President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech (1789)

Citation: George Washington's First Inaugural Address; 4/30/1789; (SEN 1A-E1); Presidential Messages, 1789 - 1875; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

引用：乔治·华盛顿的第一次就职演说； 1789 年 4 月 30 日； (SEN 1A-E1)；总统致辞，1789 年至 1875 年；美国参议院记录，记录组 46；国家档案馆，华盛顿特区。

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Although not required by the Constitution, George Washington presented the first Presidential inaugural address on April 30, 1789.

尽管宪法没有要求，乔治·华盛顿还是于 1789 年 4 月 30 日发表了第一次总统就职演说。

On April 16, 1789, two days after receiving official notification of his election, George Washington left his home on the Potomac for New York.

1789 年 4 月 16 日，在收到正式当选通知两天后，乔治·华盛顿离开波托马克河畔的家前往纽约。

Accompanied by Charles Thompson, his official escort, and Col.

由他的官方护卫查尔斯·汤普森和上校陪同。

David Humphreys, his aide, he traveled through Alexandria, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, Princeton, New Brunswick, and Bridgetown (now Rahway, NJ).

他的助手戴维·汉弗莱斯 (David Humphreys) 曾前往亚历山大、巴尔的摩、威尔明顿、费城、特伦顿、普林斯顿、新不伦瑞克和布里奇敦（现新泽西州拉威）。

At these and other places along his route, the artillery roared a salute of honor and the citizens and officials presented him with marks of affection and honor, so that his trip became a triumphal procession.

在他沿途的这些地方和其他地方，大炮鸣响了荣誉礼炮，公民和官员向他致以喜爱和荣誉的标记，使他的旅程成为一次胜利的游行。

On April 23, he crossed the bay from Bridgetown to New York City in a magnificent barge built especially for the occasion.

4 月 23 日，他乘坐专为这一场合建造的豪华驳船从布里奇敦穿越海湾前往纽约市。

Lacking precedents to guide them in their preparations for the first Presidential inaugural, Congress appointed a joint committee to consider the time, place, and manner in which to administer to the President the oath of office required by the Constitution.

由于缺乏先例来指导他们准备第一次总统就职典礼，国会任命了一个联合委员会来考虑宪法要求的总统就职宣誓的时间、地点和方式。

Certain difficulties in planning and arrangements arose from the fact that Congress was meeting in New York’s former City Hall, rechristened Federal Hall, which was in process of renovation under the direction of Pierre L’Enfant.

由于国会在纽约前市政厅（重新命名为联邦大厅）举行会议，该大厅正在皮埃尔·朗方（Pierre L’Enfant）的指导下进行翻修，因此在规划和安排上出现了一定的困难。

On April 25, Congress adopted the joint committee’s recommendation that the inaugural ceremonies be held the following Thursday, April 30, and that the oath of office be administered to the President in the Representatives’ Chamber.

4 月 25 日，国会采纳了联合委员会的建议，即就职典礼将于下周四（4 月 30 日）举行，并在众议院宣誓就职。

The final report of the committee slightly revised this plan with its recommendation that the oath be administered in the outer gallery adjoining the Senate Chamber, “to the end that the Oath of Office may be administered to the President in the most public manner, and that the greatest number of people of the United States, and without distinction, may witness the solemnity.”

委员会的最终报告对这一计划进行了略微修改，建议在毗邻参议院会议厅的外廊进行宣誓，“以便以最公开的方式向总统宣誓就职，并且让尽可能多的美国人民无差别地见证这一庄严仪式。”

On inauguration day, the city was crowded with townspeople and visitors.

就职典礼当天，这座城市挤满了市民和游客。

At half past noon, Washington rode alone in the state coach from his quarters in Franklin Square to Federal Hall on the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets.

中午12点半，华盛顿独自乘坐州客车从富兰克林广场的住所前往位于华尔街和拿骚街拐角处的联邦大厅。

Troops of the city, members of Congress appointed to escort the President, and heads of executive departments of the government under the Confederation preceded the President’s coach, while to the rear followed ministers of foreign countries and local citizenry.

