Fellow-Citizens: 同胞们：
Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors, I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the discharge of my official duties. 我本人没有谋求这一职位，却经同胞自由、自愿投票，被选任世上最光荣也责任最重大的职务。大家给予我的信任，使我满怀深切感激。我在比任何前任都更年轻的时候获此殊荣，因此无法掩饰自己即将开始履行公职时的惶恐与不安。
If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and policy which should characterize the administration of our Government? 共和国初创时期，那些年长而经验丰富的合众国总统尚且怀疑自己能否履行这一崇高职位的职责；如今，我国疆域已横跨两洋，人口大幅增长，对于政府应当遵循的原则和政策又存在如此多样的意见，那么像我这样年轻、才具更为有限的人，怎能不怀有更深的忧虑？
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family. 承担的责任关系到国家的和平与繁荣，并在一定程度上关系到全人类的希望与幸福，即使最勇敢的人也有理由畏惧，最明智的人也会为之战栗。
In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the destinies of nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from an unwise public policy. 肩负如此重大的责任，我热切祈求掌握国家与个人命运的全能宇宙主宰施以援助，保护这片蒙受上天眷顾的土地，使它免遭缺少神明指引的不智公共政策可能造成的灾祸。
With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 我坚定信赖全能者的智慧，愿它支持并引导我走上受命遵循的职责之路。此刻，我站在聚集于此的广大同胞面前，郑重承担义务：“竭尽所能，维护、保护和捍卫合众国宪法。”
A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion. 简要列举指导本届政府施政的原则，不仅符合所有前任为我树立的先例，也十分切合今天的场合。
The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed. 宪法文字清楚，是联邦盟约的保障，也是退让与妥协的产物；它以和平与联合的纽带，把这个由自由独立各州组成、不断壮大的大家庭联结起来，并将成为指引我的航图。
It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms. 我的首要任务，是依照宪法的真正精神治理政府，绝不行使其中没有明文授予或明确默示的权力。
The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers, and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers that we have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union. 合众国政府只拥有受托且有限的权力。只有严格遵守明确授予的权力，并避免行使存疑或未经授权的默示权力，才能确实防止联邦与州政府之间那些不幸冲突重演；这种冲突曾不时严重扰乱我国制度的和谐，甚至威胁光荣联邦的长久存续。
"To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty. “宪法既未授予合众国，也未禁止各州行使的权力”，均“分别保留给各州或人民”。每个州在其保留权力范围内都是完整的主权体；联邦政府在受托权力范围内行事时，也同样是完整的主权体。
While the General Government should abstain from the exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. 中央政府应避免行使没有明确授予它的权力，各州在维护自身权利时也应同样谨慎，不可超越为它们保留的权力界限。
One of the most distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad." 我的一位杰出前任曾理所当然地高度重视“支持州政府享有其全部权利，因为州政府最适合管理国内事务，也是抵御反共和倾向最可靠的堡垒”；他也同样重视“维护中央政府完整的宪法力量，因为这是国内和平和对外安全的定海神针”。
To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. 合众国政府受托独家管理我国外交事务，除此之外只掌握少数列明的一般权力。它不强迫各州改革，并让受到它保护的个人完全自由地合法运用全部智力和体力，以改善自身处境。
It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country, which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power. 它共同保护每一个州，保护生活在我国土地上的每个人，无论出生于本国还是外国；保护每个宗教派别依照自身良知敬拜全能者；保护各种意见和最自由的探究；也保护一切符合州法律的艺术、行业、职业和营生。国家普遍的幸福、繁荣与进步源于自由而非权力，我们为此欣喜。
This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful operation for more than half a century, and if preserved from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come and dispense the blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with anxious solicitude. 这一由人类智慧设计、最卓越也最明智的规范自治制度，已经历五十多年成功运行的检验。只要一方面防止联邦政府篡夺权力，另一方面防止各州行使未保留给它们的权力，我热切希望并相信，这一制度将延续千秋，把公民自由与宗教自由的福祉赐予遥远后世。为了实现每位爱国者都无比珍视的目标，我将怀着深切忧虑全心投入。
It will be my desire to guard against that most fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the Executive or of majorities in the legislative department of the Government for powers which have been withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. 宪法没有把某些权力授予联邦政府；如果仅凭行政部门或立法部门多数人的判断与任性来取代这些权力，就会构成危害我国制度协调运行的最大危险来源，我希望对此严加防范。依照我国政府理论，多数人居于主导，但这项权利并非专断且没有限制，而必须从属于宪法并与宪法一致地行使。
One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression. 宪法的一项重要目标，就是防止多数人压迫少数人或侵犯其正当权利。少数人有权诉诸宪法，把它作为抵御压迫的盾牌。
That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. 为使少数人与多数人都能平等享有宪法保障的自由福祉，行政部门被明智地赋予对立法机关法案的有限否决权。这是一项消极权力，本质上具有保守作用。它能够暂时阻止仓促、欠缺考虑或违反宪法的立法，促使人们重新审议，并把立法与行政部门之间有争议的问题交给人民裁决。同其他一切权力一样，它也可能遭到滥用。
When judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected. 如果审慎而恰当地使用这项权力，宪法本身就能免遭违反，所有人的权利也能得到维护和保护。
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are permitted collectively and individually to seek their own happiness in their own way, and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed the number of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members of the Confederacy within the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. 我国联邦具有无法估量的价值，人人都能感受并承认这一点。在这个各州联合组成的联邦制度下，人民无论作为整体还是个人，都可以用自己的方式追求幸福，并产生了极为可喜的结果。联邦成立以来，州的数量从十三个增加到二十八个；仅在过去一周，就有两个州加入联邦。我国人口也从三百万增加到两千万。
