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1、Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln March 4, 1865Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting an
2、d proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of his great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms
3、, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anx
4、iously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving teing delivered from thisurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union and
5、 divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union
6、, but localized in the southern part of it. Their slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the
7、 Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should c
8、ease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just Gods assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of o
9、ther mens faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must need be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comet. If we shall suppose that American s
10、lavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern there in an
11、y departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away? Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmans two hundred and fifty yea
12、rs of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. With malice toward none, with charity for a
13、ll, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the might, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ours
14、elves and with all nations.林肯第二次就职演说（1865年3月4日）一八六四年当林肯再度当选连任总统职位时，美国仍为内战所分裂。当时战争的结果仍不能确定，而林肯的再度当选，成为北方人民决心作战到底争取最后胜利的一个令人振奋的表现。一八六五年三月四日当林肯宣誓就职时，局势清楚显示北方即将战胜，战争行将结束。在这篇就职演讲词中，林肯致力于讨论战后美国人民将面临的重大课题。林肯希望避免一切过错与惩罚的问题。当他准备实施这项政策时，一个刺客的枪弹葬送了他的崇高理想。 各位同胞：在这第二次的宣誓就职典礼中，不像第一次就职的时候那样需要发表长篇演说。在那个时候，对于当时所要进行的
15、事业多少作一详细的说明，似乎是适当的。现在四年任期已满，在这段战争期间的每个重要时刻和阶段中这个战争至今仍为举国所关怀，还且占用了国家大部分力量都经常发布文告，所以现在很少有什么新的发展可以奉告。我们的军事进展，是一切其它问题的关键所在，各界人士对此情形是跟我一样熟悉的，而我相信进展的情况，可以使我们全体人民有理由感到满意和鼓舞。既然可以对将来寄予极大的希望，那么我们也就用不着在这一方面作什么预言了。 四年前在与此同一场合里，所有的人都焦虑地注意一场即将来临的内战。大家害怕它，想尽了方法去避免它。当时我正在这里作就职演说，竭尽全力想不用战争方法而能保存联邦，然而本城的反叛分子的代理人却没法不用
16、战争而破坏联邦他们力图瓦解联邦，并以谈判的方法来分割联邦。双方都声称反对战争，可是有一方宁愿打仗而不愿让国家生存，另一方则宁可接受这场战争，而不愿国家灭亡，于是战争就来临了。 我们全国人口的八分之一是黑奴，他们并非遍布整个联邦，而是局部地分布于南方。这些奴隶构成了一种特殊而重大的权益。大家知道这种权益可说是这场战争的原因。为了加强、保持及扩大这种权益，反叛分子会不惜以战争来分裂联邦，而政府只不过要限制这种权益所在地区的扩张。当初，任何一方都没有想到这场战争会发展到目前那么大的范围，持续那么长的时间。也没有料到冲突的原因会随冲突本身的终止而终止，甚至会在冲突本身终止以前而终止。双方都在寻求一个较轻易的胜利，都没有期望获致带根本性的和惊人的结果。双方念诵同样的圣经，祈祷于同一个上帝，甚至于每一方都求助同一上帝的援助以反对另一方，人们竟敢求助于上帝，来夺取他人以血汗得来的面包，这看来是很奇怪的。可是我们不要判断人家，免得别人判断我们。
