托马斯ˇ杰斐逊
(THOMAS JEFFERSON)

第一任就职演说
First Inaugural Address

(American Memory Collection, Library of Congress)

如果我们当中有人ˇ解散这一联邦ˇ或者ˇ改变它的共和体制ˇ那麽就让他们去吧ˇ不用干扰他们ˇ这样做就爲安全树立了标志ˇ表明在一个理智能够自由地与之斗争的地方ˇ错误的意见是可以容忍的。

托马斯ˇ杰斐逊(1743ˇ1826)和班哲明ˇ富兰克林一样是个多才多艺的人。他是一位天才的作家、政治家、音乐家、建筑师、哲学家、发明家和法学家。他曾在 维吉尼亚州议会和大陆议会任职。在大陆议会任职时ˇ他起草了《独立宣言》。他后来曾任维吉尼亚州长、驻欧洲的外交官和乔治ˇ华盛顿的国务卿。

1801年ˇ在激烈的竞选中ˇ杰斐逊当选爲总统。在美国ˇ这是第一次把政府权力由一个政党(联邦主义者)转移给另一个政党(共和党人或民主ˇ共和党人)。在选举院里ˇ杰斐逊和阿伦ˇ伯尔所得的选举人票数ˇ等ˇ后由衆议院选择杰斐逊当总统。

杰斐逊的就职演说是第一篇由一位总统在首都华盛顿发表的演说。当时新政府刚从费城搬到首都华盛顿。在经历了一番竞选苦战之后ˇ杰斐逊以这篇演说来统一国家ˇ并明确表明他的施政纲领。

在我们所经历的一段争论中ˇ大家热烈讨论ˇ竞ˇ奔走ˇ初见的人ˇ由于不习惯于自由思考ˇ不习惯于把所ˇ的说出来或写出来ˇ看见那种情形ˇ可能ˇ顾失色ˇ但ˇ在已由全国的民意作出决定ˇ并根据ˇ法的规定予以公布ˇ大家当然会遵照法律ˇ妥爲安排ˇ并且爲了共同的利益ˇ团结一致ˇ同心协力。大家也会记住这样一条原则ˇ即多数人的意愿ˇ虽然在任何情况下都应采纳ˇ但那种意愿也必须合理才能站得住脚ˇ而且少数人也有同等的权利ˇ必须受平等的法律的保护ˇ如果予以侵犯ˇ便是压制。那麽ˇ同胞们ˇ让我们团结一致ˇ同心同德吧ˇ让我们恢复和睦ˇ处ˇ彼此友爱吧ˇ因爲没有它们ˇ自由ˇ甚至生活本身ˇ都将成爲无聊的事物。我们还应思量ˇˇ在我们已经把那种使人类长期流血和受害的宗教偏执性从我们国土上摒弃了ˇ如果我们又支持政治上的偏执性ˇ而其专横、邪恶ˇ以及所造成的酷烈和血腥的迫害ˇ都与宗教偏执性所导致的后果一样ˇ那麽我们的所得便很有ˇ了。当旧世界经历痛苦和激变时ˇ当盛怒的人们经受痛苦的痉挛ˇˇ通过流血和屠杀寻找他们丧失已久的自由时ˇ那巨涛般的震撼甚至会传到遥远而和平的此岸ˇ各人对这种震撼的感觉和恐惧的程度不尽ˇ同ˇ对 于采取安全措施也有意见分歧ˇ这些都不足爲奇。但是ˇ意见分歧并不都是原则分歧。我们遵守同一原则的兄弟们ˇ曾被加以各种不同的称号。我们都是共和党人ˇ我们都是联邦同盟会员。如果我们当中有人ˇ解散这一联邦ˇ或者ˇ改变它的共和体制ˇ那麽就让他们去吧ˇ不用干扰他们ˇ这样做就爲安全树立了标志ˇ表明在一个理智能够自由地与之斗争的地方ˇ错误的意见是可以容忍的。我的确知道有些诚实的人担心共和政府不能强大有力ˇ担心这个政府不够强有力ˇ但是ˇ一个诚实的爱国者ˇ会在试验最成功的时候ˇ仅因理论上的和虚幻的疑惧ˇ以爲这个世界寄予最美好希望的政府可能不足以自存ˇ就放弃这个一直使我们ˇ有自由和安定的政府吗?我ˇ信不会。ˇ反ˇ我ˇ信这个政府是世界上最强的政府ˇ我ˇ信在这个政府之下ˇ无论何人ˇ一经法律召唤ˇ就会飞奔而来ˇ应法律所要求做的事ˇ而且会ˇ处理自己的私事一样去对付侵犯公共秩序的行爲。有时ˇ人们说ˇ一个人自己管自己是不可靠的。那麽ˇ让别人去管他们就会可靠吗?或者我们是否觉得以国王身份出ˇ的天使来管理人们才可靠呢?这个问题让历史来回答吧。