New communities and States are seeking protection under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests in developing his faculties and powers and the capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. 新的社群和州正在寻求联邦的庇护，大批旧大陆居民也涌向我国海岸，希望分享它的福祉。在其仁慈治理下，和平与繁荣处处可见。摆脱战争的负担与苦难以后，我国贸易和交往已遍及世界。人们不再耗费心力设计或抵制野心、篡权与征服的图谋，而是把才智用于人类真正的利益，发展自身能力，也发掘自然满足人类生活的潜力。
Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. 人的才智可以自由公布其发明和发现，双手也可以自由实现头脑构想的一切，只要不违背他人的权利。出身与等级的一切差别都已废除。所有公民，无论本土出生还是后来入籍，都处于完全平等的地位，享有平等权利与同等保护。政教并不结合，所有教派和信仰都享有充分的意见自由。
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our Federal Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man. 这些是联邦为我们幸福国土保障的部分福祉。为了让它们长存，维护联邦是我们的神圣职责。在光荣联邦保护下，自由思想与自由双手的成就岂能由人划定界限？自社会形成以来，任何背叛人类的行为，都没有举手摧毁联邦那样残暴。这样的人将推翻人类智慧最崇高的建筑，而这座建筑原本保护着他本人和他的同胞。
He would stop the progress of free government and involve his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty, which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions and invites all the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error and wrong are committed in the administration of the Government, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect, and that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven or devised by man has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat error. 他会阻断自由政府的进步，使国家陷入无政府状态或专制统治；他会熄灭自由之火，而这团火温暖并鼓舞着千百万幸福人民的心，也吸引世界各国效仿我们的榜样。如果他说政府治理中存在错误与不义，就应记住，任何人类事物都不可能完美；无论上天启示还是人类设计的政府制度，没有哪一种像我国制度这样，给予理性如此自由广阔的空间去同错误抗争。
Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic sentiment, "Our Federal Union--it must be preserved." 专制者的刀剑难道已被证明是比开明理性更安全、更可靠的政府改革工具吗？他难道指望在联邦废墟中，为我国人口众多的千万人民找到比现在更幸福的家园吗？每一位爱国者想到联邦可能解体都会不寒而栗，并愿意认同这句爱国信念：“我们的联邦——必须维护。”
To preserve it the compromises which alone enabled our fathers to form a common constitution for the government and protection of so many States and distinct communities, of such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to none other than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences. 为了维护联邦，必须神圣而虔诚地遵守那些妥协；正是这些妥协，使先辈得以为众多习惯、利益和内部制度各不相同的州与社群制定共同宪法，以便治理和保护它们。妥协是联邦盟约的条款，任何扰乱或破坏它们的企图，都只会造成最具毁灭性的灾难后果。
It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in other sections--institutions which existed at the adoption of the Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our happy form of government must speedily follow. 令人深感遗憾的是，我国某些地区偶尔有受误导者策划并煽动运动，企图摧毁其他地区现存的内部制度；这些制度在宪法制定时已经存在，并得到宪法承认和保护。人人都应看到，如果他们真的实现目标，联邦必将迅速解体，我们幸福的政府形式也会随之毁灭。
I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously contemplate its destruction. 令我欣慰的是，在我国作为国家存在的每一个时期，广大人民始终热爱各州联邦，而且这种热爱今天依然存在；它将保护联邦，使其免受那些认真图谋摧毁联邦者在道德上的背叛。
To secure a continuance of that devotion the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all should remember that they are members of the same political family, having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must operate to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow-citizens, and should be avoided. 为了让这种热爱延续，不仅必须维护宪法中的妥协，还必须抵制地域猜忌与怨愤；人人都应记住，自己属于同一个政治大家庭，拥有共同命运。为了增强人民对联邦的依恋，我们的法律应当公正。任何偏袒垄断组织或某些地区、阶层特殊利益的政策，都会损害其他同胞的利益，因而应当避免。
If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved, if sectional jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our laws be just and the Government be practically administered strictly within the limits of power prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions for the safety of the Union. 只要维护宪法妥协，抵制地域猜忌与怨愤，确保法律公正，并在实践中严格按照规定的权力界限治理政府，我们就可以不再对联邦的安全抱有任何忧虑。
With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the Government and the value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the creation of those institutions and systems which in their nature tend to pervert it from its legitimate purposes and make it the instrument of sections, classes, and individuals. We need no national banks or other extraneous institutions planted around the Government to control or strengthen it in opposition to the will of its authors. 基于上述对政府性质、特征、目标及联邦价值的理解，我将坚定反对建立那些本质上会使政府偏离合法目标，并使其沦为地区、阶层或个人工具的机构和制度。我们不需要在政府周围设置国家银行或其他外来机构，违背政府创建者的意愿去控制或强化政府。
Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public authorities--how impotent for good and how powerful for mischief. 经验已经告诉我们，这些机构作为公共权力的辅助毫无必要；它们无力行善，却极善作恶。
Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as the Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my power the strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money which may be compatible with the public interests. 我国政府原本就应简明节俭。我将把以下事项视为自身职责：向国会提出建议，并在行政部门权限内运用一切手段，在符合公共利益的前提下，对公共资金开支实行最严格的节约。
A national debt has become almost an institution of European monarchies. It is viewed in some of them as an essential prop to existing governments. Melancholy is the condition of that people whose government can be sustained only by a system which periodically transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible with the ends for which our republican Government was instituted. Under a wise policy the debts contracted in our Revolution and during the War of 1812 have been happily extinguished. 国债几乎已成为欧洲君主国的一项固定制度，其中一些国家甚至把它视为维持现有政府不可缺少的支柱。如果一个民族的政府只能依靠某种制度维持，而这种制度周期性地把广大劳动者创造的大量财富转入少数人的钱柜，那么这个民族的处境十分可悲。这种制度同建立我国共和政府的目标不相容。由于政策明智，我们已经顺利清偿了革命战争和一八一二年战争期间产生的债务。
By a judicious application of the revenues not required for other necessary purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off. 只要明智运用无须用于其他必要用途的财政收入，毫无疑问，近几年形势造成的债务也可以迅速偿清。
I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the credit of the General Government of the Union and that of many of the States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted. 联邦中央政府和许多州的信用已经完全恢复，我为此向同胞们表示祝贺。如果负债各州能够摆脱债务，当然令人欣慰；其中许多债务都是在不够谨慎的情况下承担的。
Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of our compact of union to assume them, yet we can not but feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities and pay off their just debts at the earliest practicable period. That they will do so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens there is no reason to doubt. 联邦政府无论在法律还是道义上都不对各州债务负责，代为承担这些债务也会违反联邦盟约；然而，我们仍深切希望所有州都能履行公共债务，并在实际可行的最早时刻偿还正当欠款。只要不至于给本州公民造成过重负担，各州就会尽快这样做，这一点没有理由怀疑。
The sound moral and honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States can not be questioned, and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their part, as their acility returns after a season of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and to acquiesce in any reasonable measures to accomplish that object. 负债各州人民健全的道德感和荣誉感不容置疑。我们欣慰地看到，在经历前所未有的财政困境后，随着财力恢复，他们已形成坚定意愿，要清偿一切正当要求，并接受为实现这一目标而采取的任何合理措施。
One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical administration of the Government consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of Government. In the general proposition that no more money shall be collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall require all parties seem to acquiesce. 政府实际治理中遇到的一项困难，是调整财政收入法律，并征收维持政府所必需的税款。对于政府征收的资金不应超过节俭行政所需这一基本主张，各党似乎都表示赞同。
Nor does there seem to be any material difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the Government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or one occupation, for the mere profit of another. "Justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country." 人们似乎也一致认为，政府无权仅仅为了让另一地区、另一类公民或另一种职业获利，而向某一地区、某一类公民或某一种职业征税。“正义与健全政策不允许联邦政府扶持一个行业而损害另一个行业，也不允许偏爱共同祖国的一个地区而损害另一个地区。”
I have heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that "in my judgment it is the duty of the Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just protection to all of the great interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation." 我此前曾向同胞们声明：“依我判断，政府有责任在实际可行的范围内，通过财政收入法律及其权限内的一切其他手段，对整个联邦的所有重大利益给予公平公正的保护，包括农业、制造业、机械技艺、商业与航运。”
I have also declared my opinion to be "in favor of a tariff for revenue," and that "in adjusting the details of such a tariff I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount of revenue needed and at the same time afford reasonable incidental protection to our home industry," and that I was "opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue." 我也曾表明，自己“赞成以取得财政收入为目的的关税”；“在调整此类关税的具体税率时，我赞同实行适度的差别税率，使其既能取得所需收入，又能为国内产业提供合理的附带保护”；同时，我“反对只为保护而非为取得财政收入设立的关税”。
