Andrew Johnson:Impeached

Today we are talking about Andrew Johnson. Johnson was vice president under Abraham Lincoln, and became president in 1865 after Lincoln was killed.
今天，我们来谈论下安德鲁·约翰逊。约翰逊是亚伯拉罕·林肯时期的副总统。1865年，他在林肯被刺杀后成为总统。

His name sounds like that of an earlier president, Andrew Jackson, and also like a later president, Lyndon Johnson.
他的名字听起来像先前的一位总统，安德鲁·杰克逊；也像之后的一位总统，林登·约翰逊。

But Andrew Johnson served in the years just after the Civil War. You can remember Johnson this way: He was the first U.S. president to be impeached¹.
但安德鲁·约翰逊任职于内战结束之后。大家可以这样记住约翰逊：他是第一位被弹劾的总统。

Early life 早年生活

Andrew Johnson grew up in a poor family in the southern state of North Carolina.
安德鲁·约翰逊在南方北卡罗来纳州的一个贫穷家庭长大。

As a child, Johnson had little formal² education. Instead, he trained to be a tailor³.
约翰逊小时候没受过多少正式教育，而是成为了一名裁缝。

When he was a young man, Johnson moved to Tennessee, another southern state. He opened a tailoring business, where he made, repaired and sold clothing.
成年后，他去了另一个南方州田纳西，在那开了一家裁缝店，生产修补以及售卖衣服。

When he was 18 years old, he married. His wife, Eliza McCardle, was only 16. They went on to have five children together.
18岁的时候，他和一位年仅16岁名叫伊莱扎·麦克卡朵的姑娘结了婚。婚后他们共养育了五个孩子。

Eliza McCardle Johnson did not come from a wealthy family, either. But she was better educated than her husband, and she helped him develop his reading and writing skills.
伊莱扎·麦克卡朵·约翰逊也不是来自富裕家庭。但是，她的教育程度比丈夫高，她帮助约翰逊提高阅读和写作技能。

She also supported his gift for public speaking. Johnson’s speeches were especially popular with workers in their community. They liked his criticism of the state’s wealthy planters.
约翰逊的公共演讲天赋也得益于她的帮助。约翰逊的演讲尤其受到社区工人的欢迎，工人们喜欢他对于国家富裕种植园主的批评。

The workers also liked his politics. At the time, Johnson supported measures that permitted slavery to expand across the country. He was clear in his speeches that he did not support equality between whites and African-Americans, whether enslaved or free.
工人们也喜欢他的政治主张。当时，约翰逊支持奴隶制扩张全国的举措。他在演讲中明确表达过他不支持白人和黑人之间平等，不论是否是奴隶。

In time, Johnson held many political offices: mayor, Tennessee’s governor, state legislator, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. When the Civil War began, he was a member of the U.S. Senate.
后来，约翰逊担任了许多政治职务：市长，田纳西州州长，州议员，以及美国众议院议员。内战开始时，他担任参议员。

Although he was a Southerner, he did not believe the Southern states had a right to withdraw from the Union. When the other Southern senators resigned from the U.S. Congress, Johnson stayed.
尽管他是一名南方人，但他认为南方诸州没有权利脱离联邦。当其他南方参议员从国会辞职时，约翰逊没有。

As a result, most Southerners considered him a traitor. But most Northerners considered him a hero.
结果，大多数南方人将他视为叛徒，但北方人将他视为英雄。

Election of 1864 1864年大选

By 1864, the American Civil War was three years old. The conflict was becoming increasingly fierce and bloody. That year, the states that remained in the Union held their presidential election.
到1864年，内战已经打了3年。战争变得越来越激烈和血腥。那一年，联邦举行了总统选举。

The president, Abraham Lincoln, wanted to win re-election and continue directing the Union’s war effort. But he was not sure that voters in the opposition Democratic Party would support him.
亚伯拉罕·林肯希望赢得连任，继续领导内战。但是他担心民主党选民不支持他。

So he turned to Andrew Johnson to be his choice for vice president.
所以，他选择了安德鲁·约翰逊作为他的副总统候选人。

Johnson was a pro-slavery Democrat. Lincoln was an anti-slavery Republican. In the U.S. tradition, presidential candidates do not usually choose someone from a different party to serve as vice president.
约翰逊是支持奴隶制的民主党人，林肯是反对奴隶制的共和党人。传统上，总统候选人通常是不会选择不同党派人士作为副总统的。

