量信号弹，诱骗热寻的导弹转而追踪明亮炽热的信号弹。因而，它也被称为“世界上最安全的飞机”。
[编辑本段]空军一号辛苦服役60年　　富兰克林·罗斯福总统于62年前第一次乘坐飞机。自此，每一任美国总统都有专机。上世纪50年代，艾森豪威尔总统乘坐专机出行。突然，一架拥有与专机同样代号的民航飞机与总统专机同时进入一个空域，地面人员一时分不清哪架才是总统的专机。为了安全起见，总统专机之后就有了一个特殊而响亮的名字——“空军一号”。
　　“空军一号”机尾部分印着星条旗，机翼上有美国空军的标记和英文缩写。前舱门的右下方有一个巨大的美国国徽。“空军一号”事实上是一个象征性的称号，它不区分飞机的型号与数量，只要是现任总统的座机，都称为“空军一号”。目前，布什的专机是波音747-200B，是里根总统定购并于1991年交付使用的，造价超过4亿美元。
　　“空军一号”内置有当今最先进的电脑、通讯、医疗器材，简直就像白宫和五角大楼的缩影。美国总统不但可以在机内办公，还可享受家居般的方便生活。卧房、浴室、厨房、餐厅等等，设备齐全。总统有一个相当隐秘且宽敞的隔间。他和第一夫人有个起居室，室内有一张可折叠的沙发床、木头制的橱柜、纯皮的椅套、长毛的地毯、电动的窗帘。机内还有一间浴室，不单淋浴设备齐全，还有一面大镜子、一个面盆、一个电动剃刀桌、一套现代化抽水马桶。起居室的隔壁，就是总统办公室，由一个原木桌和皮套椅所组成。蓝色的石英钟挂在墙上，包括美国本土、华盛顿特区与到达地点的时间。另外，还有一个非常现代化的医疗中心。房间里，有三个头等舱大小的座椅、两个卧铺、一个洗脸台、一台冰箱专为冷藏血液与药品用，以及一个装满医疗器材的橱子；还有一个可折叠的手术桌，配上高敏感度的灯光。医疗中心的所有设备，完全是采用最新式的尖端器材，万一发生了任何紧急状况，它都能立时发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为现代化。另外还有一间工作室，里面包括了最新的录放影设备、投射片荧幕、地图吊挂，以及其他会议室的任何必需设施。在华丽的餐桌上，有一块木制结构的厚板子镶在桌面上，底下隐藏着一些电线与录音设备及随时卡断的系统，以确保通讯安全与清晰的电话交谈。专机上包括了两个具有厨房功能的地方，都放有微波炉、烤箱等。当然，为了飞机上的安全，这些器材都是特别设计，不会造成危险的。机上设备齐全，白宫幕僚在地上做的一切事，在空中也能做。最有意思的是，飞机内的电视荧屏可收到来自世界各地的节目。而且，每一个隔间内都有这么一个电视机。若想看任何节目录像，只要拿起座椅旁的电话，通知有关人员，便可收看到节目。
　　这架总统座机的内部，包含87座电话机、10台电脑、一架大得足以供应一个律师事务所的影印机、一台传真机，以及57架天线，几个座椅便有两架电话机。白色的电话是一般用的，而米黄色电话是过滤杂音的辨视声音沟通系统，电话声音极为清晰。在上屋机舱内，有专人负责这些对外的通讯操作。一壁的电子设备，操纵整架飞机复杂的通讯网络。只要拿起座椅旁的电话，接线员便会立刻回答。这些电讯设备能很快地传到世界各地，给你想要说话的任何人，包括即使手边没有对方电话号码，接线员都会想尽办法帮你查询接通。
[编辑本段]空军一号的防护　　美国在世界上树敌太多，因而美国总统则就成了国际恐怖主义的首要攻击目标。因此，“空军一号”上可以说拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统。空防人员坐在装有各种电子显示仪和屏幕的工作台前，可以监视专机四周的所有空间。一旦发现导弹袭击，他们立即启动几套电子干扰系统，诱使导弹改变方向，从而确保“空军一号”的安全。此外，“空军一号”降落在跑道上滑行时，总统和代表团成员可以通过卫星电视观察机场欢迎群众的场面。专机停泊后，它可以成为总统和代表团的通讯指挥中心。
　　通常在总统登机前，安全部门总要派出一队工作人员，检查并在飞机燃油上做好标记，以防有人破坏。另一队人员还要检查跑道，在总统登机或是下机时如有危险，这些人将立刻开枪。此外，每次“空军一号”起飞前，都有另一辆飞机先行起飞，机上往往装载着总统的豪华防弹轿车和一大堆轻武器弹药。当然，每次总统出门时，永远都会有一名军官帮他提着那个著名的“手提箱”，通过手提箱里的按钮装置，总统可在美国突然遭遇攻击时下令发射核弹还击。
　　“空军一号”专机事实上是两架鸳鸯飞机，如飞行代号“天使”的编号一架为26000，一架为27000。只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。美国总统出国访问时，至少还有1架国家情报局的通讯飞机陪同，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。此外还有两架总统直升飞机、多架“大力神”军用运输机以及10辆防弹汽车随行。林肯牌高级防弹车每辆价格在50万美元以上。
[编辑本段]空军一号的性能　　把“空军一号”称作“空中飞行的白宫”，一点也不言过其实。它每天24小时都处于准备起飞状态；18名机组人员和最精密的仪器，使它能在任何时候、任何地方与白宫进行最紧密的联系；举凡总统所需要的一切服务，它都可以提供。可以说，美国空军一号是世界上最精密、最具毁灭力的航空器。目前使用的两架波音747－200B“空军一号”专机是里根总统订购的，由波音公司制造，它们均于1991年交付使用，造价4.1亿美元。这架波音747—200型新机，专供总统私人使用。光是从2001年的9月份开始，这架飞机已搭载美国总统飞行了17万多公里的路程。这架飞机有六层楼高，可搭载25名幕僚，有可容纳75名乘客的普通客机那样的宽敞空间，一次起飞可携带约2000份餐点。机舱大约有一千多平方米，有足够的地方，可以来回走动、睡眠、伸展身躯和用餐，完全和一个高级办公场所一样。如果遇到军事方面的紧急情况，这架“空军一号”会立刻由电磁雷达设备中获得传讯的保护，所有的电缆会立即被停止。另外，一种质材特殊、不易识别的地型金属荧幕会覆盖住所有的窗子，好使飞机本身不易被查觉追踪。这架飞机还有空中加油的能力，可持续飞行，而不必降落地面添加油料。只要总统一声令下，空军一号可载他前往任何地方，并给予最完善的服务。
[编辑本段]现在的空军一号　　
　　现任的美国总统布什的“空军一号” 是波音747-200B，专机编号为VC－25A，速度是900公里／小时，飞行高度是1万米，续航能力达10000多公里。该机是从1990年8月正式投入使用的。
　　长度：70.4米
　　高度：19.4米，
　　空间：内部空间为371.6平方米。
　　重量：超过400吨。
　　空面：机内空间面积总达4000平方米。主舱面达370平方米，设有一个可作会议室也可作饭厅的大厅。总统和第一夫人都拥有自己的专用房间。
　　速度：时速可达1014公里／小时。
　　机师：要想当上“空军一号”的驾驶员，至少要有2000小时以上在世界范围内的飞行经验，以及完美无瑕的飞行纪录。
　　安全：拥有无懈可击的安全纪录，被美国人认为是世界上最安全的飞机。
　　座位：通常记者坐在机舱后面，总统的随行人员坐在前面。地位越重要的人，坐得离总统越近。
　　僚机：实际上总是有两架都叫“空军一号”的总统专机，编号相连。
　　机场：停放在安德鲁空军基地，离白宫16公里远。
　　防卫：它是一种完全订制的飞机，配备高度保密的防卫系统，包括反导弹系统。
　　通讯：机上有87条不同的电话线，其中28条是防窃听的，通话范围无限制。
　　纪念性：机上有许多东西印有总统徽章，包括安全带、枕头、毛毯、茶杯、浴巾、餐巾和剃须刀。
“空军一号”配备85部电话机
　　据美国《科学家联盟》网站和英国简氏集团资料显示，事实上，美国“空军一号”是两架鸳鸯飞机，即主机和副机。只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。
　　凡是白宫内有的设施，“空军一号”上几乎都有。专机头等舱内有豪华的总统办公室、卧室、淋浴间、会议室、电视机、各种医疗设施和6个盥洗室。专机内还有一个自动弹射装置，一遇危险，就可以自动启动，把总统弹到安全的位置
恐怖分子下手不易
　　“空军一号”拥有世界上最尖端的防御系统。机身上覆盖的装甲，可抵御原子弹爆炸产生的冲击波；所有窗户都安装着防弹玻璃，当飞机停留在地面上时，枪法再准的狙击手也无法射穿这种玻璃；机舱内更有令人眼花缭乱的电子设备，使总统在天空中也能掌控国家大事，甚至还能发动核打击。
　　“空军一号”起飞后都会有战斗机护航。美国总统出国访问时，至少还有一架国家情报局的通讯飞机陪同，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。
　　“空军一号”自身的反导激光防御系统堪称“最后防线”，外界最担心“泄密门”事件会将该系统的底牌大白于天下。据美国《每日防务》报道，这套复杂的系统由诺斯罗普·格鲁门公司、联合航空公司和英国BAe系统公司北美分公司等三家联合研制和试验。通常“空军一号”空防人员坐在装有各种电子显示仪和屏幕的工作台前，监视专机四周的所有空间。一旦发现导弹袭击，他们就会立即启动几套电子干扰系统，诱使导弹改变方向。如果仍未奏效，可通过发射激光予以摧毁，以确保“空军一号”的安全。
　　从事过相关研究的以色列专家帕特里克·巴阿维认为，安德鲁斯基地网站泄露的情报有可能降低反导激光防御系统的效能，但如果说恐怖分子因此会击中“空军一号”的“软肋”也不太现实。“谁也不是傻瓜，‘空军一号’拥有规定性的系统改装升级时间。在这个过程中，反导激光防御系统的效能肯定会不断提升，恐怖分子不可能通过一个文件就能取得袭击的机会。”

