The Oval Office, Inauguration Day, Rose Garden signings, and secret service agents with dark sunglasses and cool wrist radios.
椭圆形办公室、总统就职日、在白宫玫瑰园签署法案、特工们戴着墨镜和很酷的手腕式无线电话。
For a moment, forget all of it. Toss out everything you know about the President. Now, start over.
稍等，先别想这些了。忘掉你对总统的一切认知吧。现在，重新开始。
What would you do if you had to invent the President?
如果由你来设计总统一职，你将如何完成？
That was the question facing the 55 men who got together in secret
这曾是摆在55个人面前的一个问题，他们秘密聚集，
to draw up the plans for a new American government in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia,
共同设计一个全新的美国政府，那是在1787年夏天的费城，
in the same place where the Declaration of Independence had been written eleven years earlier.
这个在此之前11年诞生过独立宣言的地方。
Declaring independence had been risky business, demanding ferocious courage that put lives and fortunes in jeopardy.
宣布独立极具风险，需要超然的勇气，因为一旦失败，人们的生命和财富都将至于危境。
But, inventing a new government was no field day either, especially when it's summer and you're in scratchy suits,
设计一个全新的政府也并不轻松，特别是在夏天，你套着面料粗糙的西装，
and the windows are closed because you don't want anybody to hear what you are saying,
坐在窗户紧闭的房间里，以免房间内的对话被外人听见，
and the air conditioning doesn't work because it won't be invented for nearly 200 years.
房间里也没有空调，因为空调是在200多年后才被发明出来的。
And, when you don't agree on things, it gets even hotter.
特别是意见不合时，房间里的气氛就更热了。
For the framers, the question they argued over most
制宪者们争论最多的就是
while writing the Constitution and creating three branches of government had to do with the executive department.
在制定宪法和设计三权分立的政府时，如何设计行政机关。
One man or three to do the job? How long should he serve?
该由一个人还是三个人来负责？任期多长？
What would he really do? Who would pick him?
工作职责具体是哪些？谁来选拔？
How to get rid of him if he's doing a bad job or he's a crook?
如果政绩不佳或品行不端，该如何罢免？

And, of course, they all meant him, and he would be a white man.
当然，他们谈论的对象只限于男性，而且是白人男性。
The idea of a woman or an African American, for instance, holding this high office was not a glimmer in their eyes.
由女性、或是非洲裔的美国人来居此高位，根本不在他们的考虑范围内。
But the framers knew they needed someone who could take charge,
但制宪者们清楚，他们需要一个能掌控局面的人，
especially in a crisis, like an invasion or a rebellion, or negotiating treaties.
特别在出现危机时，例如遭遇入侵、叛乱或面对谈判时。
Congress was not very good at making such important decisions without debates and delays.
国会并不擅于做出这些重要的决定，因为国会需要漫长的辩论才能形成一致意见。
But the framers thought America needed a man who was decisive and could act quickly.
但制宪者们认为美国需要一位具备决策力和行动快速的男性。
They called it energy and dispatch.
他们将之称为活力和执行力。
One thing they were dead-set against: there would be no king.
还有一件事情让他们竭力反对，那就是绝对不能设立国王。
They had fought a war against a country with a monarch
他们刚刚和一个君主国家对战
and were afraid that one man with unchecked powers, in charge of an army, could take over the country.
所以害怕再有任何一个人拥有不被制衡的权力去控制军队，进而统治国家。
Instead, they settled on a president and laid out his powers in Article 2 of the Constitution. But who would choose him?
取而代之的事，他们设置一个总统，并在宪法第二条列出了总统的权力。但总统由谁选出？
Not the people, they were too liable to be misled as one framer worried.
不能是民众，正如一位制宪者所担忧的，他们太容易被误导。
Not the legislature, that would lead to cabal and factions.
也不能是立法机关，他们可能制造阴谋和派系。
Got it: electors, wise, informed men who have time to make a good decision.
想到了：选举人，聪明、博闻的男性，可以有时间做出好的决定。
And if they didn't produce a winner,
但如果他们也选不出一个人选，
then the decision would go to one of the other branches of government, the Congress.
那么选举就需要由政府的其他部门--国会来完成。
The House of Representatives would step in and make the choice, which they did in 1801 and 1825.
众议院将介入并做出决定。1801年和1825年的总统选举就是这样完成的。
In the long, hot summer of 1787, compromises were made to invent the presidency,
在1787年那个炎热又漫长的夏天，关于总统一职的设计充满了各种妥协，
like counting slaves as 3/5 of a person, giving the President command of the army
例如，将奴隶计算为3/5个人，赋予总统统帅军队的权利，
but Congress the power to declare war, and unlimited four-year terms.
但国会才有权利宣布开战，以及总统任期为4年，连任次数不设限。
Since then, some of those compromises have been amended and the men in office have sometimes been too strong or too weak.
那之后，一些折中方案经历了修正，而总统的权力也是时强时弱。
But, if you could start from scratch, how would you redesign the Oval Office?
但如果让你从头开始，你会怎样重新设计总统一职呢？