The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" was an indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which without it would possess no means of providing for its own support. In executing this power by levying a tariff of duties for the support of Government, the raising of 'revenue' should be the 'object' and 'protection' the 'incident'. To reverse this principle and make 'protection' the 'object' and 'revenue' the 'incident' would be to inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the protected interests. 联邦政府必须拥有“规定并征收税款、关税、进口税和消费税”的权力，否则就没有供养自身的手段。通过征收关税来维持政府时，取得“收入”应是“目标”，“保护”只能是“附带结果”。颠倒这一原则，把“保护”当作“目标”、把“收入”当作“附带结果”，就会对受保护利益以外的所有人造成明显不公。
In levying duties for revenue it is doubtless proper to make such discriminations within the 'revenue principle' as will afford incidental protection to our home interests. Within the revenue limit there is a discretion to discriminate; beyond that limit the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The incidental protection afforded to our home interests by discriminations within the revenue range it is believed will be ample. In making discriminations all our home interests should as far as practicable be equally protected. 为了取得财政收入而征收关税时，在“收入原则”范围内作出能够附带保护国内利益的差别安排，无疑是适当的。在收入限度内，可以酌情区别对待；一旦超出这一限度，就不能承认其为合法行使权力。收入范围内的差别税率相信足以为国内利益提供充分的附带保护。作出区别时，应尽可能平等保护国内所有利益。
The largest portion of our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their respective pursuits and their joint labors constitute the national or home industry. To tax one branch of this home industry for the benefit of another would be unjust. No one of these interests can rightfully claim an advantage over the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the others. All are equally entitled to the fostering care and protection of the Government. 我国人口中占比最大的是农业劳动者，其他人则从事制造、商业、航运和机械技艺。他们各自投身不同事业，合在一起构成国家或国内产业。为了一个国内行业的利益而向另一个行业征税并不公正。任何一种利益都无权要求优于其他利益，也无权通过使其他行业贫困而使自己富裕。它们都同样有权得到政府的扶持与保护。
In exercising a sound discretion in levying discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, care should be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the toiling millions by taxing 'lowest' the luxuries of life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can only be consumed by the wealthy, and 'highest' the necessaries of life, or articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass of our people must consume. 在规定限度内审慎确定差别税率时，应防止采用牺牲千百万劳动者、使少数富人获利的方式：不能对只有富人才能消费的生活奢侈品或优质高价商品征收“最低”税率，却对穷人和广大民众必须消费的生活必需品或粗质低价商品征收“最高”税率。
The burdens of government should as far as practicable be distributed justly and equally among all classes of our population. These general views, long entertained on this subject, I have deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting its details should be cherished by every part of our widespread country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquiescence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. 政府负担应尽实际可能公平、平等地分配给各阶层人民。我长期持有这些一般看法，认为有必要在此重申。人们认为，不同地区与职业在这个问题上存在利益冲突；我国幅员辽阔，各地在调整具体规定时都应培养相互退让与妥协的精神，只有这样才能维持和谐，并使所有人乐意接受税收法律的施行。
Our patriotic citizens in every part of the Union will readily submit to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed for the support of their Government, whether in peace or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as possible among them. 无论和平还是战争时期，只要维持政府所需税款的征收尽可能在人民之间平均分配负担，联邦各地的爱国公民都会欣然缴纳。
The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union, to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a part of our country--was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power--is now independent, and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to merge her sovereignty as a separate and independent state in ours. 得克萨斯共和国已经表达加入我国联邦的愿望，希望成为联邦的一部分，同我们一道享有宪法保障的自由福祉。得克萨斯曾经是我国的一部分，却被不智地割让给外国；它如今已经独立，无疑有权处置部分或全部领土，也有权把自己作为独立国家的主权并入我国主权。
