全球快报:1825年 约翰·小亚当斯总统 就职演讲

1825年3月4日，约翰·昆西·亚当斯在华盛顿特区正式就任美国第6任总统。

约翰·昆西·亚当斯，是美国第二任总统约翰·亚当斯的之子，也被称为小亚当斯。出身美国民主共和党，但由于此时民主共和党面临着严重分裂，因此他的党派也被称为国家共和党(即美国共和党前身)，他任期内，党内多数成员脱离民主共和党，自立为民主党，因此他也是最后一任出身民主共和党的总统。他和父亲是美国历史上第一对、也是目前为止唯二的父子总统，他此前曾在政府中任外交官，是门罗总统手下的得力干将。对内方面，小亚当斯总统主张加强联邦政府的权力，提高关税，奉行贸易保护主义，但是他的政策并未得到广泛支持，因此多数计划都未能付诸实践，因此后人提到这位总统时，很难说出他有何作为；不过他成功推动了美国基础设施建设，包括铁路、公路和运河等交通建设，这无疑助推了美国的经济繁荣和工业化；他提议由联邦政府资助私立学校，并大范围建立公立学校，促进美国教育事业发展；对美洲原住民的处理方式上，小亚当斯总统主张以购买的方式和平得到原住民的土地，而非一贯的用武力驱逐；总的来说，小亚当斯的政绩并不耀眼，但是无疑他任期内，美国依然在向好的方向发展。

(资料图片仅供参考)

对外方面，小亚当斯总统是门罗主义的主要推动者之一，他以“扩张、孤立、和平、经济”为自己任期内的外交理念，即在不触怒欧洲列强的前提下，尽可能以和平的方式实现版图扩张，同时顾及国家的经济利益；他试图同墨西哥谈判，以说服对方出售德克萨斯地区，同时与美洲各国积极交流，试图扩张美国的影响力，但由于欧洲列强的干涉，以及美国南方势力的阻挠，他的外交政策几乎全部落空。

1828年大选中，小亚当斯总统败给了自己在民主共和党的老对手，即新成立的美国民主党候选人安德鲁·杰克逊，1829年正式卸任。

卸任后，他十分失落，但并没有同之前的几位总统那样选择退休，而是继续活跃于政坛。

1833年，他参与创立了美国辉格党，且作为众议员，在美国政坛中发挥着自己的影响力，此后十几年的南北矛盾中，他也是废奴主义的拥护者之一。

1848年2月21日，小亚当斯在众议院因中风突然昏倒，他被议员们紧急送往医院，暂时保住了性命，然而他的身体状况仍在持续恶化中，他也自知自己大限将至，要求死后安葬在故乡。

1848年2月23日，约翰·昆西·亚当斯因中风去世，享年80岁。

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. —— John Quincy Adams

坚持按准则投票，尽管你可能会很孤单，但是你可能会因此非常珍视选票带给你的没有错过的美好回忆。 —— 约翰·昆西·亚当斯

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.

按照联邦宪法的规定和惯例，我将如同前几任总统一样，准备就任这一职位，我的同胞们，我在你们和上帝面前庄严宣誓，我将会接受人民的号召，出任总统一职，我愿鞠躬尽瘁、担起重任，完成我的使命。

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. 

首先，我会遵守、拥护、捍卫宪法，以向同胞们展现我在任期内的义务与原则。这本备受崇敬的文书，列举了行政长官所拥有的的权力，以及他需履行的义务，在正文开头处，它就宣示了联邦政府所致力的目的，即使用高尚的方式、矢志不渝地让联邦尽善尽美，并维护正义、保障国内安宁、各州共同防御、促进全体幸福，以及捍卫联邦子民和他们后代的自由。

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.

