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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.
我没有乞求选票，但自由的同胞们却选举我，来担任这世界上最具荣誉，且责任最重大的职位。
I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me.
于人民对我的信心，我深感谢意。
Honored with his 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.
与任一被赐予这一荣誉的前任相比我都更年轻，我不能掩饰我将要进入执行我的职责时信心的缺乏。
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.
在承担如此巨大的责任时，我热情地祈求宇宙全能之主的帮助。国家和人民的命运在他的手中，守卫着这天主恩惠的土地而不受由错误公共政策引起的危害。
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 take best of my ability to preserve,protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
因凭那支持并指引我走上这条行使我应尽之责道路的全能上帝赐予的坚定信心，我站在我的同胞们的宏大集会前，来自己担起这庄严的责任：“愿倾尽全力来维持，保护和捍卫美国的宪法。”
That the blessing 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.
我们宪法所保证的自由同样为少数人和多数人享有，执政者被明智地赋予有资格对某些立法作出否决。
It is a negative power,and is conservative in its character.
这是一个否定的权力，并带有保守的特点。
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.
它为时代阻止那些草率，无谋和违反宪法的立法，征求重新考虑，并把立法与行政部门之间的问题转给人民裁定。
Like all other powers,it is subject to be abused.
如同其它权力，它可能会被滥用。
When judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.
当明智而又正当地行使时，宪法本身会免受侵犯，而全民权利会得到维护。
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all.
我们联邦联盟的不可估量的价值为众人所感受和认可。
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.
通过联合结盟的众洲体制，我们人民可以集体或单独地以自己的方式追求自己的幸福，并且有很乐观的结果。
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.
自从联邦创立，众洲的数目由十三个发展到三十八个；其中两个上周才取得联邦的席位。
Our population has increased from three to twenty millions.
我们的人口也已由三百万发展到两千八百万。
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.

新的社区和州正在它的支持下寻求保护，而来自旧大陆的人群正蜂拥至我们的海岸来分享它的祝福。在它的善良统治下和平和繁荣盛行。
Freed from the burdens and miseries of war,our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world.
从战争的重负和苦难中得以解放，我们的贸易和交往遍布整个世界。
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.
人的思想不再从事设法达到或抵抗野心，掠夺或征服，而投入到人类真正的利益中，发展人的能力和力量，以及自然的能力来服务于人的享乐。
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.
天才可以自由公布他的发明和发现，而且只要头脑可以想出的与同胞权利不相违的主意，都可以自由地去实现它。
All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished.
所有出生和阶级的区别被消除了。
All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection.
所有人都享有平等的权利和平等的保护。
No union exists between church and state,and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
教会和政府之间不存在联合，保证所有的教派和信条都享有完全的观点自由。
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by Federal Union.
这是由我们联邦联盟为我们幸福土地所保障的一些祝福。
To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it.
我们神圣的职责是维护他并使之永久。
Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union.
在这样的伟大联盟的保护下，有谁会限制自由思想和自由之手的创造呢？
No treason to mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destory it.He would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom , which protects himself and his fellow_man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve his country either in anarchy or despotism.
自从社会有组织以来，没有谁对人类的背叛在凶残上可等同某人举起其手试图破坏我们联盟的行为。那就是要推翻智慧组织。保护他和他的同胞的最高贵的人类，那就是要阻止自由政府的前进，并把其国家带入混乱和暴政中。
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.
那就是要熄灭那温暖并启动幸福大众之心的，吸引世上各国模仿我们的自由之火。
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.
如果那人说政府的执政犯有错误，让他记住人不可能完美，并且没有任何其它上天或人类创立的政府体制能象我们的那样，给理性以如此自由和宽阔的范围来和错误斗争。
Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason?
难道暴君的刀剑比启蒙的理智更能成为政府改革中安全，可靠的手段？
Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under it?
他是否期望在联邦的废墟之中，为我们的百万人群找到比他们现在更幸福的住所？
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."
每一个爱国都会因面对可能解散联邦的思想而战栗，并准备好接受那爱国的情感：“必须维护我们的联邦联盟。”
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.
在维护它时，我们必须神圣地，虔诚地遵守那曾使得我们的先驱们能够成立一个政府的共同宪法，能够保护如此众多的州和有如此多样的风俗，利益，和内务组织的偏远社区的妥协。
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.
任何试图扰乱和破坏这些作为联邦契约条件的妥协，必会导致最具毁坏性和灾难性的后果。
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.
我很高兴相信在我们作为一个民族生存的每一个时期，在人民大众中已经存在，并将继续存在着对众洲联盟的热爱；这将针对任何想阴谋破坏它的道德叛逆而来保护它。
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.
要保证这种热爱的继续，不仅要维护宪法中的妥协，也要反对派系妒忌和不满；所有人都应该记住他们是同一政治家庭中的一员，有着共同的命运。
To increase the attachment of our people to the Union,our laws should be just.
要加强人民对联盟的归属，我们的法律必须公正。
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.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.
任何旨在偏向派系或阶级的垄断或特别利益，对其同胞利益有伤害的政策，都应该被避免。如果维护了宪法的妥协，如果排除了派系的妒忌和不满，如果我们的法律是公正的并且政府严格在其所属职权范围内执政实践，我们可以丢掉所有关于联盟安全的忧虑。