I congratulate my country that by an act of the late Congress of the United States the assent of this Government has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the two countries to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both. 我祝贺祖国：合众国上一届国会已经通过法案，表示本国政府同意重新合并。现在只需两国商定条件，就能完成这项对双方都十分重要的事业。
I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent to contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with them or to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions. 我认为，兼并问题完全属于合众国和得克萨斯。双方都是有权缔约的独立政权，外国无权干涉，也无权反对双方重新合并。外国似乎不了解我国政府的真实性质。我国联邦由独立各州联合组成，其政策是在各州之间以及同全世界保持和平。扩大联邦疆界，就是把和平的统治扩展到更多领土和不断增长的千百万人民。
The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be otherwise than pacific. 世界无需惧怕我国政府的军事野心。最高行政长官和国会民选议院都由千百万选民选出，任期很短，而战争的一切负担与苦难都必须由这些选民亲身承受；因此，我国政府不可能不奉行和平。
Foreign powers should therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United States not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new and ever-increasing markets for their products. 所以，外国应当把得克萨斯并入合众国看作和平取得我国过去拥有的领土，而不是一个国家试图以武力和暴力扩张疆域的征服。我们在得克萨斯同意下为联邦增添一个成员，由此减少战争可能，并为外国商品开放不断扩大的新市场。
To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of our Government would be extended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily developed, while the safety of New Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier against hostile aggression, as well as the interests of the whole Union, would be promoted by it. 重新合并对得克萨斯十分重要，因为我国政府强大的保护力量将延伸到那里，其肥沃土地和宜人气候蕴藏的巨大资源将迅速得到开发；同时，新奥尔良和整个西南边疆抵御敌对侵略的安全将得到加强，全联邦的利益也会因此得到促进。
In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed with some that our system of confederated States could not operate successfully over an extended territory, and serious objections have at different times been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. These objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not well founded. 我国建国初期，有些人认为联邦各州制度无法在广阔疆域内成功运行，人们也曾多次强烈反对扩大国界。我们取得路易斯安那时，这类反对意见尤其强烈。经验已经证明，它们并无充分根据。
The title of numerous Indian tribes to vast tracts of country has been extinguished; new States have been admitted into the Union; new Territories have been created and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our population has expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has been spread over a large surface, our federative system has acquired additional strength and security. 许多原住民部族对大片土地的权利已经终止；新的州获准加入联邦，新的领地得以建立，我国管辖权与法律也扩展到这些地方。随着人口增长，联邦变得更加紧密坚固；随着边界扩大、农业人口分布到更广阔的土地上，联邦制度也获得了更强的力量和安全保障。
It may well be doubted whether it would not be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population were confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and that as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from being weakened, will become stronger. 如果把现有人口限制在最初十三州相对狭窄的范围内，联邦所面临的倾覆危险是否反而会超过今天人口稀疏分布在更广阔疆域的情况，很值得怀疑。我们坚信，本国制度可以安全地扩展到领土的最远边界；随着制度扩展，联邦纽带非但不会削弱，反而会更加牢固。
None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is there one among our citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional wars, which so often occur between bordering independent nations? Is there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or cross her frontiers? 如果得克萨斯继续作为独立国家存在，或成为某个比它强大的外国的盟国或附庸，任何人都能看到这会给我国安全与未来和平带来危险。边境独立国家之间常常发生战争，我国公民中有谁不愿选择同得克萨斯永久和平，而愿选择不时交战？我国商品和制成品进入其港口或越过其边境时可能承受高额关税，又有谁不愿选择同它自由贸易？
Is there one who would not prefer an unrestricted communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must occur if she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the local institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the United States or not. None of the present States will be responsible for them any more than they are for the local institutions of each other. They have confederated together for certain specified objects. 如果得克萨斯留在联邦之外，边境阻碍必然出现；有谁不愿同当地公民自由往来？无论得克萨斯的本地制度是好是坏，不论它是否并入合众国，这些制度都属于它自己。现有各州不会为这些制度负责，正如它们不为彼此的本地制度负责一样。各州只是为了若干明确目标联合起来。
Upon the same principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual union with Texas because of her local institutions our forefathers would have been prevented from forming our present Union. 如果仅因得克萨斯的本地制度就拒绝同它建立永久联盟，那么依照同一原则，我们的先辈当初也不可能建立今天的联邦。