自从该社会契约通过以来至今，一代人已经离世。他们当中最杰出的人编写了宪法，并以宪法治国，使我们度过了世界历史中的一段多事之秋，也让遭波及的人们度过了战争与和平带来的跌宕起伏，它没有辜负它同时代贤能才士所寄予的厚望。宪法促进了我国所珍视的长期福祉；宪法维护我们民族的自由与幸福，其水准在一定程度上远超普通人类所能企及。我们感激前辈们为我们设立了此宪法，现在它将作为前辈们的宝贵遗产，传递到我们手上，他们为我们以身作则树立的榜样，他们为我们留下的劳动果实，同样会丝毫无损地传给下一代。

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.

这一伟大的国家大法颁布后的36年里，数不尽的法律根据其条例、在其授权下通过，有效地将其权力付诸实践。宪政部门根据各部关系，将行政力分配至外交事务、财政收入支出、联邦海陆军队管理。宪法和其他法律的解释权归司法部的协调部门所有，其同立法部门协调合作解决建设中因交流障碍而不可避免的重大问题。联邦成立25周年纪念刚刚过去，独立宣言发布50周年纪念即将到来。这二者都需要宪法来进行完善。

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. 

从独立至今，我国人口从400万增长到1200万。曾以密西西比河为界的领土如今从大西洋延伸到太平洋。新加入的州数量同最初的十三州邦联几乎持平。我们同世界主要国家都缔结了和平、友好、贸易条约。其他民族和地区的人不是被我们武力征服的，而是通过契约加入我国，现在他们和我们一样享有权利、承担义务、同甘共苦。我们的伐木工砍伐森林；我们的农民耕种土地；我们的商人航兴四海。技术的发展让人类进一步统治自然。自由和法律不断传播。我国政府同世界其他政府一样高效，我们仅用了其他国家一年的开支、用一代人的时间便完成了人类集体的所有目标。我没有丝毫夸张，这就是我们的生活景象，这一切得益于人人平等、共和原则的宪法。即使这一景象还存在缺陷，那也只不过是世间全人类目前都无法解决的缺陷。

From evil physical, moral, and politicalit 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.

我们有时会遭到天谴，身患疾病；也时常遭到他国的错误和不公正对待，甚至面临战争；最后，还会面临我们内部的分歧，可能只要允许自由，就势必会有分歧，但这些分歧不止一次地威胁到联邦统一，威胁到我们现有的幸福生活和未来的美好期望。分歧的原因多种多样，有对共和政府理论的质疑；有对我们外交政策的反对；也有因利益而对其他地区产生的歧视和敌视，以及陌生人之间容易产生的偏见。

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 libertyall 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. 

不过令我感到欢欣鼓舞的是，上一代人开启的人权理论尝试，最终取得了巨大成功，其效果完全达到了人们的最佳预期。我国政府一直在维护国家统一，做到公平公正，确保国内安宁，提供集体保护，促进生活幸福，捍卫人身自由。立足当下时刻，我们回望已经离去的上一代，展望正在前进的下一代，不禁感到欢心，满怀希望。

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. 

当我们总结过去，可以得到适用于未来的教训。虽然我国两大政党在对我国的意见和情感上有巨大分歧，但坦诚地说句公道话，两党都对我国政府的建立和发展贡献了自身的杰出才能、刚正不阿、爱国热情以及无私牺牲，因此两党犯下的一些错误，考虑到人无完人也都可以给予谅解。

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. 

就在首届美国政府根据宪法开始执政的同时，欧洲爆发了革命战争，这场战争激起了大家的同情共鸣，也引起了各党派的巨大争议，但最终我国也卷入战争，联邦的首都也受到波及。欧洲的战争持续了25年，在此期间，联邦和欧洲的关系基础产生了难以缝合的裂痕，这也是本届联邦政府最艰巨的任务。随着法国大革命引起的战乱结束，我国也同英国恢复了和平，各党派争斗不休的分歧也就不复存在。从此之后，无论政府理论原则，还是对外事务原则，各派都再也没有出现过分歧，各党派团结一致，共同为公共舆论和法律辩论奉献更多活力。

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. 

