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1、第 1 页 布坎南总统就职演说(1)1 特征码 zPjxSiloLqzvJlNjgVGa Fellow-Citizens: I appear before you this day to take the solemn oath “that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.“ In
2、entering upon this GREat office I must humbly invoke the God of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and responsible duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and ancient friendship among the people of the several States and to preserve our free institutions throughout many ge
3、nerations. Convinced that I owe my election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the union which still animates the hearts of the American people, let me earnestly ask their powerful support in sustaining all just measures calculated to perpetuate these, the richest political blessings whic
4、h Heaven has ever bestowed upon any 第 2 页 nation. Having determined not to BECome a candidate for reelection, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct in administering the Government except the desire ably and faithfully to serve my country and to live in grateful memory of my countrymen. We h
5、ave recently passed through a Presidential contest in which the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest deGREe by questions of deep and vital importance; but when the people proclaimed their will the tempest at once subsided and all was calm. The voice of the majority, speaking i
6、n the manner prescribed by the Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government. What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule, that the wil
7、l of the majority shall govern, to the settlement of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories. Congress is neither “to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the 第 3 页 peop ple thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic inst
8、itutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.“ As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State it “shall be received into the union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe a
9、t the time of their admission.“ A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves. This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to
10、 the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in mon with all good citizens, I shall 第 4 页 cheerfully submit, whatever this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion that under the N
11、ebraska-Kansas act the appropriate period will be when the number of actual residents in the Territory shall justify the formation of a constitution with a view to its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the Government of the Uni
12、ted States to secure to every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being acplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.