But in this case, Lincoln’s Republicans did. They called the Lincoln-Johnson partnership the National Union Party.
但这次选举，林肯的共和党却这么做了。人们称林肯-约翰逊之间的合作关系为全国联盟党。

Political leaders hoped Johnson would appeal to Democrats who supported the war effort, to workers and to small farmers. The plan – along with several military successes for the Union – helped carry the National Union Party to victory.
政治领袖希望约翰逊能够吸引支持内战的民主党人士、工人以及小农户。此次计划随着联邦军数次战胜联盟军而得以成功，全国联盟党赢得了胜利。

The swearing-in ceremony the following March, however, suggested some of the difficulties ahead. Johnson was sick. To feel better, he had a lot of alcoholic drinks the night before the ceremony. The next morning, he drank some more.
第二年三月份举行宣誓仪式，然而也意味着会遇到一些情况。约翰逊生病了，为了让自己感觉好点，在宣誓仪式的前一个晚上他喝了很多酒。第二天早上，他又喝了一些。

When Johnson stood to give his speech, he appeared unsteady⁴. He talked about his poor family and his simple beginnings. Then he spoke angrily about wealthy Southern planters who had withdrawn from the Union. He became increasingly confused.
当约翰逊发表就职演讲时，显得很不稳定。他谈论了自己的贫困家庭和简单出身。然后，他带有怒气地说起了脱离联邦的富有南方种植园主。他变得越来越困惑。

Other people in the crowd wrote later that they felt embarrassed⁵ by Johnson’s behavior. And some Republicans began calling already for his resignation – or even impeachment.
人群中的其他人后来写道，他们当时对于约翰逊的行为感到很尴尬。一些共和党人已经开始要求他辞职，甚至提出弹劾。

Those critics could not have predicted that in a few weeks, Johnson would be the president.
那些批评人士也无法预料到几周后，约翰逊将成为美国总统。

Presidency 总统任期

A few very important events happened in the weeks after Lincoln and Johnson were sworn-in.
林肯和约翰逊宣誓的几周后，发生了一些很重要的事件。

In April, Lincoln was shot and killed. Johnson took office as the new president.
4月，林肯被枪杀身亡，约翰逊就任新总统。

The following month, the Civil War officially ended. The Confederate States of America was no more.
接下来一个月，内战正式结束，美利坚联盟国不再存在。

And that December, a majority of states approved the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That amendment ended slavery across the country.
11月，大部分州都同意第十三修正案写入宪法，修正案废除了全国范围内的奴隶制。

President Johnson, therefore, guided the process of re-uniting the North and South, and supervised the transition⁶ of many African-Americans from slavery to freedom. That period in U.S. history is called Reconstruction.
因此，约翰逊总统指导了重新统一南北的进程，并且监督引导了黑人从奴隶到自由身的过渡。那段时期的美国历史被称为重建时期。

Members of Congress from the Northern states had been thinking for a long time about how to carry out Reconstruction. The most extreme lawmakers, the Radical Republicans, wanted to punish former Confederate officials and extend political and civil rights to African-Americans.
北方州的国会议员就如何实施重建已经考虑良久。极端议员和激进共和党人想要惩罚前联盟官员，并扩大黑人的政治和公民权利。

Johnson had different ideas. In the first months of his presidency, before Congress had met, Johnson pardoned many former Confederate officials.
约翰逊持有不同观点。在他就任总统的头几个月里，国会开会之前，约翰逊赦免了许多前联盟官员。

He also let Southerners rebuild their state governments as they wished. Those governments quickly passed laws called Black Codes.
他还让南方人按照自己的意愿来重建州政府，这些州政府很快通过了黑人法典。

Black Codes restricted the freedom and rights of African-Americans. They permitted white land owners to control African-Americans’ labor, much as they had when the workers were slaves. The laws were enforced by all-white police and militia.
黑人法典限制了黑人的自由和权利，允许白人土地所有者控制黑人劳动力，就像他们在奴隶时期那样。该法典由白人警察和民兵强制执行。

Radical Republicans in Congress – as well as African-Americans – objected strongly to the Black Codes. When Congress finally did meet, Republican lawmakers voted for a measure to help and protect formerly enslaved people.
国会当中的激进共和党人和黑人极力反对黑人法典。当国会最终召开会议时，共和党议员投票通过了一项法案，以帮助和保护曾经被奴役的人们。

But Johnson vetoed the measure. He said the bill would give the federal government too much power.
但约翰逊否决了这项法案，他认为该法案将赋予联邦政府太多的权利。

