(单词翻译:单击)
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Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION –American history in VOA Special English. Andrew Jackson became president of theUnited States in March of eighteen twenty-nine. Thousands of his supporterscame to Washington to see him sworn-in. Many were there, however, only to get agovernment job. They expected President Jackson to dismiss all the governmentworkers who did not support him in the election. Jackson supporters wantedthose jobs for themselves. This week in our series, Frank Oliver and MauriceJoyce continue the story of Andrew Jackson and his presidency. Most of the jobswere in the Post Office Department, headed by Postmaster General John McLean.McLean told Jackson that if he had to remove postmasters who took part in theelection, he would remove those who worked for Jackson as well as those whoworked for the re-election of President John Quincy Adams. Jackson removedMcLean as postmaster general. William Barry of Kentucky was named to theposition. Barry was willing to give jobs to Jackson's supporters. But he, too,refused to take jobs from people who had done nothing wrong.
Many government workers had held their jobsfor a long time. Some of them did very little work. Some were just too old. Afew were drunk most of the time. And some were even found to have stolen moneyfrom the government. These were the people President Jackson wanted to remove.And he learned it was difficult for him to take a job away from someone whoreally needed it. One old man came to Jackson from Albany, New York. He toldJackson he was postmaster in that city. He said the politicians wanted to takehis job. The old man said he had no other way to make a living. When thepresident did not answer, the old man began to take off his coat. "I amgoing to show you my wounds," he said. "I got them fighting theBritish with General George Washington during the war for independence."The next day, a New York congressman took President Jackson a list of names ofgovernment workers who were to be removed. The name of the old man from Albanywas on the list. He had not voted for Jackson. "By the eternal!"shouted Jackson. "I will not remove that old man. Do you know he carries apound of British lead in his body?" The job of another old soldier wasthreatened. The man had a large family and no other job. He had lost a leg onthe battlefield during the war for independence. He had not voted for Jackson,either. But that did not seem to matter to the president. "If he lost aleg fighting for his country," Jackson said, "that is vote enough forme. He will keep his job." Jackson's supporters who failed to get the jobsthey expected had to return home.
Next, the president had to deal with asplit that developed between himself and Vice President John C. Calhoun. Thetrouble grew out of a problem in the cabinet. Three of the cabinet members weresupporters and friends of Calhoun. These were Treasury Secretary Samuel Ingham,Attorney General John Berrien, and Navy Secretary John Branch. A fourth memberof the cabinet, Secretary of State Martin van Buren, opposed Calhoun. The fifthmember of the cabinet was Jackson's close friend, John Eaton. Eaton had beenmarried a few months before Jackson became president. Stories said he and theyoung woman had lived together before they were married. Vice President Calhountried to use the issue to force Eaton from the cabinet. He started a personalcampaign against Missus Eaton. Calhoun's wife, and the wives of his three menin the cabinet, refused to have anything to do with her. This made PresidentJackson angry, because he liked the young woman. The split between Jackson andCalhoun deepened over another issue. Jackson learned that Calhoun -- as amember of former president James Monroe's cabinet -- had called for Jackson'sarrest. Calhoun wanted to punish Jackson for his military campaign into SpanishFlorida in eighteen eighteen.
Another thing that pushed the two men apartwas Calhoun's belief that the rights of the states were stronger than therights of the federal government. His feelings became well known during adebate on a congressional bill. In eighteen twenty-eight, Congress had passed abill that -- among other things -- put taxes on imports. The purpose of the taxwas to protect American industries. The South opposed the bill mainly becauseit had almost no industry. It was an agricultural area. Import taxes would onlyraise the price of products the South imported. The South claimed that theimport tax was not constitutional. It said the constitution did not give thefederal government the right to make a protective tax. The state of SouthCarolina -- Calhoun's state -- refused to pay the import tax. Calhoun wrote along statement defending South Carolina's action. In the statement, hedeveloped what was called the Doctrine of Nullification. This idea declaredthat the power of the federal government was not supreme.