"空军一号”=空中白宫+空中五角大楼
　　美国的“空军一号”是名副其实的“空中白宫”，奉行“总统在地上能干什么，在空中也照干”的原则。机上共有4000平米的空间。总统拥有一个“总统套房”，起居室内有一张席梦思床、真皮沙发、高级地毯、电动窗帘等；套房内还有一间浴室，淋浴设备齐全，总统可以舒舒服服地享受。起居室的隔壁就是总统椭圆形办公室，另外还有一间工作室，里面配有最新的录影设备、投射荧幕、地图。专机上还有第一夫人专用房间、高级官员房间等。机身中段是供总统助手、记者及其他工作人员使用的休息室。
　　“空军一号”上还有一个大餐厅和两个具有现代化功能的“空中厨房”，可以同时满足100人的就餐需要。机上还有一个医疗中心，配有一个可折叠的手术台。医疗中心的所有设备完全是采用最先进的尖端器材，遇到任何紧急状况，它都能立即发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为现代化。
　　“空军一号”同时也是“空中五角大楼”，担任临时的美国三军空中指挥中心。机上配备了完善的通讯系统，能为美国总统及其助手提供全球各地正常或机密资料的传送和接收。机上各种电线长度达到3000公里，配置了85部电话机、10台高级电脑、1架大型复印机、1台传真机，以及57架各类天线。机上装配了具备空对空、空对地功能的多重脉冲频率无线电通讯设备，其主要功能是当“空军一号”在遭遇核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和通讯设备的畅通运作。
　　"保镖”众多，刀枪不入
　　由于美国在世界上树敌最多，美国总统最可能是恐怖分子的攻击目标。因此“空军一号”拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统，一旦出现导弹袭击，专机本身的干扰系统会破坏导弹的雷达、通讯。专机内还有一个自动弹射装置，遇到危险时可以自动启动，把总统弹到安全的地点降落，这一功能在影片《空军一号》中有详细的描述。
　　“空军一号”专机事实上是两架鸳鸯飞机，只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。另外，美国总统出国访问时，至少还有1架国家情报局的通讯飞机陪同，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。此外还有2架总统直升飞机、多架“大力神”军用运输机以及10辆防弹汽车随行。
　　此外，这架飞机还有空中加油的能力，可持续飞行。一般而言，在不实施空中加油的情况下，“空军一号”的航程可达到1.15万公里，留空时间约12小时。如果实行空中加油，则留空时间可达72小时，足以将美国总统送往全球任何一处地方。
　　铜墙铁壁也不是万无一失
　　驾驶“空军一号”的都是美国最优秀的飞行员，他们技术娴熟、经验丰富、应变能力强。即便这样，乘坐“空军一号”也不能说是百分之百的安全和放心。克林顿总统就经历过几次惊心动魄的场面。
　　1998年2月，克林顿到美国中西部访问时，“空军一号”在降落时因为雨天路滑，冲出跑道陷入泥潭动弹不得，克林顿不得不换乘备用的“空军一号”；1999年5月15日，当克林顿乘坐的“空军一号”在洛杉矶国际机场附近下降到3000米高度时，机舱内的自动预警系统突然铃声大作，机舱内气氛顿时紧张起来，原来飞行员发现距离专机下方300多米，有一架反方向飞行的小型班机，于是飞行员立即将飞机拉高，许多站立的乘客被摔倒在座位上，机舱内一片狼藉。
　　“空军一号”也会遇到炸弹恐吓事件。1999年11月20日，克林顿总统乘坐“空军一号”前往意大利访问。飞机起飞后，机组人员接到一个恐吓电话，声称飞机上有炸弹。特工人员马上对机上所有乘客的手提行李进行安全检查，结果是虚惊一场。
　　总统的座机都叫“一号”
　　严格来说，“空军一号”只是一个象征性的称号，它不区分飞机的种类与数量，只要是美国现任总统的座机，都统称为“空军一号”。今天的总统座机已不仅仅只有两架波音747了，但仍然被叫做“空军一号”。
　　同样的，由美国海军控制的，每天在白宫前草坪上来来去去的总统私人飞机，被称为“海军一号”。美国总统很少乘坐的陆军飞机，也被称为“陆军一号”。副总统乘坐的飞机则被称为“空军二号”。20世纪50年代，“空军一号”首次被用于称呼总统的座机。而这一称呼被全世界所了解则始于20世纪60年代约翰·肯尼迪所乘坐的波音707。
　　当然这样的装备是绝对不会廉价的。白宫有支付“空军一号”费用的专门预算。美国总统的出国访问是显示美国这个超级大国综合实力、显示美国名望的好机会。而“空军一号”就是一个象征，这样的开销美国人觉得很划算。