Johnson’s veto was one move in a political war between the president and many Republicans.
约翰逊的否决是总统和许多共和党人之间政治战争的一个举动。

In time, lawmakers got the upper hand⁷. The Republican Congress soon took control of Reconstruction. Against Johnson’s wishes, they succeeded in passing several major pieces of legislation.
最终，议员们占了上风。国会当中，共和党人很快控制了重建，他们很快成功通过了几项与约翰逊意愿相左的重要立法。

One was the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It recognized that everyone born in the United States – including African-Americans, although not Native Americans – was a citizen.
其中一项便是1866年民权法案。该法案承认所有出生在美国的民众 —— 包括黑人，但不包括印第安人 —— 是合法公民。

Another was the extension of the Freedman’s Bureau Act, the measure that Johnson had earlier vetoed. For two more years, the federal government was authorized to help people displaced⁸ by the Civil War.
另一项是对自由民局法的扩展，该法案之前被约翰逊否决。再过两年，联邦政府将被授权去帮助内战中流离失所的人们。

难民；因战争（或政治迫害）逃离家园的人

Finally, lawmakers passed a measure barring the president from dismissing any top officials without the approval of Congress.
最后，议员们通过了一项措施，禁止总统未经国会批准解雇任何高级官员。

President Johnson ignored the measure. When he believed the secretary of war did not treat him respectfully, the president ordered that man’s dismissal.
约翰逊总统无视了这一措施。当他认为战争部长没有尊重他时，他下令解雇了他。

In answer, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson. In other words, they charged him with a crime. It was the first time in U.S. history that a president has been impeached.
结果，众议院议员们投票弹劾约翰逊，也就是说，众议院指控约翰逊犯罪。这是美国历史上第一次总统被弹劾。

​But “impeached” does not always mean removed from office. The case moves to the Senate. There, senators act as a jury. They decide whether the president is guilty. Two-thirds of the Senate must agree to convict⁹ the president.
但是被弹劾并不意味着被撤职。该案件移交到了参议院，参议员作为陪审团，他们来决定总统是否有罪。三分之二的参议员必须同意才能定总统有罪。

In the case of Andrew Johnson, 54 senators considered his case. For him to be removed from office, 36 would need to find him guilty. But only 35 did. His position was saved by a single vote.
54名参议员参与了安德鲁·约翰逊的案件。如果想让约翰逊撤职，需要36名参议员判他有罪，但最终只有35名。约翰逊的职位凭一票保住了。

Legacy 遗产

Although Johnson survived impeachment, he was not nominated as a candidate for president in the next election. Instead, he returned to his home in Tennessee, then competed for a seat back in Congress.
尽管约翰逊逃过了弹劾，但是他没有被提名下一届总统选举。他回到了家乡田纳西州，然后竞选国会议员席位。

On the third try, he succeeded. Johnson is the first and only – so far – former president to serve as a senator.
经过3次尝试，他成功了。约翰逊是目前为止第一位也是唯一一位担任参议员的前总统。

He did not stay in the position long, however. A few months after returning to Congress, Johnson died suddenly after suffering a stroke¹⁰. He was 66 years old.
然而，他担任参议员的时间并不久。回到国会之后几个月，约翰逊由于中风突然离世，时年66岁。

Today historians have mixed feelings about his presidency. Johnson’s supporters approve of his limits on the federal government and belief in a firm separation of powers among Congress, the president and Supreme Court.
如今，历史学家对于约翰逊的总统任期有着复杂的感受。约翰逊的支持者赞成他对联邦政府的限制，以及坚定的三权分立信念，即国会，总统和最高法院的三权分立。

But most historians believe Johnson’s Reconstruction policies were extremely damaging. They did not help re-unite the North and South. And they extended the suffering of African-Americans and the country’s history of racial oppression.
但大部分历史学家认为约翰逊的重建政策有着极大的伤害。这些政策非但没有帮助南北重新统一，却加深了黑人的痛苦以及美国种族压迫的历史。

[Editor’s note: The original story mistakenly said that 20 senators had to find Johnson guilty for him to be removed from office, but only 19 did. In fact, a majority at that time would have been 36 senators. Only 35 found Johnson guilty.]
编者注：原文错误地说明需要20名参议员判定约翰逊有罪才能撤职，但只有19名。事实上，当时占多数的应该是36名参议员，只有35名判定约翰逊有罪。

原文链接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-andrew-johnson/3913196.html

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