Calhoun noted that the federal governmentwas formed by an agreement among the independent states. That agreement, hesaid, was the Constitution. In it, he said, the powers of the states and thepowers of the federal government were divided. But, he said, supreme power --sovereignty -- was not divided. Calhoun argued that supreme power belonged tothe states. He said they did not surrender this power when they ratified theConstitution. In any dispute between the states and the federal government, hesaid, the states should decide what is right. If the federal government passeda law that was not constitutional, then that law was null and void. It had nomeaning or power. Then Calhoun brought up the question of the method to decideif a law was constitutional. He said the power to make such a decision was heldby the states. He said the Supreme Court did not have the power, because it waspart of the federal government. Calhoun argued that if the federal governmentpassed a law that any state thought was not constitutional, or against itsinterests, that state could temporarily suspend the law.
The other states of the union, Calhoun said, would then be asked to decide thequestion of the law's constitutionality. If two-thirds of the states approvedthe law, the complaining state would have to accept it, or leave the union. Ifless than two-thirds of the states approved it, then the law would be rejected.None of the states would have to obey it. It would be nullified -- cancelled. The idea of nullification was debated in theSenate by Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina.Hayne spoke first. He stated that there was no greater evil than giving morepower to the federal government. The major point of his speech could be putinto a few words: liberty first, union afterwards. Webster spoke next. Hedeclared that the Constitution was not the creature of the state governments.It was more than an agreement among states. It was the law of the land. Supremepower was divided, Webster said, between the states and the union. The federalgovernment had received from the people the same right to govern as the states.Webster declared that the states had no right to reject an act of the federalgovernment and no legal right to leave the union. If a dispute should developbetween a state and the federal government, he said, the dispute should besettled by the Supreme Court of the United States. Webster said Hayne hadspoken foolishly when he used the words: liberty first, union afterwards. They couldnot be separated, Webster said. It was liberty and union, now and forever, oneand inseparable. No one really knew how President Jackson felt about thequestion of nullification. He had said nothing during the debate. Did hesupport Calhoun's idea. Or did he agree with Webster. That will be our storynext week.重点解析
