'All men are created equal and they are endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'
“每个人生来就是平等的，他们被赋予生存、自主和追求幸福的权利。”
Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson!
别着急，杰斐逊先生！
These words from the Declaration of Independence, and the facts behind them, are well known.
这些话来源于《独立宣言》，它背后的事实众所周知。
In June of 1776, a little more than a year after the war against England began with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord,
1776年6月，也就是反英格兰战争的一年多后，这场战争以莱克星顿和康科德的枪声为导火索，
the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to discuss American independence.
大陆会议在费城召开，讨论美国独立。
After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776. America was free!
经过长时间的讨论，独立议案终于在1776年7月2日通过。美国自由了！
And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever.
约翰·亚当斯这些人心想我们将会永远庆祝这一天了。
But it was two days later that the gentlemen in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence,
然而两天后，国会议员才投票通过了《独立宣言》，
largely written by Thomas Jefferson, offering all the reasons why the country should be free.
其中很大一部分是由托马斯·杰斐逊撰写的，阐述了国家为什么应该独立的所有原因。
More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday.
在235多年以后的今天，我们庆祝这一天为美国的国庆日。
But there are some pieces of the story you may not know.
但是有一些故事你可能是不知道的。
First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for writing the Declaration,
首先，托马斯·杰斐逊流芳百世，因为他撰写了《独立宣言》，
but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why America should be independent:
但其实有五个人都参与了工作，他们提交一份文件来解释为什么美国应该独立：
Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were all named first.
罗伯特·李维顿、罗杰·谢尔曼、本杰明·富兰克林和约翰·亚当斯的名字都排在托马斯·杰斐逊之前。

And it was Adams who suggested that the young, and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them
正是亚当斯建议年轻、不为人知的托马斯·杰斐逊加入他们，
because they needed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation,
因为他们需要一个来自有影响力的弗吉尼亚代表团的人，
and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was.
而且亚当斯认为杰斐逊在写作方面比他好很多。
Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes, or credited his sources,
第二，尽管杰斐逊从未用过脚注或者写出资源的贡献，
some of his memorable words and phrases were borrowed from other writers and slightly tweaked.
但其实他的一些著名词句都借鉴了其他作者的话语并做了细小改动而已。
Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions.
之后，富兰克林和亚当斯提出了一些建议。
But the most important change came after the Declaration was turned over to the full Congress.
但是最重要的改变来自于《独立宣言》移交国会以后。
For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson sat and fumed while his words were picked over.
整整两天，托马斯·杰斐逊很不开心地坐着边生闷气边听议员对他的草案挑三拣四。
In the end, the Congress made a few, minor word changes, and one big deletion.
最后，国会修改了很小一部分的语句，并删除了一大块。
In the long list of charges that Jefferson made against the King of England,
在杰斐逊所列的一长串反对大英帝国的控诉中，
the author of the Declaration had included the idea that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade,
《独立宣言》的作者包含了这样一个观点，乔治亚三世要为贩卖奴隶负责，
and was preventing America from ending slavery.
这阻止了美国废除奴隶制度。
That was not only untrue, but Congress wanted no mention of slavery in the nation's founding document.
那不仅仅是不正确的，而且国会也不想在开国文件中提到奴隶。
The reference was cut out before the Declaration was approved and sent to the printer.
因此涉及的这一段在《独立宣言》被批准并送往印刷之前就被删除了。
But it leaves open the hard question:
不过这遗留下来了一个难题：
How could the men, who were about to sign a document, celebrating liberty and equality,
签署文件的人们怎么可以在庆祝自由和平等的同时，
accept a system in which some people owned others?
接受一个一些人拥有另一些人的社会？
It is a question that would eventually bring the nation to civil war and one we can still ask today.
这是一个最后将美国推入内战，而且我们现在仍然可以质疑的问题。