James Buchanan:Passive

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音慢速英语介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about James Buchanan, the 15^th president of the United States.
今天，我们来谈论下美国第15届总统詹姆斯·布坎南。

He was the third in a series of unsuccessful presidents. Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce had failed to resolve the country’s increasing division over slavery.
他是一系列失败总统中的第三位。米勒德·菲尔莫尔和富兰克林·皮尔斯未能解决美国在奴隶制问题上日益加剧的分歧。

Democratic Party officials hoped Buchanan could do better.
民主党官员希望布坎南可以做得更好。

After all, he was a gifted lawyer and had been a member of the U.S. Congress, a secretary of state, and a diplomat.
毕竟，他是一位天才型律师，并且当过国会议员，国务卿和外交官。

But Buchanan was not so sure he could resolve the country’s problems. He was right. He was the last president before the American Civil War.
但布坎南并不确定他能够解决国家分歧。他对了。他是美国内战前的最后一位总统。

Early life 早年生活

James Buchanan was born in the northern state of Pennsylvania.
詹姆斯·布坎南出生于宾夕法尼亚北部。

His father was a businessman, and his family was financially successful.
他父亲是一位商人，并且家庭财务状况比较成功。

Buchanan – the oldest son in a family with 11 children – received a good education. He attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and soon began working as a lawyer.
布坎南是家里11个孩子中的长子，他接受了良好的教育。他参加了宾夕法尼亚州的狄金森学院，并且很快就开始了律师职业。

His abilities earned him a good deal of money and a place in the state’s legislature. But they were not able to win him a wife.
他的能力为他赚取了很多钱，并且赢得了州立法机构的席位，但却没能赢得一位妻子。

As a young man, Buchanan fell in love with and proposed marriage to a young woman from a wealthy family. She accepted. But her father opposed the union.
布坎南年轻时爱上了一位来自富裕家庭的年轻女士，并且向她求了婚。女士接受了他的求婚，但她的父亲反对这桩婚事。

One day, his fiancée wrote Buchanan a letter saying she had reconsidered and decided not to marry him after all. Three days later, she unexpectedly died.
有一天，布坎南的未婚妻给他写了一封信，信中说她重新考虑了一下，最终决定不和他结婚。三天后，她意外死亡了。

Buchanan was heartbroken. He promised never to marry anyone else. And he did not.
布坎南心都碎了，他决心以后都不会再和其他人结婚，他确实也没再结婚。

To date, James Buchanan is the only U.S. president who never married. When he entered the White House, his niece served as his first lady.
迄今为止，詹姆斯·布坎南也是唯一没结过婚的美国总统。当他进入白宫时，他的侄女出任了第一夫人。

Election of 1856 1856年大选

Even with problems in his personal life, Buchanan went on to have a strong career as a national politician. He hoped his party would nominate him as its candidate for president.
即使个人生活存在问题，但布坎南作为国家政治人物还是拥有了一个非常成功的职业生涯。他希望他的党派能够提名他为总统候选人。

But in the 1840s and early 1850s, the Democrats nominated other candidates. Finally, in 1856, the party chose Buchanan. But by then, he was no longer sure he wanted to be president. He believed the country would soon be at war.
但1840年代以及1850年代早期，民主党提名了其他候选人。最终，民主党在1856年选择了布坎南。但到了那时候，布坎南已经不再确定是否想要当总统了。他认为国家就快进入战乱了。

Violence had already broken out in the western territory of Kansas. White settlers there had clashed over¹ whether Kansas would enter the Union as a slave or free state.
暴力冲突已经在西部地区堪萨斯爆发了。那儿的白人定居者就堪萨斯是以蓄奴州还是自由者进入联邦一直起冲突。

In one dramatic² event, an anti-slavery activist named John Brown had murdered several pro-slavery settlers.
在一件恶性事件中，一位叫约翰·布朗的禁奴激进分子谋杀了数个奴隶制支持者。

President Buchanan had clear ideas about slavery. He said in his inaugural³ speech that voters in the territories – a group made up of white men – should be able to decide the issue for themselves.
布坎南总统在奴隶制问题上有清晰的想法。他在就职演讲中说道，地区选民 —— 由白人男性组成的团体 —— 应该能够由他们自己来决定奴隶制问题。

In the same speech, Buchanan urged Americans to support an important Supreme Court ruling that became known as the Dred Scott decision.
在演讲中，布坎南敦促美国民众支持一项重要的最高法院裁决，即后来人们熟知的斯科特判决案。

Two days later, the court’s justices announced the majority opinion in that case. The opinion said the federal government did not have the power to control slavery in the territories.
两天后，法官宣布了该案的多数意见。该意见认为联邦政府没有权利去控制这些地区的奴隶制。

In addition, the court declared that enslaved people were not U.S. citizens. They were property, it said. Enslaved people did not have any more rights than a horse or a chair.
另外，最高法院声明，奴隶不是美利坚的公民，他们是财产。奴隶就跟一匹马或一张椅子一样没有任何权利。

Buchanan hoped the decision would stop the country’s debate over slavery. Instead, it made the debate more intense.
布坎南希望该判决案能够停止国内关于奴隶制的争论。然而，该案使争论更加激烈。

Presidency 总统任期

During his presidency, Buchanan took two other actions that increased tensions and damaged his public image.
在布坎南的总统任期内，另外两个举措也增加了紧张局势并且损害了他的公众形象。

First, he tried to persuade Congress to accept a state constitution for Kansas. The constitution permitted slavery, although a majority of Kansas voters had not agreed to it.
第一个，他试图说服国会通过一项堪萨斯州宪法。宪法允许奴隶制，尽管大多数堪萨斯选民不同意。

