就职演讲

Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty.
然而，尽管有这么多可供参考的先例，我现在将在宪法所规定的短短四年任期中来担任这同一任务，却面临着巨大的非同一般的困难。
A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.
在此以前，分裂联邦只是受到了威胁，而现在却是已出现力图分裂它的可怕行动了。
I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual.
从一般法律和我们的宪法来仔细考虑，我坚信，我们各州组成的联邦是永久性的。
Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.
在一切国民政府的根本大法中永久性这一点，虽不一定写明，却是不言而喻的。
It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
我们完全可以肯定说，没有一个名副其实的政府会在自己的根本法中定出一条，规定自己完结的期限。
Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever,
继续执行我国宪法所明文规定的各项条文，联邦便将永远存在下去
it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
除了采取并未见之于宪法的行动，谁也不可能毁灭掉联邦。
Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract,
还有，就算合众国并不是个名副其实的政府，而只是依靠契约成立的一个各州的联合体，那既有契约的约束，
be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
若非参加这一契约的各方一致同意，我们能说取消就把它取消吗?
One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak—but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?
参加订立契约的一方可以违约，或者说毁约；但如果合法地取消这一契约，岂能不需要大家一致同意吗?
Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself.
从这些总原则出发，我们发现，从法学观点来看，联邦具有永久性质的提法，是为联邦自身的历史所证实的。
The Union is much older than the Constitution.
联邦本身比宪法更为早得多。
It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774.
事实上，它是由1774年，签订的《联合条款》建立的。
It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
到1776年的《独立宣言》才使它进一步成熟和延续下来。
It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual,by the Articles of Confederation in 1778.
然后，通过1778年的“邦联条款”使它更臻成熟，当时参加的十三个州便已明确保证要使邦联永久存在下去。
And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."
最后，到1787年制订的宪法公开宣布的目的之一，便是“组建一个更为完美的联邦”。
But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible,
但是，如果任何一个州，或几个州也可以合法地把联邦给取消掉，
the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
加这个联邦可是比它在宪法制订以前还更不完美了，因为它已失去了它的一个至关重要因素——永久性。
It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union;
从这些观点我们可以认定，任何一个州，都不可能仅凭自己动议，便能合法地退出联邦
总统介绍

亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln，1809年2月12日－1865年4月15日），美国政治家、思想家，黑人奴隶制的废除者。第16任美国总统，其任总统期间，美国爆发内战，史称南北战争，林肯坚决反对国家分裂。