2. I Government and Politics
• On July 4, 1776, the Congress in the
Independent Hall in Philadelphia resolved that
“ these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be free and independent states.” “这些联合
一致的殖民地从此是自由和独立的国家。”
• States 复数，个个殖民地有自己的法律，货
币等等。 对今天的美国政府的影响。
3. • Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, assisted by John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin, drafted Declaration
of Independence , which declared:
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal; that they were endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of
happiness.”
• 我们认为一些这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生
而平等，造物主赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权
利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权
力。
• all men are created equal （White Puritans ）
6. • The significance of the
Declaration of Independence
• 2001年，布什总统就职演说；
• 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?" 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？”
7. • 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. 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。
• This work continues. This story goes on. And an
angel still rides in the whirl wind and directs this
storm. 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。
• God bless you all, and God bless America. 愿上
帝保佑大家！愿上帝保佑美国！
9. • welcome to the Liberty Bell
• when workmen cast the Liberty Bell, it was a product of its
times. Made in London, England in 1751, it commemorated
the religious and political freedoms enjoyed by residents of
colonial Pennsylvania. The inscription on the Bell came
from the Bible. It reads, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all
the Land（全以色列地，七年休耕） unto all the
inhabitants thereof."
• Americans opposed to the enslavement of Africans
remembered those words when they campaigned to end
slavery early in the 19th century. They used drawings of the
Bell on pamphlets and reprinted the Bell's
inscription, bringing it to public attention. The fact that the
Bell originally hung inside Independence Hall, the place
where the American colonies declared independence and
where the United States formed its first national
government reinforced and magnified its symbolic value.
11. • Most importantly, The Declaration of Independence
explained the philosophy of governments: “to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed.” （为了保障这些权利life, liberty, the
pursuit of happiness ，人们才在他们之间建立政
府，而政府之正当权利是经被统治者的同意而产
生的。）
12. • “whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a
new government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness.” 当仸何形式的政府
对这些目标具有破坏作用时，人民便有权利改
变或废除它，以建立一个新的政府，其赖以奠
基的原则，其组织权力的方式，务使人民认为
唯有这样才最可能获得他们的安全和幸福。
13. the Constitution of the United States.
• 美国最先建立共和国、最早制定共和制的地方。
马克思称之为“最先产生了伟大的民主共和国思想
的地方”、“宣布了第一个人权宣言和最先推动了
１８世纪的欧洲革命的地方”，“美国独立战争开
创了资产阶级取胜的新纪元。”
• 美国还是第一部资产阶级成文宪法的诞生地，而
且该宪法沿用至今而不废。
15. • Although the Declaration of Independence
proclaimed that 13 united colonies “ are , and of
right ought to be, free and independent
states”, they were not very clear about the future
political system of the United States and about
the relationships between the states and the
government of the new nation.
• The United States was not one unified nation as
it is today. Each new State had its own
government and was organized very much like an
independent nation. Each made its own laws and
handled all of its internal affairs. “各州保留自己
的主权、自由和独立以及一切权利。”
16. • A constitution was badly needed. The
delegates from 12 states, except Rhode
Island, participated a meeting in May of 1787
to design a new form of government for the
United States.
• The plan was written in a document called the
Constitution of the United States.
27. 2009 Obama Inaugural Address
• “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.”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。
• We, the People, 宪法第一句话
30. 原罪观与有限的政府
• In the early years of the American
nation, Americans were confident that God
supported their experiment in republican
government. Protestant religion and
republican forms of government , they
felt, went hand in hand.
31. • Dr. G. Wright Doyle：
• 人类的罪性使得（世俗）律法有存在的必要，
清教徒相信人类虽然在被神创造的时候是好
的，之后却堕落在罪恶里。他们不妄想人性在
今生会有完美，也不期盼一个完美的社会。
• 清教徒相信人类的罪性，坚信唯有基督的救赎
可以救人脱离罪恶。他们明白没有一个政府可
以“拯救”社会或其中的个人。他们因此相信政
府的能力应该受限制，而不主张一个可以解决
所有人的问题的现代全能政府。”
• 因为：1.人是依照神的形象所造的（Man is
created in the image of God）； 2.人都是有罪
性的（Man is sinful原罪）
42. 林肯就职演说
• 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.作为我们赖以生存的政府机构，人
民为了避免伤害明智地只给予他们的公务员一点点权力，同样高明的
是规定只隔很短的时间就把那点权力收回到他们自己手中。当人民保
有正直的品性和警醒的心灵，即便行政机构极度腐败或愚蠢都不能在
四年的短暂舞台上，对政府造成非常严重的损害。
44. • 林肯就职演说：再次强调保证各州的独
立权利
• Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate不被侵犯的 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.
• 决议：保持各州的权利不被亵渎，特别是各州依靠
自己的独立判断去命令和管理自身机构的权利，这种权
力平衡是必要的，能保证我们的政体尽善尽美和持久长
远；我们公开抨击，用非法武力去侵犯各州或准州的土
地的行为，不论用何种托词，都是最大的恶行。
