在過去的200多年裡，我們做到了。
（For more than two hundred years, we have.）
從奴役的血腥枷鎖和刀劍的血光厮殺中我們懂得了，建立在自由與平等原則之上的聯邦不能永遠維持半奴隸和半自由的狀態。我們贏得了新生，誓言共同前進。
（Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.）
我們共同努力，建立起現代的經濟體系。架設鐵路與高速公路，加速了旅行和商業交流。建立學校與大學，培訓我們的工人。
（Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers。）
我們一起發現，自由市場的繁榮只能建立在保障競爭與公平競爭的原則之上。
（Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.）
我們共同決定讓這個偉大的國家遠離危險，保護她的人民不受生命威脅和不幸的侵擾。一路走來，我們從未放棄對集權的質疑。
（Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.）
我們同樣不屈服於這一謊言：一切的社會弊端都能夠只靠政府來解決。我們對積極向上與奮發進取的讚揚，我們對努力工作與個人責任的堅持，這些都是美國精神的基本要義。
（Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.）
|