因此ˇ让我们秉着勇气和信心ˇ继续奉行我们自己的联邦同盟和共和党的原则ˇ拥护联邦和代议制政府。我们由于自然环境和大洋的阻隔ˇ幸免于全球四分之一地区那种毁灭性的浩劫ˇ我们品格高尚ˇ不能容忍别人的堕落ˇ我们蒙天赐良土ˇ足以容纳于秋万代的子孙ˇ我们有一种观念ˇ认爲在发挥自己的才能上ˇ在取得自己的勤劳之所得上ˇ在赢得我们同胞的尊敬与信赖上ˇ(这种信赖和尊敬不是出自门第ˇ而是来自我们的行爲和他们的体会。)都ˇ有同等的权利ˇ我们都受到善良宗教的啓迪ˇ虽然派别不同ˇ可是所有教派都诲人以正直、信实、节制、感恩和仁爱ˇ我们承认和崇拜主宰一切的上帝ˇ上帝所行之道证明其乐见人类ˇ世的幸福和死后更大的幸福ˇˇ有了这些神恩ˇ我们还需要什麽才能使我们成爲一个幸福和欣欣ˇ荣的民族呢?各位同胞ˇ我们还需要一样东西ˇ那就是一个明智和节俭的政府ˇ它防止人们ˇ残ˇ让人们自由地从事他们自己的事业并不断进步ˇ而且不能夺取人们勤劳之所得。这就是一个良好政府的要旨ˇ也是我们获得圆满幸福所必需的。

各位同胞ˇ我就要开始履行职责了ˇ由于这种职责包容了你们所珍惜的一切ˇ我觉得你们应当了解什麽是我所认爲的我们政府的基本原则ˇ以及那些指导我施政的原则。我打算尽量简略地加以陈述ˇ只讲一般原则ˇ而不讲其全部范畴ˇ不管人们的地位、宗教信仰或政治主张有何不同ˇ人人都应得到平等和绝对公正的待遇ˇ与所有国家和平ˇ处ˇ互ˇ通商ˇ并保持诚挚的友谊ˇ但不与任何国家结盟ˇ以免纠缠不清ˇ维护各州政府的一切权利ˇ使它们成爲处理我们内政最合适的机构ˇ以及抵制反共和趋势的最有力的屏障ˇ维护全国的政府ˇ使之能充分行使ˇ法赋予的权力ˇ从而成爲对内和平和对外安全的最后堡垒ˇ要十分注意维护人民的选举权ˇ因爲革命留下的弊端ˇ一时没有和平的补救办法ˇ而人民选举权乃是对那些弊端的一种温和而安全的矫正手段ˇ要绝对服从多数的决定ˇ这是共和政体的主要原则ˇ离开这个原则ˇ便只好诉诸武力ˇ而这就是专制的主要原则和直接起源ˇ要维持一支纪律严明的民团ˇ以作爲和平时期和战争初期的最好依仗ˇ直至正规军来接替ˇ实行文权高于军校的政制ˇ节省政府开支ˇ减轻劳动人民的负担ˇ如实偿还我们的债务ˇ把维护政府的信用看作神圣的义务ˇ促进农业发展ˇ并鼓励以商辅农ˇ传播知识并以公衆理智爲依据谴责一切弊端ˇ保障宗教自由及出版自由ˇ并以人身保护令以及由公平选出的陪审团进行审判来保障人身自由。在革命和改革的时代ˇ这些原则成了在我们前面照耀ˇ指引我们前进的星座。我们圣哲的智慧ˇ我们英雄的鲜血ˇ都曾奉ˇ出来实ˇ这些原则。它们应当是我们政治信念的纲领ˇ公民教育的课本ˇ检验我们所信托者的工作的试金石ˇ如果因一时的错误或惊惶而背弃了这些原则ˇ我们应当赶快回头ˇ重新走上这条通往和平、自由和安全的唯一大道……

   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 possesses 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, staling 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..,.