研制国家：美国名称：“空军一号”总统专机 研制单位：波音公司 造价：25000万美元现状：共有两架鸳鸯飞机 型号： 研制单位： 造价：现状
一、 概述：

“空军一号”本来是美国空军对美国总统乘坐的专机的一个无线电呼叫代号。从前，任何一架美国空军运输机都可能成为“空军一号”。而由美国海军陆战队负责，每天在白宫前草坪上来来去去的总统专用直升机，则被称为“海军一号”，其中“夜鹰一号”就是“海军一号”专用直升机的飞行代号。通常情况下，美国总统很少乘坐被称为“陆军一号”的陆军直升机。根据惯例，任何为美国总统服务的飞机都被冠以“空军一号”的称号。随后，“空军一号”也就成了美国总统空中客车的代名词而被收入词典。
1943年，美国总统罗斯福乘坐一架波音314客机前往卡萨布兰卡，开了美国总统乘坐专机的先河。罗斯福总统在任时的专机道格拉斯DC-4型被称作“圣牛号”，它的后备飞机则叫做“格斯威尔二号”。这种机型和它的后续机型DC-6在杜鲁门执政期间曾被称作“独立号”。艾森豪威尔使用的洛克希德公司的“星座”飞机，被冠以“鸽子二号”，其后的另一架洛克希德“超星座”飞机则被称为“鸽子三号”。
为了让总统在任何时间、任何地方都能够安全旅行，逃过种种暗杀企图，同时行使国家元首和军队最高统帅的权力，总统专机配备有许多保安人员及幕僚，装有大量的安全及高科技设备。1962年，美国空军开始采用当时最先进且最大型的波音707－320B客机作“空军一号”。肯尼迪总统先是使用道格拉斯DC-6型飞机，后来改为波音707，即萨姆26000。它在约翰逊总统时期以及尼克松总统执政的早期，是总统主要的交通工具，直至能容纳69名乘客的“萨姆27000”问世。1972年，现在已经退役的波音707—353Ｂ第一次投入使用。卡特总统曾说：“我最高兴的就是从未在这架飞机上丢失行李。”里根总统第一次乘坐它之后，就开玩笑说：“它太小了，不过还够用。”随后，里根总统提出“总统专机”的设想。他下令建造一架总统专用的高科技飞机。然而，当这架飞机诞生之日，却在里根的卸职以后、老布什总统上任之时。在1982年，空军计划用波音747来取代当时的总统专机和备用机。目前服役的两架总统专机是波音公司在1994年提供的波音747－200系列客机。波音747被美国空军认为最能适应多种复杂的任务，也是目前世界上最先进的远航空中客车。
二、性能指标：
长度：70.4米。
高度：19.4米，比五层楼还高。
空间：内部空间为371.6平方米。
重量：超过400吨。
空面：机内空间面积总达4000平方米。主舱面积370平方米，设有一个可作会议室也可作饭厅的大厅。总统和第一夫人都拥有自己的专用房间。
速度：时速可达1014公里／小时。

三、结构特点：
“空军一号”当初是由波音公司按照肯尼迪总统的要求改装的。肯尼迪希望总统专机能体现美国的国家精神，于是，在“空军一号”的机尾上印有美国国旗，机翼上有美国空军的标记和英文缩写。从外表看，机身涂着银、蓝、白三色，尾翼上漆有一面星条旗，前舱门的右下方有一个总统座机标志——美国国徽以及“美利坚合众国总统”字样。
“空军一号”内置有当今最先进的电脑、通讯、医疗器材，简直就是白宫和五角大楼的缩影。美国总统不但可以在机内办公，还可享受家居般的方便生活。卧房、浴室、厨房、餐厅等等，设备齐全。
总统有一个相当隐秘且宽敞的单间。他和第一夫人有个起居室，室内有一张可折叠的沙发床、木头制的橱柜、纯皮套的椅子、电动的窗帘。总统夫妇还有一间浴室，不单淋浴设备齐全，而且还有一整套洗手间的设施。起居室的隔壁，就是总统办公室。蓝色的石英钟挂在墙上，指示着美国本土与即将到达的目的地的时间。另外，还有一个非常现代化的医疗中心。房间里，有三个座椅、两个卧铺、一个洗脸台、专为冷藏血液与药品的一台冰箱，以及一个装满医疗器材的橱子，还有一个可折叠的手术桌，配上高敏感度的灯光。医疗中心的所有设备，完全是采用最新的尖端器材，万一发生了紧急状况，它都能立刻发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为高效。
另外还有一间工作室，里面包括了最新的录、放影设备、投影片荧幕、地图吊挂。在餐桌上，有一块木制结构的厚板子镶在桌面上，底下隐藏着一些电线与录音设备系统以及随时掐断通话的设备，以确保电话交谈的清晰度和通讯的安全性。专机上有两个具有厨房功能的地方，都放有微波炉、烤箱等。当然，为了飞机上的安全，这些器材都是特别材料制成的，不会造成危险的。最有意思的是，飞机内的电视荧屏可收到来自世界各地的节目。而且，每一个隔间内都有这么一个电视机。若想看任何节目录像，只要拿起座椅旁的电话，通知有关人员，便可收看到节目。
这架总统座机的内部，包含87部电话机、10台电脑、一架大得足以供应一个律师事务所的影印机、一台传真机，以及57架天线，几个座椅便有两架电话机。白色的电话是一般用的，而米黄色电话是过滤杂音的辨析声音沟通系统，因此电话声音极为清晰。在机舱内，有专人负责这些对外的通讯操作。多如牛毛的电子设备，控制着整架飞机的通讯网络。只要拿起座椅旁的电话，接线员便会立刻回答。这些电讯设备能很快地传到世界各地，给你想要说话的任何人，包括即使手边没有对方电话号码，接线员都会想尽办法帮你查询接通。


