Fellow-Citizens: 各位公民：
The will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness. 美国人民通过他们自愿的投票表达的意志，召唤我来到你们面前，通过一系列庄严的仪式，准备再次承担联邦总统的职责。对于他们在一个并非没有困难的时期对我公共行为的认可，以及对我的良好意图的这一新的信任表达，我感到难以用言语表达我的感激之情。我将以我微薄的能力，通过持续努力管理政府来维护他们的自由并促进他们的幸福，以此来表达我的感激。
So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily called forth--sometimes under circumstances the most delicate and painful--my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the General Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with some of them. 过去四年中发生了许多事件，这些事件必然要求——有时是在最微妙和最痛苦的情况下——我阐明联邦政府应该奉行的原则和政策，因此在这个场合，我只需提及其中一些主要考虑因素。
The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued by successive Administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted. 我们政府在现行宪法形成后不久采取的对外政策，以及历届政府普遍奉行的政策，几乎取得了完全的成功，并提升了我们在世界各国中的地位。"对所有人主持正义，不屈服于任何人的错误"一直是我任期内的指导原则，其结果是如此令人满意，以至于我们不仅与世界各国和平相处，而且几乎没有争议的原因，那些未解决的问题也无关紧要。
In the domestic policy of this Government there are two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union. 在这个政府的国内政策中，有两个目标特别值得人民及其代表关注，它们一直是并且将继续是我日益关切的主题。它们是维护各州的权利和联邦的完整。
These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own government. 这些伟大的目标必然是相互联系的，只有通过每个机构在其适当范围内根据宪法表达的公众意愿明智地行使权力才能实现。为此，所有人都有责任准备好爱国地服从宪法制定的法律，从而促进和加强对人民自己为其政府所设立的各州和联邦机构的适当信任。
My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation. 我在公共事务中的经验以及对人生的观察（我的人生已有所进展）证实了我长期以来形成的观点，即摧毁我们的州政府或消灭它们对人民地方事务的控制，将直接导致革命和无政府状态，并最终导致专制和军事统治。因此，联邦政府对各州权利的侵犯程度，与其削弱自身权力和降低其履行创建目的能力的程度成正比。
Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the General Government. But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts." 我的同胞们，由于这些考虑而深感震撼，你们将永远发现我随时准备行使我的宪法权力来阻止那些可能直接或间接侵犯各州权利或倾向于将所有政治权力集中在联邦政府手中的措施。但是，同样重要——实际上是不可估量的重要——是这些州的联合，以及所有人通过慷慨支持联邦政府行使其正当权力来为维护联合贡献力量的神圣职责。你们曾被明智地告诫要"习惯于将联邦视为你们政治安全与繁荣的守护神，满怀警惕地关注其维护，反对任何可能暗示它在任何情况下都可能被放弃的言论，并对任何试图使我国任何部分与其他部分疏远或削弱现在将各部分联系在一起的神圣纽带的企图的最初迹象表示愤慨"。
Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist. 没有联合，我们的独立和自由永远不会实现；没有联合，它们永远无法维持。如果分裂成二十四个，甚至更少的独立社区，我们将看到我们的国内贸易被无数的限制和勒索所负担；遥远地点和地区之间的通讯被阻碍或切断；我们的儿子成为士兵，用鲜血淹没他们现在和平耕种的田地；我们的人民大众被支持军队和海军的税收压垮和贫困化，军事领导人率领他们胜利的军团成为我们的立法者和法官。联邦解体必然导致自由、所有良好政府、和平、富裕和幸福的丧失。因此，支持联邦就是支持自由人和慈善家所珍视的一切。
The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate. 我站在你们面前的时刻充满了意义。世界各国的目光都注视着我们的共和国。当前危机的结果将决定人类对我们联邦政府制度可行性的看法。我们手中掌握着巨大的赌注；联邦人民必须承担巨大的责任。让我们认识到我们在世界面前所处立场的重要性。让我们行使克制和坚定。让我们将我们的国家从周围的危险中解救出来，并从它们所教导的教训中汲取智慧。
Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union. 对这些观察的真实性深感震撼，并根据我即将宣誓的庄严誓言，我将继续尽我所有的能力来维护宪法的正当权力，并将我们联邦的福祉完好无损地传给后代。同时，我的目标是通过我的官方行为灌输联邦政府只行使明确授予的权力的必要性；鼓励政府支出的简单和节俭；从人民那里筹集的资金不超过这些目的所必需的数额，并以最有利于社会各阶层和联邦各部分利益的方式。
Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people. 牢记在进入社会时"个人必须放弃一部分自由以维护其余部分"，我的愿望是在履行职责时，与全国各地的同胞一起培养一种自由让步和妥协的精神，并通过使我们的公民接受他们为维护更大利益而不可避免地必须做出的部分牺牲，使我们宝贵的政府和联邦获得美国人民的信任和爱戴。
Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people. 最后，我向我现在站在面前的那位全能的存在——他从我们共和国的诞生到今天一直将我们置于他的手中——致以最热烈的祈祷，愿他主宰我所有的意图和行动，并激励我同胞们的心，使我们免受各种危险，并永远继续成为一个团结和幸福的民族。