The oddities of the first American election - Kenneth C. Davis

Transcriber: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Yixiong Zhu 校对人员: LI HAO

Lawn signs sprouting everywhere.

草坪标牌到处都是，

Round-the-clock ads on radio and television.

收音机和电视上整日整夜的竞选广告。

The phone rings. It's a robo-call from the president, or his opponent,

电话响了，是总统或其竞争对手的自动录音电话，

asking for your money, and your vote.

向你要钱，向你要票，

And while you're at it, watch their YouTube videos and like them on Facebook.

还要你上网看他们的竞选视频，在脸谱网给他们点赞。

Election time. We all know the look and feel of modern campaigns.

选举来了。我们都知道现代竞选的这些东西。

But what was it like in the early days of the Republic, when, say,

但合众国早期，竞选是什么样的呢？

George Washington ran for office?

华盛顿是怎么竞选总统的？

Well, in fact, he didn't run.

嗯，其实他没有竞选。

When Washington became the first president in 1789,

当乔治·华盛顿1789年第一次当选总统时，

there were no political parties, no conventions or primaries,

政党还不存在，没有党派大会，没有初选，

no campaign, no election season.

没有选战，没有选举季。

Not really any candidates.

甚至都没有什么候选人。

Even the year was odd.

就连年份也很奇特。

Literally. 1789 was the only presidential election ever held in an odd year.

真的，1789年是唯一一次奇数年的总统选举。

After the framers invented the constitution and the presidency 225 years ago,

225年前，当国父们敲定了宪法和总统制之后，

the country set about the business of choosing its first executive.

美国要开始选择她的第一任行政长官了。

Agreeing with Ben Franklin, many people thought "The first man at the helm will be a good one,"

人们附议富兰克林的说法，“美国的第一位舵手将是个好舵手。”

and by that, Franklin meant George Washington.

富兰克林指的就是乔治·华盛顿。

Greatest hero of the Revolution, Washington presided over the convention that created the constitution,

身为美国革命的大英雄，华盛顿主持了立宪会议，

rarely speaking. He never discussed the job of president,

并很少发言。他从未讨论过总统的职责，

or of wanting it. And when the first presidential election took place,

也没有表示想当总统。当第一次总统选举来临时，

it was a crazy-quilt affair, with many hands stitching the pattern.

那真是一团混乱，各地都不相同。

Under the new constitution, each state was given a number of electors.

新宪法规定，每个州都有一定数量的选举人，

who would cast a vote for two names.

每位选举人投两票。

The man with the most votes would be president,

得票最多者为总统，

the second-place finisher was vice president.

第二多的则为副总统。

Ah, but who picked the electors? That was left up to the states.

但谁来选择选举人呢？这个由州自己来决定。

Six of them let the people decide, or at least white men over 21 who owned property.

六个州把这项权利留给了人民，或者说是，21岁以上有财产的白人男性。

In New Jersey, some women voted, a right later taken away.

在新泽西州，一些妇女也参与了投票，不过这项权利后来被夺走。

But in other states, the legislature picked the electors.

其他的州，选举人由州立法机构选出。

At that time, many people thought democracy was one step away from mob rule

当时，许多人觉得民主离暴民乱政只有一步之遥，

and a decision this important should be left to wiser men.

如此重大的决定应该留给智者。

These electors then voted for president.

这些选举人然后选举总统。

All the states had to do was get their votes in on time.

各州只需将各自的选票按时送到。

But there were glitches.

不过这期间也有问题。

Only 10 of the 13 states voted.

13个州中，只有10个州投票。

Rhode Island and North Carolina hadn't ratified the constitution and couldn't vote.

罗德岛和北卡罗莱纳还没有批准宪法，所以不能投票。

New York missed the deadline for naming its electors, and also was not counted.

纽约州误了提名选举人的期限，因此也未能算入计票。

When the votes were tallied, it was unanimous.

经过唱票，选举结果是一致的。

George Washington won easily. John Adams trailed far behind, finishing second, and became the vice president.

乔治·华盛顿轻易获胜。约翰·亚当斯为第二名，得票远远靠后，成为副总统。

Told of his victory, George Washington was not surprised.

被告知当选后，乔治·华盛顿并不惊讶。

At Mount Vernon, his bags were already packed.

在弗农山，他的行李已经收拾好。

He moved to New York City, the nation's temporary capital,

他来到了纽约市，美国的临时首都。

and he would have to figure out just what a president was supposed to do.

他需要研究一下总统究竟应该做什么。

Since that first election, American democracy and elections have come a long way.

从第一次选举到现在，美国的民主和选举有了极大的发展。

The constitution has been changed to open up voting to more people:

经过宪法修订，更多的人可以参与投票：

black men, women, Native Americans, and eighteen-year-olds included.

黑人，妇女，印第安人，还有十八岁的人。

Getting that basic right extended to all those people has been a long, hard struggle.

将选举权扩展给上述人士的过程，是艰难而困苦的。

So when you think you can't stand any more of those lawn signs,

所以，当你实在受不了那些草坪标牌

and TV ads, just remember:

和电视广告时，请记得，

the right to vote wasn't always for everyone,

选举权并不是一开始人人就有的，

and that's a piece of history worth knowing.

这一点值得我们知晓。