四、武器控制与电子系统：
而目前服役的两架总统专机是波音公司在1994年提供的波音747 －200。波音747被美国空军认为更能适应多种复杂的任务。 空军一号源自普通客机，内部则经过大改装，以适应特殊要求。机上总共4000平方米 的空间内，设置了一间椭圆办公室、用餐大厅、第一夫人房间、高级官员房间等，还有一个 医疗中心，机身中段是供总统幕僚、记者及其它工作人员使用的休息室。 机上还有两间厨房，一次起飞可携带约2000份餐点。 空军一号的电子设备非常先进。首先是机上设有由空军人员操纵的电子干扰设备，以确 保空军一号在受到导弹攻击时，能够对来袭导弹实行有效的干扰。据说空军一号曾经在中美 洲降落时受到来自地面的导弹攻击，但由于及时开启电子对抗系统和如电影般迅速发射大量 诱饵弹，从而使空军一号躲过大难。 空军一号作远程飞行时，一般没有美国空军的战斗机护航。而美国在全世界范围内可谓 “仇家满布”，一旦空军一号遭到敌对力量战斗机的拦截时怎么办呢？这就依赖空军一号上 完备的探测系统，由空军人员操纵的这套系统能为空军一号提供早期预警，如果发现敌机来 袭，则通知友好国家的空军协助，或依赖本机的干扰系统破坏敌机的雷达、通讯系统。 有别于一般747客机，空军一号有着近两倍于同型客机的电线长度，达到3000公里， 其主要功能是用于使空军一号在遭遇核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和 通讯设备的畅通运作。 由于空军一号也担任临时的空中指挥所，所以空军一号配备了完善的通讯系统，能为美 国总统及幕僚提供全球各地正常或机密的资料传送和接收。 全机一共配置了85具电话机，也同时装置了具备空对空、空对地功能的多重脉冲频率 无线电通讯设备。 一般而言，在不实施空中加油的情况下，空军一号的航程可达到11490公里，它的留空 时间约12小时。如果实行空中加油，则留空时间可达72小时，足以将美国总统送往全球任 何一处地方。

五、技术特点分析与述评：
为了保护总统的安全，“空军一号”上可以说拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统。空防人员坐在装有各种电子显示仪和屏幕的工作台前，可以监视专机四周的所有空间。一旦发现导弹袭击，他们立即启动几套电子干扰系统，诱使导弹改变方向，从而确保“空军一号”的安全。此外，“空军一号”降落在跑道上滑行时，总统和代表团成员可以通过卫星电视观察机场欢迎群众的场面。专机停泊后，它可以成为总统和代表团的通讯指挥中心。
通常在总统登机前，安全部门总要派出一队工作人员，检查并在飞机燃油上做好标记，以防有人破坏。另一队人员还要检查跑道，在总统登机或是下机时如有危险，这些人将立刻开枪。此外，每次“空军一号”起飞前，都有另一辆飞机先行起飞，机上往往装载着总统的豪华防弹轿车和一大堆轻武器弹药。当然，每次总统出门时，永远都会有一名军官帮他提着那个著名的“手提箱”，通过手提箱里的按钮装置，总统可在美国突然遭遇攻击时下令发射核弹还击。
“空军一号”专机事实上是两架鸳鸯飞机，如飞行代号“天使”的编号一架为26000，一架为27000。只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。美国总统出国访问时，至少还有１架国家情报局的通讯飞机随行，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。此外还有两架总统直升飞机、多架“大力神”军用运输机以及10辆防弹汽车随行。 如今的“空军一号”更是威风凛凛。小布什总统参加2001年10月15日在上海举行的第九届APEC领导人非正式会议的时候，可谓前呼后拥，场面壮观。由于担心恐怖分子在空中拦截、攻击“空军一号”，从“空军一号”在华盛顿升空后，在美国上空飞行时，由美国当地的国民警卫军空军部队及正规空军沿途护送。到了太平洋时，则由夏威夷为美军基地的海军战机紧随。美方与中国方面商讨后，中国破例让美国军方战机护送“空军一号”直接进入中国领空。以前美国总统专机进入中国领空后，护航的责任都是由中国战机完成的。

六、装备情况及型号演变：
1943年，当时的美国总统罗斯福乘坐一架波音314客机前往卡萨布兰卡访问，开创了 美国总统乘坐专机的先例。1962年，美国空军开始采用当时最先进且最大型的波音707－ 320B客机作为空军一号。而目前服役的两架总统专机是波音公司在1994年提供的波音747 －200。

七、作战使用：
美国总统专机堪称铜墙铁壁，但也不是万无一失。2002年4月30日晚，布什在结束了加州为期两天的行程之后，乘坐“空军一号”到达安德鲁空军基地，按惯例转乘海军“夜鹰一号”总统专用直升机从安德鲁空军基地返回白宫。起飞后不久，飞行员就发觉直升机不对劲，于是紧急返回安德鲁空军基地，当布什步下直升机的时候，该直升机的引擎开始冒烟。布什随后登上“夜鹰二号”，返回白宫，而“夜鹰三号”紧随着“二号”护送布什返回白宫。对于此事，白宫官员拒绝透露事故发生的原因。令人感到震惊的是，这是“夜鹰一号”在短短两周内第二次发生机械故障。4月17日，布什总统在前往弗吉尼亚军事学院给毕业学员们发表完演讲，准备返回白宫时，突然发现“夜鹰一号”的液压系统发生机械故障，结果布什总统被迫换乘备用的专机返回白宫。
驾驶“空军一号”专机的都是美国最优秀的飞行员，他们技术熟练，经验丰富，应变能力强。但是乘坐“空军一号”不能说是百分之百的安全和放心。
美国历届的总统就经历过几次惊心动魄的场面，其中前总统克林顿所经历的险情大概是最多的。1997年5月26日，美国一架型号为波音747的“空军一号”备用机发生故障，尾部一辅助动力装置发生故障，冒出黑烟，消防队员和维修人员马上进行维修。当时此飞机正准备从美国安德鲁斯空军基地飞往法国。
1998年1月28日，一架型号为波音707的美国“空军一号”专机发生故障，当时克林顿正在飞机上，飞机准备从伊利诺伊州起飞，当飞机正从停机坪缓缓开向跑道时，发动机发生故障。同年2月下旬，克林顿总统到中西部访问时，“空军一号”专机在降落时因为雨天跑道滑，飞机冲出跑道陷入泥潭动弹不得，克林顿总统当天不得不换乘备用的“空军一号".