我们的统一政治信条是：人民意志是全世界合法政府的根基，为了人民幸福亦可将其摧毁；自由、纯洁和定期全民选举既是博爱事业发展的最优保险，也是防止权力滥用的最佳保障；无论是联邦政府整体还是各州政府，其本质都是权力有限的政治体，也都是服务于同一主人的公仆，它们都在各自的领域不受操控，同时也不侵犯彼此；在和平时期做好预防战争的准备，是保障和平最稳固的方式；管理经济和财政支出时要严谨，不要加重人民的税收，且要尽可能地降低赋税；军队必须屈服于人民；新闻自由和宗教自由不可侵犯；我国的对外政策是和平，我们共同的政治信念让联邦成为了一艘可以拯救世界的方舟。曾经几时或许有人质疑联邦代议制民主政府能否高效有序地处理一个大国的公共事务，现在这些疑虑已经不复存在；曾经有人计划摧毁联邦，在联邦的废墟上建立不平等的新政权，现在这些计划已经烟消云散；曾经有人过于依恋或排斥外国，现在这些感情也已经随风而去。

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.　

十年来，国内外的和平淡化了政治争辩中的火药味，曾经最难以协调的政治派别也和睦相处。全国每个人仍需做出努力，展现宽容，消灭偏见和激进吗，才可改变此前人们对政党唯命是从的情况。摒弃过去的一切仇恨，以同胞和朋友的身份相拥，只崇敬才能和美德，只有真正愿意促进党派融合的人，才会在就我国原则的辩论中得到支持。

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. 

政党思想的碰撞来源于投机想法，亦或源自对国家政策的不同看法，其本质注定不会长久。那些以地理为天然疆界的国家，或许可以更为长久，但是它们不适应其他地区的土壤、气候，以及当地人民的生活习性，也使得它们更加危险。而这恰恰体现出了我国政体的巨大制度优势，对联邦和民族都有利处。这告诫我们了一个永恒的道理，即要以同样的重心维护各州政府和联邦国家整体的权利。只要不涉及外国或联邦内的其他州，那么一个州的内部事务就完全归属州政府自己管辖。但只要涉及到了联邦整体与外国的权利和利益，则必须交于联邦政府做裁决。

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.

尽管有些细节尚需进一步商讨，不过联邦政府和州政府二者的职责在国家总体原则中阐述得很明确。联邦政府必须尊重州政府的权利；各州政府也要以尊重、捍卫联邦政府为己任。曾经大家心中普遍对异域他乡的陌生人存在的偏见，如今也荡然无存，联邦各地的代表每年汇聚此地进行大型国事会议会，也缓解了各地利益冲突的矛盾。全国各地的杰出才人代表自己选民的利益来此开会，同时学习才能评估，并在彼此间传播道德。相互尊重、增进社交的习性，以及各位各地代表在国都开会时所缔结的私人友谊，都促进了国家的和谐、联邦的团结。

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. 

在重新拜读了整部联邦宪法的目标和条文后，我明白了我上任总统之路的当务之急，即请求上任总统的政府能够辅我执政。上届政府已经在和平时期离去，大家都知道他们为国家和国家荣誉做出了多么卓越的贡献。

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.

上届政府的政策特点基本同国会的意愿一致，即：珍视和平的同时要为防御战争做好准备；尊重他国的权利，同时捍卫我国权利；无论哪个国家提出了自由和平权的原则，都应得到我国尊重；尽可能早地还清国债；将军队限制在较小的规模内；改善军队的组织纪律；建立并运营一座军校；为国家的所有重大利益提供平等保护；促进印第安部落开化；在宪法赋权联邦统治的疆域内继续进行内部政治改革。以上是这位杰出公民第一次就职时许下的诺言，在他的8年任期中，国内税已经被废除；6000万的国债已经偿清；为年长、贫困的独立战争老兵提供了生活保障；常备军已经裁减完毕，其组织也经过了改革完善；财政支出管理更加高效；我国不仅收购了佛罗里达，还把疆域扩张到了太平洋；西半球南方的各独立国家得到了承认，成为对欧洲当权者的榜样范例；国防事业取得进展，修筑防御工事、扩建海军以及打击非洲奴隶贸易方面皆有建树；我们帮助原住民猎人学习耕种、开发他们的头脑，我们探索联邦内陆地区，我们进行科学研究调查，准备进一步开发我国资源，以推动国内发展。

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. 