总统专车前面是该市的军队、被任命护送总统的国会议员以及联邦下属政府各行政部门的负责人，后面是外国部长和当地公民。

At Federal Hall, Vice President John Adams, the Senate, and the House of Representatives awaited the President’s arrival in the Senate Chamber.

在联邦大厅，副总统约翰·亚当斯、参议院和众议院等待总统抵达参议院。

After being received by Congress, Washington stepped from the chamber onto the balcony, where he was followed by the Senators and Representatives.

受到国会的接见后，华盛顿从会议厅走上阳台，参议员和众议员紧随其后。

Before the assembled crowd of spectators, Robert Livingston, Chancellor of the State of New York, administered the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” After repeating this oath, Washington kissed the Bible held for him by the Chancellor, who called out, “Long live George Washington, President of the United States,” and a salvo of 13 cannons was discharged.

在聚集的观众面前，纽约州州长罗伯特·利文斯顿宣读了宪法规定的就职誓言：“我庄严宣誓，我将忠实地履行美国总统的职责，并将尽我所能，维护、保护和捍卫美国宪法。”重复这一誓言后，华盛顿亲吻了总理递给他的《圣经》，总理高呼“美国总统乔治·华盛顿万岁”，随后13门大炮齐射。

Except for taking the oath, the law required no further inaugural ceremonies.

除了宣誓外，法律不再要求举行进一步的就职仪式。

But, upon reentering the Senate Chamber, the President read the address that is featured here.

但是，在重新进入参议院会议厅后，总统宣读了此处的讲话。

After this address, he and the members of Congress proceeded to St. Paul’s Church for divine service.

演讲结束后，他和国会议员前往圣保罗教堂进行礼拜。

A brilliant fireworks display in the evening ended the official program for this historic day.

晚上绚丽的烟花表演结束了这一历史性日子的官方活动。

This document is available on DocsTeach , the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives.

该文档可在 DocsTeach 上找到，这是一个使用国家档案馆文档进行教学的在线工具。

Find teaching activities that incorporate this document, or create your own online activity .

查找包含本文档的教学活动，或创建您自己的在线活动。

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

参议院和众议院的各位公民：

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.

在生活的变迁中，没有什么比本月 14 日收到您的命令所发送的通知更让我感到焦虑的了。

On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.

一方面，我受到祖国的召唤，除了崇敬和爱，我永远听不到它的声音，我从我最喜爱的地方，并在我奉承的希望中，以一个不可改变的决定，选择了一个隐居处，作为我晚年的庇护所——随着习惯的增加，兴趣的增加，以及我健康状况的频繁中断，随着时间的推移逐渐浪费，这个隐居对我来说每天都变得更加必要和更加珍贵。

On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.

另一方面，我国的声音对我的信任的重要性和难度，足以唤醒最明智和最有经验的公民对他的资格的怀疑性审查，这不能不让那些（继承了自然的低等天赋和不擅长民政管理职责的人）应该特别意识到自己的缺陷的人感到沮丧。

In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.

在这种情感冲突中，我敢断言的是，我忠实地研究了从对可能受到影响的每种情况的公正评估中履行我的职责。

All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.

我只敢希望，在执行这项任务时，如果我过多地受到对过去事例的感激回忆，或者受到对同胞们信心的超越性证明的深情情感的影响，而很少考虑到我的无能以及对我面前的重大和未经尝试的关心的厌恶，那么我的错误将被误导我的动机所弥补，其后果将由我的国家来评判。带有一定程度的偏见。

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.

正是在这样的印象下，我服从公众的号召，恢复了目前的地位，在这第一个正式行动中，如果忽略我对统治宇宙、主持国际会议、天意援助可以弥补人类缺陷的万能上帝的热切恳求，那就特别不合适了，以便他的祝福能够为美国人民的自由和幸福奉献一个自己建立的政府。这些基本目的，并可能使其管理中使用的每一个工具能够成功地执行分配给他负责的职能。

In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either.

在向一切公共和私人利益的伟大作者致以敬意时，我向自己保证，它所表达的情感不亚于我自己的情感，也不亚于我广大同胞的情感。

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.