据人民网报道：美国“空军一号”总统专机被称为“空中白宫”，最早是应美国已故总统约翰·F·肯尼迪的请求而批准建造的。美国总统自拥有专机以来，从约翰逊、尼克松、福特，一直到卡特、小布什，“空军一号”将美国总统载到世界各地，由于其历任总统性格特点、生活习惯不同，出现了许多奇闻怪事。
　　一、“空军一号”不怕地对空导弹
　　8月15日,据英国《每日镜报》消息，美国逮捕了两名英籍武器交易商，他们嫌涉向恐怖分子出售俄制地对空导弹，据称恐怖分子打算利用这些导弹来袭击美国总统的专机--空军一号。空军一号是全球名声最为响亮的飞机，它无疑也是“基地”组织最重要的袭击目标之一。但即使恐怖分子真的向空军一号发射了地对空导弹，那么空军一号被击落的可能性也微乎其微。两架经过重大改装内外完全一样的波音747-200B担负着“空军一号”的使命。空军一号只是一个代号，总统先生乘坐两架飞机中的哪一架飞赴国外访问，那么这架飞机就被称为“空军一号”。空军一号装备着尖端的反导防御系统；机身上覆盖的厚装甲可以抵御核弹爆炸的冲击波；所有窗户上都安装着防弹玻璃，当飞机停留在地面上时枪法再准的狙击手也无法射穿这种玻璃；机舱内是令人眼花缭乱的电子设备，总统完全能够在天空中掌控国家大事，甚至还能发动核打击。空军一号起飞后都会有战斗机护航，即使这些战斗机没能阻挡住来袭的导弹，空军一号本身的两套防御系统仍然可以发挥功用。空军一号上的ECM电子对抗系统可以干扰敌方雷达，迷惑导弹的瞄准系统，使其无法锁定目标。对于热寻的导弹空军一号也自有妙招，当这种导弹来袭时，空军一号可发射出大量信号弹，诱骗热寻的导弹转而追踪明亮炽热的信号弹。
　　二、总统与“空军一号”接吻
　　目前，美国总统有两架“空军一号”专机，每一架专机上都装饰豪华，配备了全球最有实力的国家元首所应拥有的一切现代化先进设施。“空军一号”专机有五层楼高，重达400吨，可以为总统、总统助手、总统安全人员及随行记者团体提供2000份餐饮用品。机上安装有85条电话线路，其中28条线路系保密线路。为了不使总统忘记自己的总统身份，他身边所有豪华的配备——座椅安全带系扣、枕头、喝水杯、餐巾纸，甚至他的剃须用具都带有用来提醒他的“总统标志”。现任总统小布什的父亲老布什当年任总统期间，对“空军一号”的感觉特别到位。每次乘坐专机出访的前一天晚上，老布什总是提前到达机场，并且常常喜欢在“空军一号”上甜甜地睡上一觉，一觉醒来，飞机已经飞完行程的一半路程了。卡特总统出访时曾经表示，他每次乘坐“空军一号”专机时，自己表现得非常兴奋，“我连自己的老妈都给忘了”。
　　三、总统专机不享受特殊待遇
　　1943年，罗斯福总统秘密飞往卡萨布兰卡与英国首相会晤，制定盟军进攻欧洲大陆的计划。这次长达42小时的飞行，对双腿瘫痪的罗斯福是一场相当严峻的挑战。当时，他没有提任何特别的要求。随行人员移走了几个座位，给他铺了一张床，但他更喜欢坐起来，一路上都醒着，因为飞机上的其他人都没有地方可躺，他不想享受特别的待遇。罗斯福的这种行为与他个人的道德修养固然有关，与他所置身的社会文化环境恐怕关系更大。他无疑会觉得与人同甘共苦是值得尊敬的行为方式，反之，享受特别关照，如果不是可耻的，至少是可怜的。其心理基础则是根深蒂固的人与人之间理应平等的社会意识。有时，美国总统在专机上，他与随行人员一起谈论国家大事，甚至作出一些你都难以置信的结论。1989年5月，老布什总统在专机上与新闻人员随便聊天。他说：巴拿马的诺列加过去几年让美国非常头疼。在1987年，美国两个大陪审团指认他犯有多项走私毒品和洗钱的罪名。他还说：“巴拿马人民应该去做所有事情来把诺列加先生从那里除掉，人民的意志不应该被这个人以及一小帮暴徒所阻碍。”这真是令闻者吃惊：难道美国总统正大肆鼓吹和煽动一个主权制国家的叛乱？
　　四、总统专机实施顶极警戒
　　2003年7月某日深夜，南非行政首都比勒陀利亚机场内灯火通明，人头攒动，南非大小官员站在寒风中正在等待美国总统布什的到来。当夜，美国总统专机———“空军一号”降落在跑道上。专机在跑道上滑行的同时，三辆满载南非和美国特种部队的军车紧随其后，机场上空另有一架军用直升机负责空中警卫。“空军一号”停稳后，特种部队士兵以最快速度冲下军车，迅速在飞机四周形成了一道环形护卫圈，将前来迎接布什的人群与飞机隔开。在场的一位记者说：“虽然没有拍到多少布什的镜头，但仍不虚此行，因为记者们见识到了什么叫‘顶级警戒’。”为保证布什的非洲之行平安无事，美国海陆空军、中央情报局以及负责保护总统的美国特别勤务局都进行了精心的准备。在动用大量人力的同时，美国还用间谍卫星、微传感探测器、机载高精度扫描仪等高科技设备来保护布什的人身安全。在布什到访的非洲5国之一乌干达时，300名美国海军陆战队员也进驻恩德培，负责国际机场和布什下榻的饭店的安全保卫工作。美国安全人员还控制了乌干达其他4个地方的简易机场，以防范来自空中的袭击。为加强安全措施，乌干达民航局还宣布布什访问期间，恩德培国际机场将停止其他一切业务，取消6家航空公司的进出航班。除国际机场的一些工作人员外，其他人员一律不准进入机场。布什的非洲之行时间并不长，到访国也不多，但负责保护总统的安全部门却备感压力。这是因为美国近年来接连发动了两场战争，四处打击恐怖主义、布什本人的强硬态度，使现在的美国总统面临比以往任何时候都要大的危险。
　　五、总统专机与偷渡客一起出访
　　2003年7月，陪同美国总统布什一同在非洲访问的除了总统专机上乘坐的政府高官，还有一架飞机上搭乘的是新闻媒体的记者。可是就在布什开始对乌干达进行访问时，美国的安全官员竟然在记者乘坐的飞机内发现了一名偷渡客。当布什总统抵达乌干达，并准备与乌干达总统在维多利亚湖畔的一处地点进行会晤时，安全人员在那里发现了这名身份不明的偷渡客。美国安全部门的秘密警察随即对记者乘坐的飞机进行了彻底清查。白宫旅行部门的官员事后证实称：他(偷渡客)没有记者所持的认可凭证，也没有护照。他什么也没有。他说，这家美联航的波音747包机一共应搭载130名媒体记者。白宫工作人员和安全部门的秘密警察事后对该飞机进行了彻底清查。美国事后也证实说，有人曾在南非行政首都比勒陀利亚提供给美国记者居住的宾馆内看到过这名男子。这名男子当时表示要和记者一同前往乌干达，还说自己是南非的一名记者，但很显然他没有任何证明。
　　六、总统专机停机坪经常发生误闯事件
　　2001年9·11事件后，美国在华盛顿、纽约和其他城市加强了航空管制，尤其是特别关注小型飞机的飞行。在2002年7月，三架小型飞机闯入戴维营的航空管制区后，美国战机曾一度升空戒备。2002年6月一架小型飞机接近白宫6公里范围后，白宫进行了紧急疏散。2003年，一名分明是迷路的见习驾驶员把自己的直升机降落在安德鲁空军基地，也就是美国总统专机空军一号使用的机场。他原本试图将直升机驾驶到16公里外的一个民用机场。当时，负责管理美国总统专机的第89空运联队表示，一名瑞典人把一架直升飞机降落在安德鲁斯空军基地后，保安人员立即到现场戒备。这架直升飞机闯入安德鲁斯基地时，布什总统正在马里兰州的戴维营度假。
　　七、“空军一号”有时出现通信中断
　　2002年，美国总统布什乘坐的“空军一号”专机竟然出现了“关键时候掉链子”的尴尬一幕，以致在空中的总统无法召开紧急电视电话会议，看不到最新的电视新闻转播画面，甚至一度无法同地面的高级助手进行正常的通信联络。在紧急情况下出现如此局面自然让负责总统专机事务的官员“颜面无光”。对此，布什对这种专机通信设备落后的现象感到“非常恼火”，因此下令“空军一号”专机随后进行大规模的“现代化改装”，现已耗资580万美元。据透露，专家小组主要是在完善美国“空军一号”的“总统资料系统”，即专机上为总统及其幕僚提供“空中办公”环境的系统，其中包括“无线电广播、卫星电视、宽带通讯、高速互联网及区域网络”等。在解释美国空军为何要给总统专机的通信系统“动大手术”时，美国战略指挥部曾透露，“9·11”事件发生后，布什总统想在“空军一号”专机上与白宫国家安全会议联络，但无法做到，而且当时在专机上甚至无法收看到美国有线电视新闻网的节目，这令布什总统“很不满意”，也使美国空军“大丢面子”。
　　八、“空军一号”没有新闻自由
　　当记者、摄影师、工程师等媒体工作人员有随总统出访的任务时，他们就得在黎明前动身前往安德鲁斯空军基地。如果总统要到国外访问，他们还得提前一天把行李送去安检托运。到达目的地后再办理一大堆入关手续。交通官员要审查随行人员的名单，再由情报官员发放身份证明，或者说“旅行通行证”。这些通行证从带色码的标牌到护胸甲似的圆形章应有尽有，上面的照片活像是警察局的嫌疑犯照片。核实过身份，脖子上挂了通行证，他们才能上飞机。美国总统布什有一个“牛脾气”：禁止在总统专机“空军一号”上播放美国有线新闻网(CNN)和福克斯新闻网的新闻。在布什总统登机之前，随行工作人员一定要确保飞机上的电视机没有播放有线新闻。否则，一旦布什看到CNN或者福克斯的节目，他肯定会像大怒：“是哪个家伙调到这个台的？！”布什在乘坐“空军一号”时，有时候会到飞机会议室的一个跑步机上练习跑步。
　　九、“空军一号”空调坏了也不能随便修有一次，里根总统从堪萨斯州飞往犹他州。途中飞机上的空调系统坏了，乘坐的后舱气温降到了华氏90度。头等舱里却一切正常。当时白宫办公厅副主任迈克·迪弗打瞌睡时不得不盖了两床毛毯。飞机到达犹他州希尔空军基地后，“空军一号”上的宪兵却以“安全考虑”为由阻止基地的机械师来检修空调。
　　十、“空军一号”经常接到匿名电话
　　1969年2月27日，“空军一号”正准备离开柏林返回华盛顿。飞机已经准备好起飞了，控制台要求飞行员保持原位。柏林机场有人接到恐吓电话，说要炸掉飞机。还有一次类似的事件发生在柏林。两次事件均为一个匿名电话声称，已经在飞机上放置了炸弹并且要炸毁总统专机。为了必要的安全防范，工作人员都会检查所有带上飞机的东西。每件行李在被带上飞机之前，通常都要经过X光检查。但是这次所有的行李都必须打开仔细检查，结果没有发现爆炸品。1971年，有人打匿名电话给美国航空公司在纽约洛克菲勒中心的机票预订部，说有人将要炸掉总统专机。航空公司马上致电华盛顿的情报机关，然后情报机关通知加利福尼亚总统下榻的地方。

