What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence - Kenneth C. Davis

你可能不知道的《独立宣言》 - Kenneth C. Davis

翻译人员: Jieyao Yuan 校对人员: Tingyu Qiu

"All men are created equal

"每个人生来就是平等的”

and they are endowed with the rights to

“他们被赋予

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

生存、自主和追求幸福的权利。“

Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson!

别着急，杰斐逊先生！

These words from the Declaration of Independence,

这些话来源于《独立宣言》，

and the facts behind them, are well known.

它背后的事实众所周知。

In June of 1776,

1776年6月，

a little more than a year after the war against England began

也就是反英格兰战争的一年多后，

with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord,

这场战争以莱克星顿和康科德的枪声为导火索。

the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia

大陆会议在费城召开，

to discuss American independence.

讨论美国独立。

After long debates, a resolution of independence

经过长时间的讨论，

独立议案终于在1776年7月2日通过。

was approved on July 2, 1776.

America was free!

美国自由了！

And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever.

约翰·亚当斯这些人心想我们将会永远庆祝这一天了。

But it was two days later that the gentlemen in Congress

然而两天后，

国会议员才投票通过了《独立宣言》，

voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence,

largely written by Thomas Jefferson,

其中很大一部分是由托马斯·杰斐逊撰写的，

offering all the reasons why the country should be free.

阐述了国家为什么应该独立的所有原因。

More than 235 years later,

在235多年以后的今天，

we celebrate that day as America's birthday.

我们庆祝这一天为美国的国庆日。

But there are some pieces of the story you may not know.

但是有一些故事你可能是不知道的。

First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit

首先，托马斯·杰斐逊流芳百世，

for writing the Declaration,

因为他撰写了《独立宣言》。

but five men had been given the job

但其实有五个人都参与了工作，

to come up with a document explaining why

他们提交一份文件来解释

America should be independent:

为什么美国应该独立。

Robert Livingston,

罗伯特·李维顿、

Roger Sherman,

罗杰·谢尔曼、

Benjamin Franklin and

本杰明·富兰克林和

John Adams were all named first.

约翰·亚当斯的名字都排在托马斯·杰斐逊之前。

And it was Adams who suggested that the young,

正是亚当斯建议

and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them

年轻、不为人知的托马斯·杰斐逊加入他们，

because they needed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation,

因为他们需要一个来自有影响力的弗吉尼亚代表团的人，

and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was.

而且亚当斯认为杰斐逊在写作方面比他好很多。

Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes,

第二，尽管杰斐逊从未用过脚注

or credited his sources,

或者写出资源的贡献，

some of his memorable words and phrases were borrowed

但其实他的一些著名词句

都借鉴了其他作者的话语并做了细小改动而已。

from other writers and slightly tweaked.

Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions.

之后，富兰克林和亚当斯提出了一些建议，

But the most important change came after the Declaration

但是最重要的改变来自于

《独立宣言》移交国会以后。

was turned over to the full Congress.

For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson

整整两天，托马斯·杰斐逊很不开心地坐着边生闷气

sat and fumed while his words were picked over.

边听议员对他的草案挑三拣四。

In the end, the Congress made a few, minor word changes,

最后，国会修改了很小一部分的语句，

and one big deletion.

并删除了一大块。

In the long list of charges that Jefferson made

在杰斐逊所列的一长串反对大英帝国的控诉中，

against the King of England,

the author of the Declaration had included the idea

《独立宣言》的作者包含了这样一个观点，

that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade,

乔治亚三世要为贩卖奴隶负责，

and was preventing America from ending slavery.

这阻止了美国废除奴隶制度。

That was not only untrue,

那不仅仅是不正确的，

but Congress wanted no mention of slavery

而且国会也不想在开国文件中提到奴隶。

in the nation's founding document.

The reference was cut out

因此涉及的这一段

before the Declaration was approved and sent to the printer.

在《独立宣言》被批准并送往印刷之前就被删除了。

But it leaves open the hard question:

不过这遗留下来了一个难题：

How could the men,

签署文件的人们怎么可以

who were about to sign a document,

celebrating liberty and equality,

在庆祝自由和平等的同时，

accept a system in which some people owned others?

接受一个一些人拥有另一些人的社会？

It is a question that

这是一个

would eventually bring the nation to civil war

最后将美国推入内战

and one we can still ask today.

而且我们现在仍然可以质疑的问题。