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　　Inaugural Address of James Knox Polk

　　TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1845

　　Fellow-Citizens:

　　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.

　　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? 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.

　　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. 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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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. When judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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. 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.

　　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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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. Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public authorities--how impotent for good and how powerful for mischief.

　　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.

　　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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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 ability 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.

　　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. 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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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? 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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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. 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.

　　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. 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.

　　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.

　　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. 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.

　　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.

总统个人介绍

詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克（James Knox Polk ，1795年11月2日——1849年6月15日）

是美国第11任总统，生于 北卡罗来纳州。

总统任期：1845年3月4日——1849年3月4日

所属政党：民主党

他是塞缨尔·波尔克和简·诺克斯·波尔克的十个孩子中的老大。 波尔克的父亲是一位种植园主。波尔克11岁时随家迁居田纳西州。他小时体弱多病， 没能接受正规教育。20岁时，考入北卡罗来纳大学。大学毕业后他回到了田纳西州。 1820年取得律师资格。安德鲁·杰克逊是他的少数好友之一。

波尔克上大学时成绩优异，极有辩才，有“讲坛上的拿破仑”之称。毕业后结识父友安德鲁·杰克逊将军，为后者忠实信徒。他曾任众议员1 4 年，并两次任议长。后任州长一年。1 8 4 4 年大选时，民主党总统候选人提名陷入僵局。经幕后协商，并在杰克逊影响下，原非候选人的波尔克得到提名，并在大选中击败辉格党人克莱而当选，成了美国第一个“黑马”总统。波尔克在任四年，通过对墨西哥战争扩大了美国版图，被誉为“最有效能的”总统。波尔克恪守诺言，不谋连任。卸任后三个月即病逝。

政坛生涯

由于杰克逊的帮助，波尔克进入美国众议院。1825—1839年任众议院议长。1839年任田纳西州州长。1844年，波尔克被民主党提为总统候选人，竞选成功。他在任职期间选择了几位很得力的助手。波尔克政府大规模扩张了领土。与墨西哥进行了两年战争，使得克萨斯成为美国的一个州，西南和远西地区（加利福尼亚）也成为美国领土的一部分。在战争期间签订了确定西北边界的条约，一个横跨北美大陆的合众国开始出现。此外，波尔克政府与新格拉纳达（哥伦比亚）签订条约，解决了美国公民穿越巴拿马地峡的通行权问题。他主持制定了新的关税法，降低关税，促进了美国对外贸易的发展。

晚年生涯

他离任的次日就染上慢性腹泻，他的妻子莎拉把田纳西的家收拾清洁，命名为“波尔克宫”。当波尔克大致痊愈之后，立即投入到图书工作中去，未几，繁忙的工作影响了波尔克的健康，离任刚三个月就死去。终年53岁。

波尔克夫人莎拉过著清贫孤独的日子。南北战争彻底摧毁了莎拉赖以维生的密西西比庄园，莎拉失去了经济来源，只得变卖庄园的土地换取一次性的微薄收入。1882年，美国国会批准每年补助5000美元养老金，莎拉的生活才有了保障。1891年莎拉逝世，终年88岁。

名言

读书而不思考，等于吃饭而不消化。