1.sworn in 宣誓就职
Thomas will be sworn in today as a justice on the Supreme Court.
托马斯今天将宣誓就任最高法院法官。
2.take part in 参加...；参与...活动
You don't need strength to take part in this sport.
参加这项运动不需要太多体力。
3.vote for 投票赞成；选举
I was going to vote for him, but I changed my mind and voted for Reagan.
我原本准备投他的票，后来却改变了主意，把票投给了里根。
4.belong to 属于；附属
It is inappropriate for a judge to belong to a discriminatory club.
法官参加一个带歧视性的俱乐部是不合适的。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。在本周的系列节目中，弗兰克·奥利弗和莫里斯·乔伊斯将继续讲述安德鲁·杰克逊和他的总统职位。大部分职位都在邮政部，由邮政总局局长约翰·麦克莱恩负责。麦克莱恩告诉杰克逊，如果他要把参加竞选活动的所有邮政局长都开除掉，他将解雇那些为杰克逊工作的人以及帮助约翰·昆西·亚当斯总统连任工作的人。杰克逊免除了麦克莱恩的邮政总局局长职位。肯塔基州的威廉·巴里被任命担任此职位。巴里愿意把空出的职位授予杰克逊的支持者，但对那些没犯错的工作人员，他拒绝罢免其职位。许多政府工作人员已任职多年，有些人真正要做的工作很少，有些年纪太大了，有几个人多数时候都是醉醺醺的，还有些甚至被发现挪用公款。总统杰克逊想解雇的是这些人，但他知道要从需要这份工作的人那里收回工作非常困难。
有位老人从纽约奥尔巴尼来到杰克逊家，他告诉杰克逊他是奥尔巴尼的邮政总局局长。他说政客们想接替他的工作，而自己没有别的谋生途径。老人见总统没有回答，于是开始脱外套。他说：“我给你看看我的伤口，独立战争期间，我曾跟随乔治·华盛顿将军与英国作战。”第二天，一位纽约国会议员给总统杰克逊带来一份政府职员名单，名单上的人都将被免职。那位从奥尔巴尼来的老人的名字也在名单中，他在选举时没有给杰克逊投票。杰克逊喊道：“上帝啊！不要解雇那位老人，你知道吗，他身上全是与英国人打仗受的伤。”
还有一名老兵的工作也受到威胁。这个人有一个大家庭，他也没有其他工作。独立战争期间，他在战场上失去了一条腿，他在竞选中也没给杰克逊投票。但这对总统来说似乎无关紧要。杰克逊说：“如果他在为国家作战时丢了一条腿，就算是给我投票了。他可以保住自己的工作。”那些没有谋得职位的杰克逊的支持者，不得不返回家乡。接下来，总统必须处理他和副总统约翰·C·卡尔霍恩之间的分歧，麻烦源于内阁中出现的一个问题。有三名内阁成员是卡尔霍恩的支持者兼朋友，分别是财政部长塞缪尔·英厄姆、司法部长约翰·贝里恩和海军部长约翰·布兰奇。内阁第四位成员，国务卿马丁·范布伦反对卡尔霍恩。内阁第五位成员是杰克逊的密友约翰·伊顿。伊顿结婚几个月后，杰克逊成为总统。据说他和那名年轻女子结婚前，就住在一起了。副总统卡尔霍恩试图以此为把柄迫使伊顿退出内阁。他个人发起了一场针对伊顿夫人的攻击行动。卡尔霍恩的妻子和内阁中三位成员的妻子都拒绝与伊顿的妻子接触，这让总统杰克逊很生气，因为他喜欢这位年轻女子。杰克逊和卡尔霍恩之间的分歧因为另一个问题又加深了。杰克逊得知，卡尔霍恩作为前总统詹姆斯·门罗的内阁成员，竟然要求逮捕杰克逊。卡尔霍恩想惩罚杰克逊，因为杰克逊在1818年时对西属佛罗里达发动军事行动。
另一件使两人分道扬镳的事情是，卡尔霍恩认为各州的权利应比联邦政府大。在一项国会法案的辩论中，他的这种想法广为人知。在1828年，国会通过了一项法案，其中包括对进口产品征税。征税的目的是保护美国工业品。南方反对该法案，主要是因为他们几乎不生产工业品，那里属于农业区。进口税只会提高南方进口产品的价格。南方声称加征进口税不符合宪法，他们表示宪法并未赋予联邦政府加征保护税的权利。卡尔霍恩所在的南卡罗来纳州拒绝缴纳进口税，卡尔霍恩为南卡罗来纳州采取的行动书写了一份篇幅很长的声明。在声明中，他提出所谓的无效原则。这个想法表明联邦政府的权力不是至高无上的。
卡尔霍恩指出，联邦政府是由独立的各州之间签署协议后组成。他说，这项协议就是宪法，宪法中记载，各州的权力和联邦政府的权力相互分离。但是，他说，而最高权力，即国家主权并没有被分割开。卡尔霍恩认为最高权力属于国家。他说，他们在批准宪法时并未放弃这一权力。在各州和联邦政府之间产生的任何争议中，各州应该决定怎样做正确。如果联邦政府通过一项不符合宪法的法案，那么这项法案即无效，不具有任何意思或法律效力。随后，卡尔霍恩提出确定法律是否符合宪法的方法。他说，作出这一决定的权力应由各州掌控。最高法院无权过问，因为它只是联邦政府的一部分而已。卡尔霍恩辩称，如果联邦政府通过了一项法案，而某个州认为其不符合宪法或违背宪法利益，那么该州可以暂时中止执行该法案。
卡尔霍恩说，然后要求其他各州确定该法案是否符合宪法。如果三分之二的州通过了这项法案，申诉州就必须接受这项法案，或者选择离开联邦。如果只有不到三分之二的国家批准这项法案，那么它将被否决。任何州都不必服从，该法案将被认为是无效法案而被取消。马萨诸塞州的丹尼尔·韦伯斯特和南卡罗来纳州的罗伯特·海恩在参议院中就无效制的想法展开辩论。海恩首先发言，他说，没有比赋予联邦政府更多权力更有害的事了。他演讲的要点可以用几个字来概括，即自由在先，联邦在后。接下来由韦伯斯特发言，他宣称宪法不是州政府的产物，它不仅仅是各州之间签署的协议，更是美国的法律。最高权力在各州和联邦之间相互分离。联邦政府从人民那得到和各州一样的管辖权。韦伯斯特宣称，各州无权拒绝联邦政府的法案，也无权离开联邦。他说，如果一个州和联邦政府之间出现争议，应由美国最高法院解决。韦伯斯特说，海恩在使用“自由在先，联邦在后”这句话时很愚蠢，这两者不能分开，应该是自由联邦，直到永远，它们是不可分割的整体。没有人知道总统杰克逊对无效制的看法，他在辩论中一言未发。他支持卡尔霍恩的想法吗？还是同意韦伯斯特的观点，这将是我们下期故事的内容。
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