About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people—a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attaimnent. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty and safety…
参考译文
……
我们经历了一段时期的辩论，当时，大家讨论得很热烈，竞相奔走。初识的人，对自由思考不习惯，不习惯把心中的想法自由地说出来或写出来，刚见这种情形时，可能面面相觑。而现在经全国的民众一致决定了，并根据宪法的规定加以公布，大家当然会在法律的意旨之下，妥善安排，并且团结一致，为共同利益而努力。大家也会记住一项神圣的原则，即大多数人的意志，虽然在任何情形下都应采用，但这种意志必须合理，才能切实可行；而且少数人也同样享有这些权利，必须受到法律的平等保护，如果加以侵犯，便是压迫。因此，我们应当团结起来，齐心协力，在相处中应恢复和睦与友爱。因为如果没有它们，自由，甚至生活本身，都将成为死气沉沉的事物。我们还应想到，我们已经把宗教上的偏执性摒弃于国度之外，这种偏执性已经使人类流血甚多、受苦良久。如果我们又鼓励政治上的偏执性，而且其专横与邪恶以及所造成的酷烈而血腥的迫害，与宗教裁判所导致的后果不相上下，那么，我们的进步微乎其微。当旧世界经历痛苦和激变时，当盛怒的人备受痛苦，想经由血腥与屠杀寻找他们丧失已久的自由时，那如滚滚浪涛般的震撼将会波及遥远而和平的彼岸。