在简要地回顾了上任总统的诺言和政绩后，也引出了下任总统的使命。为了实现门罗总统提出的有关改善我国生活水平的目标，我会承担起自己的一切职责。而提到改善国内生活，我对进展十分满意，尤其是门罗总统在就职典礼上列举的改善。正是因此，我相信我们未出生的成千上百万子孙和这片土地上的人民，在未来会对联邦的建立者们感激不尽；届时人民可以最深切地感受认识到政府的关爱。

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.　

雄伟壮丽的公共工程是古代共和国不朽的荣誉之一。自古以来，罗马的道路和水槽就受举世瞩目，即使罗马的一切征服成果全部被专制主义吞噬，或沦为了蛮族的战利品，其公共工程依旧留存至今。国会对于此类项目是否批准，观点一直未能达成一致。政府中纯粹出自爱国主义的反对声音，最令我钦佩。但自第一条国道修建开始，已经过了近20年。当时大家一致同意授权修建国道。想想这能为我国多少万同胞带来便利？难道此举会对我国任何一位公民造成伤害吗？国会反复地、坦诚地自由讨论，协调了各方观点，这恰恰是开明人士希望宪法权力能发挥的作用。我希望，大家通过继续友好、耐心地会议交流，能够最终在国会上达成一致。这一事务关乎我国重要核心利益，因此联邦政府在此事务上权力的范围和控制会在不久后以大家都满意的方式公布行使，我们会用实际好处来解决大家的一切顾虑。

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.　　

同胞们，你们都知道不久前的那次选举结果，正是因此我如今才有机会站在你们面前演讲。我已经向大家阐述了我的行政原则，它们将指导我就任这个受万众托信的职位。我深知你们不如信任前几任总统那样信任我，因此我更加需要你们的宽恕我的过错。我的意图清廉纯正，我一心致力于国家幸福，我会一直竭尽所能为她服务，以上是我对出任总统、担此重任做出的承诺。我会在国会的引导下，在行政部门以及下属部门的协助下，在各州政府的友好配合下，在全国人民的真诚自由支持下，坚持诚实、勤奋和热情，抓住每个能服务公众的机会；我知道，“若不是耶和华看守城池，看守之人就枉然警醒”，我虔诚地祈祷上帝赐福，我怀着谦卑但无畏的信心，连同我的个人命运和我国未来的命运，祈求统治万物的上帝保佑我国。

声明：本人仅按照原文翻译内容，演讲内容不代表本人观点。此专栏仅供历史和英语交流学习使用，任何读者皆可引用本人的译本。

希望来学习英语的观众明白：我觉得这些专栏的主要精华在于英语原文，而并非我的译本，我的译本很大程度上只是供来学习历史的观众使用的。本人的英语水平一般，翻译得并不会多么精彩，只能在你看不懂时来帮助你了解这些演讲内容最基本的意思，而且翻译时难免会出现差错，切勿直接完全以我的译本为标准。如发现有翻译错误或者歧义内容，欢迎指正。

希望来学习历史的观众明白：任何历史人物都有一定的局限性，随着时代发展，很多观点看法可能已经不再适用今天的世界，西方的观点也不一定适用于我们。通过了解这些演讲，仅可给我们提供一个更全面了解过去和世界的渠道。我们可以从优秀的历史、当代人物身上学到很多，但是请保持独立思考，理性看待演讲内容，切勿全信或将其奉为真理。 

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