The U.S. House of Representatives decided not to follow President Buchanan’s wishes. They permitted Kansans to vote again on the constitution.
美国众议院决定驳回布坎南总统的意愿。国会允许堪萨斯关于此宪法再进行一轮投票。

This time, Kansas voters rejected it. A majority agreed instead to seek admission into⁴ the Union as a free state.
这一次，堪萨斯选民拒绝了。大多数人同意以自由州的身份加入联邦。

Buchanan’s image also suffered because of an event known as the raid on Harper’s Ferry.
布坎南的形象也因为人们熟知的哈珀渡口突袭事件受到了影响。

The raid was led by John Brown, the anti-slavery activist who had murdered pro-slavery settlers in Kansas. This time, Brown hoped to create an armed rebellion of anti-slavery activists and freed slaves.
这场突袭由约翰·布朗领导，这位禁奴积极分子已经谋杀了数位堪萨斯的奴隶制支持者。这次，布朗希望创建一个禁奴武装叛乱组织来解放奴隶。

To get weapons, Brown and his men attacked a federal arsenal about 110 kilometers northwest of Washington, D.C. The armory was in the town of Harper’s Ferry, in today’s state of West Virginia.
为了得到武器，布朗和他的组织袭击了华盛顿西北部110公里处的联邦兵工厂。军械库在哈珀渡口镇，在今天的西弗吉尼亚州。

President Buchanan answered the raid by permitting federal troops to use force. The U.S. Marines⁵ surrounded Brown and his forces⁶. They killed some and captured others, including Brown.
布坎南总统授权联邦军队允许使用武力来回应突袭。美国海军陆战队包围了布朗和他的武装力量，他们击毙了一些人，俘获了包括布朗在内的一些其他人。

A few weeks later, Brown was brought to trial, found guilty, and hanged.
几周之后，布朗被送上法庭，被判有罪，并处以绞刑。

The event further divided Americans. Anti-slavery Northerners believed Brown was a hero. Pro-slavery Southerners believed he was a traitor.
该事件进一步分裂了国内民众。北方禁奴支持者认为布朗是英雄，南方蓄奴支持者认为他是叛国者。

In general, Buchanan agreed with the Southerners. He said in a speech that Northerners should not tell Southerners what they could do in their states.
通常，布坎南是南方民众支持者。他在一则演讲中说道，北方人不应该告诉南方人他们在自己的州能做什么。

But his words did not satisfy either side. For one thing, a main issue was whether slavery should be permitted in any new states. Buchanan did not comment on that point.
但他的发言没有满足任何一方。一方面，因为布坎南在主要问题上没有发表看法，这个问题就是新加入联邦的州是否允许奴隶制。

Election of 1860 1860年大选

At the end of his single term, Buchanan kept an earlier promise not to seek re-election. His party did not urge him to. Instead, Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats split. They nominated two different candidates.
布坎南任期结束时，他履行了早期的承诺，不再寻求连任。他的党派也没有劝他这么做。然而，北方民主党派和南方民主党派分裂了，他们提名了两个不同的候选人。

The Democrats’ lack of unity provided an opening for a candidate from a new party. The Republican Party was comprised of northerners who were against slavery. Their candidate was a lawyer without much experience in government. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
民主党的缺乏团结给新兴党派的一位候选人提供了机会。共和党由反对奴隶制的北方人组成，他们的候选人是一位没有多少政府经验的律师。他的名字叫亚伯拉罕·林肯。

Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860.
林肯赢得了1860年的总统大选。

In answer, the Southern state of South Carolina withdrew from the Union.
为了回应，南方南卡罗莱纳州宣布脱离联邦。

Buchanan – who was in the last weeks of his presidency – did not support the move. But he did not act to stop South Carolina, either. He said the Constitution did not give him the power to force a state to stay in the Union.
布坎南在总统任期的最后几周没有支持这项运动。但是他也没有采取行动来阻止南卡脱离。他说，宪法没有赋予他权利迫使一个州留在联邦。

Following Buchanan’s inaction, six other slave-holding Southern states also seceded⁷.
由于布坎南的不作为，其他六个南方蓄奴州也宣布脱离联邦。

Legacy 遗产

Today many historians agree James Buchanan was one of the worst American presidents.
如今，许多历史学家都认为詹姆斯·布坎南是美国最差的总统之一。

Buchanan had many good personal qualities, and he did not want to harm the country. Instead, a common belief is that he did not have the right skills to unite a divided nation.
布坎南有着许多优秀的个人特质，并且他不想给国家带来伤害。然而，一个普遍的观念认为，他没有能力去统一团结一个分裂的国家。

His behavior appeared to be guided by conflicting ideas. Buchanan said he opposed slavery and supported the Union. But he often took actions to protect slavery and help the South.
他的行为似乎被冲突的观念引导着。布坎南说他反对奴隶制并且支持联邦统一。但他经常采取措施来保护奴隶制以及帮助南方。

Buchanan largely blamed[^8] anti-slavery activists and opposition politicians for[^8] the problems during his administration.
布坎南在很大程度上把他执政期间的问题归咎于反奴隶制活动人士和反对派政客。
[^8]: blamed for - 把….归咎于；因…责怪

But the public did not accept Buchanan’s position. He was not respected after he left office, and he did not appear in public very often.
但是公众并没有接受布坎南的地位。他离任后没有受到尊敬，并且很少出现在公众场合。

Instead, the former president withdrew to his home in Pennsylvania until his death in 1868.
相反，这位前总统退休后回到了宾夕法尼亚州的家乡直到1868年去世。

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