“海军一号”


2月5日，美国总统奥巴马走向准备从美国华盛顿的白宫南草坪起飞前往安德鲁斯空军基地的“海军一号”总统专机。
新华网2月6日电 奥巴马将前往弗吉尼亚州的威廉斯堡参加民主党的会议。这是奥巴马自1月入主白宫后首次乘坐总统专机。美国总统出行最有名的交通工具是由波音７４７改装的专机“空军一号”。但“空军一号”不从华盛顿起飞，美国总统要出行，一般要从白宫乘坐“海军一号”直升机飞行１０分钟至马里兰州的安德鲁斯空军基地，再改乘“空军一号”。
美国五角大楼已着手为美国总统物色新的“空中坐骑”，以代替现有“空军一号”。
　　美国空军本月告知多家防务承包商，称第一架新专机应在2017年投入使用，再在以后几年间采购另外两架大型喷气式客机，以形成由三架飞机组成的总统专机机队，代替现有由两架飞机组成的专机机队。
　　现有“空军一号”由波音747型客机改装而成，5层楼高，内含372平方米空间。虽然规模可观、乘坐舒适，但波音747设计陈旧，因而零部件日渐昂贵、供应趋于紧张，军方认为采购新专机相对而言可长远节省费用。
　　新专机将以商业版客机为原型，加以改装，增大航空发动机动力、加快飞行速度。
　　不过，鉴于新专机定于2017年财政年度、即从当年10月开始的年度内交付使用，现任总统奥巴马即使在现有一届4年任期之后再连任一届，至迟2017年1月也将卸任，可能无缘使用。
奥巴马就任美国第44任总统之后，他的御用座驾就成为各方关注的话题。其陆上座驾是凯迪拉克的超级防弹改装车，而他的总统专机“空军一号”却依然很神秘。
不惧任何空中袭击
据报道，美国军方为奥巴马打造的总统专机是两架一模一样的波音747，仅当奥巴马乘坐其上的时候，它才被命名为“空军一号”，而另一架则处于备用状态。一名美国空军发言人称：“这两架飞机完全称得上军事飞机，其设计性能足以抵挡任何空中袭击。”
据悉，“空军一号”自身的防卫性能堪称一绝：首先，当它飞行至8000米高空时，它能对敌方雷达进行干扰，使之变成“瞎子”；其次，面对敌方发射的热追踪导弹，它能及时发射照明弹，以便起到迷惑作用；第三，面对原子弹爆炸所产的巨大的电磁冲击波时，它能在瞬间产生一种高科技“防护盾”，以确保机上敏感的电子设备不受干扰。
空中椭圆形办公室
由于安全性能卓越，奥巴马的“空军一号”又被称作“空中的椭圆形办公室”。而斯考特·特纳上校便是这驾新总统专机的掌舵人，他曾是布什总统专机的副驾驶。
虽然“空军一号”上并未安装任何攻击性武器，可是每次出行时，都会有一架全副武装的F16战斗机为其护航。后者携带有500发20mm口径的多管加农炮炮弹，以及6枚空对空导弹，火力足够威猛。
　　相当于六层楼高
据了解，奥巴马的总统专机造价约6亿美元，每小时的飞行成本约为4万美元。它重达400吨，长70米，高20米，比一座冰球场还要长，相当于六层楼高。机头部位分上下两层：上层是驾驶舱，下层是奥巴马的总统套房。
在飞机的尾部，设有一个特殊的照明弹发射装置。每当遇上敌人炮火或者热追踪导弹时，它就可以起到迷惑对方的作用。此外，机上还设有先进的反雷达和电磁干扰系统，可以达到最佳的“隐身”目的