没有人一定会承认和崇拜“看不见的手”，它比美国更能管理人类的事务。

Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.

他们向独立国家迈进的每一步似乎都带有某种天意的标志。在他们的联合政府系统中刚刚完成的重要革命中，许多不同社区的平静审议和自愿同意是这一事件的结果，这与大多数政府在没有虔诚的感激之情以及对过去似乎预示的未来祝福的谦卑期待的情况下建立的方式相比是无法相提并论的。

These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.

这些因当前危机而产生的反思已深深地印在我的脑海中，无法压抑。

You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.

我相信，你会和我一样认为，在它的影响下，没有哪个政府能够比这更顺利地开始新的自由政府的进程。

By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given.

根据设立行政部门的条款，总统有责任“向您提出他认为必要和有利的措施的建议”。我现在与你们会​​面的情况使我不必进一步讨论这个主题，而不必提及你们聚集在一起的伟大宪法宪章，该宪章在界定你们的权力时指定了你们应关注的目标。

It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them.

用对被选来设计和采用这些措施的人物的才干、正直和爱国主义的赞扬来代替具体措施的建议，会更符合这些情况，也更符合我的感受。

In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.

在这些光荣的资格中，我看到了最可靠的承诺，一方面，任何地方偏见或依恋、任何不同的观点或党派仇恨都不会误导应该监督这个伟大的社区和利益集合的全面和平等的眼睛，因此，另一方面，我们的国家政策的基础将建立在纯粹和不可改变的私人道德原则上，自由政府的卓越性将通过所有能够赢得人们喜爱的属性来体现。其公民并赢得世界的尊重。

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

我满怀对祖国的热爱所激发的对这一前景的无限满足，因为没有什么真理比在经济和自然过程中美德与幸福之间存在着不可分割的结合更彻底地确立了。义务与利益之间；在诚实和宽宏的政策的真正格言与公共繁荣和幸福的坚实回报之间；因为我们同样应该相信，一个无视上天本身所命定的永恒秩序和权利规则的国家，永远不会期待上天的吉祥微笑；由于自由神圣之火的保存和共和政府模式的命运被公正地考虑，也许，最终，同样深深地赌注于委托给美国人民手中的实验。

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.

除了提交给你照顾的普通目标之外，你还需要根据对制度提出的反对意见的性质，或产生这些反对意见的程度，来决定在当前时刻行使宪法第五条授予的临时权力在多大程度上是有利的。

Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.

我不会就这个问题提出具体建议，因为在这些建议中我不会受到任何来自官方机会的指导，我将再次对你们的洞察力和对公共利益的追求充满信心；因为我向自己保证，虽然你小心翼翼地避免一切可能危及团结和有效政府利益的改变，或者应该等待未来经验教训的改变，但对自由人特有权利的尊重和对公共和谐的尊重将充分影响你对前者可以在多大程度上坚不可摧或后者可以安全而有利地促进这一问题的审议。

To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives.

对于前面的意见，我要补充一点，最恰当的做法是向众议院提出。

It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible.

它涉及我自己，因此将尽可能简短。

When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation.

当我第一次荣幸地受邀为祖国服务时，然后在为国家自由进行艰苦斗争的前夕，我对自己职责的思考要求我放弃一切金钱补偿。

From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.

我在任何情况下都没有偏离这个决心；由于仍处于产生这种印象的印象中，我必须拒绝分享个人薪酬，因为这些薪酬可能不可避免地包含在行政部门的永久经费中，因此我必须拒绝，因此我必须祈祷，在我继续任职期间，对我所在职位的金钱估计可能仅限于公共利益可能需要的实际支出。

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

在我们相聚之际，我向你们表达了我的感情，现在我就要告辞了。但并非没有再次向仁慈的人类之父发出谦卑的祈求，因为他很乐意为美国人民提供在完全平静的情况下进行审议的机会，并愿意以无与伦比的一致意见决定一种政府形式，以确保他们的联邦安全和促进他们的幸福，因此他神圣的祝福可能会在扩大视野、温和协商和明智措施中同样引人注目，而本届政府的成功必须依赖于这些。