Perceiving no valid objection to the measure and many reasons for its adoption vitally affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both countries, I shall on the broad principle which formed the basis and produced the adoption of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endeavor by all constitutional, honorable, and appropriate means to consummate the expressed will of the people and Government of the United States by the reannexation of Texas to our Union at the earliest practicable period. 我看不到这项措施存在任何合理反对理由，却看到许多支持它的理由，而且这些理由对两国和平、安全与繁荣至关重要。因此，我将依据促成宪法制定和通过的广泛原则，而不是出于狭隘的地域政策，运用一切合宪、光荣而适当的手段，尽早把得克萨斯重新并入联邦，以实现合众国人民和政府已经表达的意愿。
Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by all constitutional means the right of the United States to that portion of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of the Oregon is "clear and unquestionable," and already are our people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives and children. But eighty years ago our population was confined on the west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. 运用一切合宪手段主张并维护合众国对落基山脉以西那部分领土的权利，同样是我的职责。我国对俄勒冈地区的权利“清楚且无可置疑”，我国人民也已准备带着妻儿在那里定居，使这项权利更加完备。仅仅八十年前，我国人口向西还止于阿勒格尼山脉。
Within that period--within the lifetime, I might say, of some of my hearers--our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the Missouri to its headsprings, and are already engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately wherever they may be upon our soil. 在此期间——可以说仍在我的一些听众有生之年内——我国人口增长到数千万，遍布密西西比河东部谷地，勇敢地沿密苏里河上溯至源头，并已开始在河流奔向太平洋的这些谷地建立自治、享受自治的福祉。世界正在见证我国移民辛勤劳动取得的和平胜利。无论他们身处我国土地上的何处，我们都有责任给予充分保护。
The jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our republican institutions should be extended over them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the States, of which the formation in that part of our territory can not be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected. 我国法律的管辖和共和制度的福祉，应当扩展到他们选择为家园的遥远地区。随着交往日益便利，在我国这部分领土建立新州已不会等待太久，这些州也很容易纳入联邦范围。在此期间，条约或约定条款规定的一切义务都应得到神圣遵守。
In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should characterize all our intercourse with foreign countries. 处理对外关系时，我将以谨慎尊重其他国家权利为目标，同时始终警觉地维护本国权利。我国同外国的一切交往都应体现平等且不偏不倚的公正原则。
All alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and honor of our country or sacrifice any one of the national interests will be studiously avoided, and yet no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable understanding with foreign governments by which our navigation and commerce may be extended and the ample products of our fertile soil, as well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market and remunerating prices in foreign countries. 凡可能危及国家福祉与荣誉、牺牲任何国家利益的联盟，我们都将审慎避免；但我们也不会错过任何机会，同外国政府培养良好谅解，从而扩大我国航运与贸易，使肥沃土地的丰富物产和熟练工匠的制成品能在外国迅速找到市场，并获得有利价格。
In taking "care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict performance of duty will be exacted from all public officers. From those officers, especially, who are charged with the collection and disbursement of the public revenue will prompt and rigid accountability be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to account for the moneys intrusted to them at the times and in the manner required by law will in every instance terminate the official connection of such defaulting officer with the Government. 为了“确保法律得到忠实执行”，所有公职人员都必须严格履行职责，尤其要求负责公共收入收支的官员及时、严格地交代账目。凡未能按照法律规定的时间和方式说明受托资金去向，且存在应受责备的失职或拖延者，一律终止其同政府的任职关系。
Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. 在我国，最高行政长官几乎必然由某个政党推选，并承诺遵循该党的原则与措施；然而，他在履行公职时不应只做一部分人的总统，而应做全体合众国人民的总统。
While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard. 总统应公正执行法律，不逃避任何正当责任，并在行政部门忠实贯彻推选他的人民所支持的原则与政策；但他也不应忘记，持不同意见的同胞有权充分自由地运用自身观点与判断，所有人的权利都应得到尊重与重视。
Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the coordinate departments of the Government in conducting our public affairs, I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being who has watched over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present hour to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be a prosperous and happy people. 我满怀信心地依靠政府各平等部门协助处理公共事务，开始履行人民交付给我的崇高职责。我再次谦卑祈求那位从我国初创直到今天始终看顾并保护我们挚爱祖国的神明，继续赐予仁慈祝福，使我们永远成为繁荣幸福的人民。