    

 美国“空军一号”总统专机全扫描  
        “空军一号”简介
　　“空军一号”(Air Force One)作为美国总统的专机，有6层楼高。这架蓝白相间的波音747飞机已成为美国的权力象征，也成为美国霸权地位的国际图腾。 
　　军事专家看“空军一号”
　　空军一号军事专家认为，美国的“空军一号”堪称世界上最精密、最具毁灭力的航空器。它的电子对抗系统可以干扰敌方雷达，迷惑导弹的瞄准系统，使其无法锁定目标。据英国《简氏防务周刊》介绍，“空军一号”还配备有一套定向武器系统，可以确定来袭导弹的方位，并发射激光或红外线光束，破坏导弹的制导系统。“空军一号”的探测设备也十分完备，能够与天基和陆基侦测网配合，及时发现具有威胁性的空中目标，并及时通知最近的美军或盟国战机提供空中支援。“空军一号”上具有空对空、空对地功能的脉冲频率无线电通信设备，可在受到核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和通信设备的正常运转。

　　在不进行空中加油的情况下，“空军一号”的航程可达11490公里，在空中滞留的时间约为12小时；如果进行空中加油，则可在空中滞留72小时，足以将美国总统送往全球任何一个地方。

 

 

　　“空军一号”的设备设施
　　美国的“空军一号”是名副其实的“空中白宫”，奉行“总统在地上能干什么，在空中也照干”的原则。机上共有4000平米的空间。总统拥有一个“总统套房”，起居室内有一张席梦思床、真皮沙发、高级地毯、电动窗帘等；套房内还有一间浴室，淋浴设备齐全，总统可以舒舒服服地享受。起居室的隔壁就是总统椭圆形办公室，另外还有一间工作室，里面配有最新的录影设备、投射荧幕、地图。专机上还有第一夫人专用房间、高级官员房间等。机身中段是供总统助手、记者及其他工作人员使用的休息室。

　　“空军一号”上还有一个大餐厅和两个具有现代化功能的“空中厨房”，可以同时满足100人的就餐需要。机上还有一个医疗中心，配有一个可折叠的手术台。医疗中心的所有设备完全是采用最先进的尖端器材，遇到任何紧急状况，它都能立即发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为现代化。

　　“空军一号”上的食品采集属于随机模式，为了保证总统的食品安全，通常会在飞机起飞的当天早上，或者前一天晚上去普通超市采集，避免恐怖分子的蓄意破坏。

　　“空军一号”同时也是“空中五角大楼”，担任临时的美国三军空中指挥中心。机上配备了完善的通讯系统，能为美国总统及其助手提供全球各地正常或机密资料的传送和接收。机上各种电线长度达到3000公里，配置了85部电话机、10台高级电脑、1架大型复印机、1台传真机，以及57架各类天线。机上装配了具备空对空、空对地功能的多重脉冲频率无线电通讯设备，其主要功能是当“空军一号”在遭遇核爆炸影响或外来电波干扰时，保证机上人员的安全和通讯设备的畅通运作。

 　　“空军一号”的服役方式　　“空军一号”专机事实上是两架鸳鸯飞机，只要运载总统的主机飞到哪里，备用的副机就跟到哪里。如果主机发生机械故障，总统可以随时换乘备用专机。另外，美国总统出国访问时，至少还有1架国家情报局的通讯飞机陪同，目的是监测可能来袭的导弹电波。此外还有2架总统直升飞机、多架“大力神”军用运输机以及10辆防弹汽车随行。林肯牌高级防弹车每辆价格在50万美元以上。 
 　　严格来说，“空军一号”只是一个象征性的称号，它不区分飞机的种类与数量，只要是美国现任总统的座机，都统称为“空军一号”(也就是说无论哪架飞机，只要美国现任总统乘坐，从登上飞机的那一刻起，该飞机即被称作“空军一号”，随即归属美国空军管辖）。今天的总统座机已不仅仅只有两架波音747了，但仍然被叫做“空军一号”。
　　同样的，由美国海军陆战队控制的，每天在白宫前草坪上来来去去的总统私人飞机，被称为“海军陆战队一号”。美国总统很少乘坐的陆军飞机，也被称为“陆军一号”。副总统乘坐的飞机则被称为“空军二号”。20世纪50年代，“空军一号”首次被用于称呼总统的座机。   　　当然这样的装备是绝对不会廉价的。白宫有支付“空军一号”费用的专门预算。美国总统的出国访问是显示美国这个超级大国综合实力、显示美国名望的好机会。而“空军一号”就是一个象征，这样的开销美国人觉得很划算。  
 　　“空军一号”机身上覆盖的厚装甲可以抵御核弹爆炸的冲击波；所有窗户上都安装着防弹玻璃；专机内还有一个自动弹射装置，遇到紧急情况可以自动启动，把总统弹到安全的地点降落。
　　“空军一号”还拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统，专机上的ECM电子对抗系统可以干扰敌方雷达，迷惑导弹的瞄准系统，使其无法锁定目标。对于热寻的导弹，“空军一号”也自有妙招，当这种导弹来袭时，“空军一号”可发射出大量信号弹，诱骗热寻的导弹转而追踪明亮炽热的信号弹。因而，它也被称为“世界上最安全的飞机”。    　　空军一号辛苦服役60年 　　富兰克林·罗斯福总统于62年前第一次乘坐飞机。自此，每一任美国总统都有专机。上世纪50年代，艾森豪威尔总统乘坐专机出行。突然，一架拥有与专机同样代号的民航飞机与总统专机同时进入一个空域，地面人员一时分不清哪架才是总统的专机。为了安全起见，总统专机之后就有了一个特殊而响亮的名字——“空军一号”。   　　“空军一号”机尾部分印着星条旗，机翼上有美国空军的标记和英文缩写。前舱门的右下方有一个巨大的美国国徽。“空军一号”事实上是一个象征性的称号，它不区分飞机的型号与数量，只要是现任总统的座机，都称为“空军一号”。目前，布什的专机是波音747-200B，是里根总统定购并于1991年交付使用的，造价超过4亿美元。   　　“空军一号”内置有当今最先进的电脑、通讯、医疗器材，简直就像白宫和五角大楼的缩影。美国总统不但可以在机内办公，还可享受家居般的方便生活。卧房、浴室、厨房、餐厅等等，设备齐全。总统有一个相当隐秘且宽敞的隔间。他和第一夫人有个起居室，室内有一张可折叠的沙发床、木头制的橱柜、纯皮的椅套、长毛的地毯、电动的窗帘。机内还有一间浴室，不单淋浴设备齐全，还有一面大镜子、一个面盆、一个电动剃刀桌、一套现代化抽水马桶。起居室的隔壁，就是总统办公室，由一个原木桌和皮套椅所组成。蓝色的石英钟挂在墙上，包括美国本土、华盛顿特区与到达地点的时间。  
 　　另外，还有一个非常现代化的医疗中心。房间里，有三个头等舱大小的座椅、两个卧铺、一个洗脸台、一台冰箱专为冷藏血液与药品用，以及一个装满医疗器材的橱子；还有一个可折叠的手术桌，配上高敏感度的灯光。医疗中心的所有设备，完全是采用最新式的尖端器材，万一发生了任何紧急状况，它都能立时发挥急救功能，甚至比一般的医院急诊室更为现代化。另外还有一间工作室，里面包括了最新的录放影设备、投射片荧幕、地图吊挂，以及其他会议室的任何必需设施。在华丽的餐桌上，有一块木制结构的厚板子镶在桌面上，底下隐藏着一些电线与录音设备及随时卡断的系统，以确保通讯安全与清晰的电话交谈。专机上包括了两个具有厨房功能的地方，都放有微波炉、烤箱等。当然，为了飞机上的安全，这些器材都是特别设计，不会造成危险的。  
 　　机上设备齐全，白宫幕僚在地上做的一切事，在空中也能做。最有意思的是，飞机内的电视荧屏可收到来自世界各地的节目。而且，每一个隔间内都有这么一个电视机。若想看任何节目录像，只要拿起座椅旁的电话，通知有关人员，便可收看到节目。

