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He always made a distinction between the morality of slavery,
林肯一直區別看待奴隸制的道德性與種族平等問題
which he believed was fundamentally wrong, and the question of racial equality.
盡管他也認為奴隸制從根本上是錯誤的
Today that's hard sometimes for us to understand, especially young people,
在我們今天看來 這有時會難以理解 尤其是在年輕人眼中
who are growing up in a society where the assumption of equality is absolute.
他們所成長的社會中 眾生平等是絕對前提
Of course we are equal, everybody is equal, or we say we are.
我們當然平等 眾生皆平等 至少話是如此
But Lincoln made the distinction between the immorality of slavery,unequivocal about that...
但林肯卻能將其與奴隸制的不同道義性區分開來 這一點毋庸置疑
On the other hand, he was no proponent of racial equality.
另一方面 林肯絕非種族平等論倡導者
And we see that over and over quite publicly and quite forcefully that he does not believe in social equality.
一再被公開且強力證實的一點是 他并不信服社會平等
Despite reassuring the electorate,
即便安撫了選民
Lincoln was unable to defeat Douglas. But the debates made him famous
林肯也無法擊敗道格拉斯 但辯論令他聲名鵲起
and it was this fame that enabled him to seize the Republican candidacy for president in 1860.
正是這份名聲助他攫獲了 1860年的共和黨總統候選人資格
Lincoln won just 39% of the vote,almost all of his support coming from the North.
林肯僅獲得39%的選票 他的支持幾乎全部來自北方州
But within weeks of his arrival in Washington,
但林肯于華盛頓就職后 僅幾周內
the Southern states began one by one to secede from the Union.
南方各州就開始相繼脫離了美利堅合眾國
They then formed a new nation the Confederate States of America,
它們隨即成立了一個新國家 美利堅聯盟國
led by the Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis.
聯邦由密西西比州參議員杰斐遜·戴維斯領導
The accusation that has been raised against Abraham Lincoln is that on coming to office
有人譴責亞伯拉罕·林肯 認為他的就職
he pushed the American people into a disastrous and avoidable conflict.
將美國人民拖入了一場原本可以避免的災難性沖突中