 　　这架总统座机的内部，包含87座电话机、10台电脑、一架大得足以供应一个律师事务所的影印机、一台传真机，以及57架天线，几个座椅便有两架电话机。白色的电话是一般用的，而米黄色电话是过滤杂音的辨视声音沟通系统，电话声音极为清晰。在上屋机舱内，有专人负责这些对外的通讯操作。一壁的电子设备，操纵整架飞机复杂的通讯网络。只要拿起座椅旁的电话，接线员便会立刻回答。这些电讯设备能很快地传到世界各地，给你想要说话的任何人，包括即使手边没有对方电话号码，接线员都会想尽办法帮你查询接通。  
 　　“空军一号”的防护　　美国在世界上树敌太多，因而美国总统则就成了国际恐怖主义的首要攻击目标。因此，“空军一号”上可以说拥有世界上最先进的反导弹系统。空防人员坐在装有各种电子显示仪和屏幕的工作台前，可以监视专机四周的所有空间。一旦发现导弹袭击，他们立即启动几套电子干扰系统，诱使导弹改变方向，从而确保“空军一号”的安全。此外，“空军一号”降落在跑道上滑行时，总统和代表团成员可以通过卫星电视观察机场欢迎群众的场面。专机停泊后，它可以成为总统和代表团的通讯指挥中心。
　　
 　　通常在总统登机前，安全部门总要派出一队工作人员，检查并在飞机燃油上做好标记，以防有人破坏。另一队人员还要检查跑道，在总统登机或是下机时如有危险，这些人将立刻开枪。此外，每次“空军一号”起飞前，都有另一辆飞机先行起飞，机上往往装载着总统的豪华防弹轿车和一大堆轻武器弹药。当然，每次总统出门时，永远都会有一名军官帮他提着那个著名的“手提箱”，通过手提箱里的按钮装置，总统可在美国突然遭遇攻击时下令发射核弹还击。 
 　　“空军一号”的性能　　把“空军一号”称作“空中飞行的白宫”，一点也不言过其实。它每天24小时都处于准备起飞状态；18名机组人员和最精密的仪器，使它能在任何时候、任何地方与白宫进行最紧密的联系；举凡总统所需要的一切服务，它都可以提供。可以说，美国空军一号是世界上最精密、最具毁灭力的航空器。目前使用的两架波音747－200B“空军一号”专机是里根总统订购的，由波音公司制造，它们均于1991年交付使用，造价4.1亿美元。这架波音747—200型新机，专供总统私人使用。光是从2001年的9月份开始，这架飞机已搭载美国总统飞行了17万多公里的路程。这架飞机有六层楼高，可搭载25名幕僚，有可容纳75名乘客的普通客机那样的宽敞空间，一次起飞可携带约2000份餐点。  
 　　机舱大约有一千多平方米，有足够的地方，可以来回走动、睡眠、伸展身躯和用餐，完全和一个高级办公场所一样。如果遇到军事方面的紧急情况，这架“空军一号”会立刻由电磁雷达设备中获得传讯的保护，所有的电缆会立即被停止。另外，一种质材特殊、不易识别的地型金属荧幕会覆盖住所有的窗子，好使飞机本身不易被查觉追踪。这架飞机还有空中加油的能力，可持续飞行，而不必降落地面添加油料。只要总统一声令下，空军一号可载他前往任何地方，并给予最完善的服务。 

　　现在的“空军一号”　　现任的美国总统贝拉克.奥巴马的“空军一号” 是波音747-200B，专机编号为VC－25A，速度是900公里／小时，飞行高度是1万米，续航能力达10000多公里。该机是从1990年8月正式投入使用的。

　　长度：70.4米

　　高度：19.4米，

　　空间：内部空间为371.6立方米。

　　重量：超过400吨。

　　空面：机内空间面积总达4000平方米。主舱面达370平方米，设有一个可作会议室也可作饭厅的大厅。总统和第一夫人都拥有自己的专用房间。

　　速度：时速可达1014公里／小时。

　　机师：要想当上“空军一号”的驾驶员，至少要有2000小时以上在世界范围内的飞行经验，以及完美无瑕的飞行纪录。

　　安全：拥有无懈可击的安全纪录，被美国人认为是世界上最安全的飞机。

　　座位：通常记者坐在机舱后面，总统的随行人员坐在前面。地位越重要的人，坐得离总统越近。

　　僚机：实际上总是有两架都叫“空军一号”的总统专机，编号相连。

　　机场：停放在安德鲁空军基地，离白宫16公里远。

　　防卫：它是一种完全订制的飞机，配备高度保密的防卫系统，包括反导弹系统。

　　通讯：机上有87条不同的电话线，其中28条是防窃听的，通话范围无限制。

　　纪念性：机上有许多东西印有总统徽章，包括安全带、枕头、毛毯、茶杯、浴巾、餐巾和剃须刀。

    美国总统办公室的旗帜   

 　　
国家旗
总统旗

美国陆军军旗
美国海军陆战队军旗

美国海军军旗

美国空军军旗

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