評(píng)論
打印
At first people paid little attention to them. But when President Polk said that gold had been found, people began to think that it must be true. Soon hundreds of gold-seekers started for California. Then thousands became eager to go. These first comers were called the Forty-Niners, because most of them came in the year 1849. By the end of that year there were eighty thousand immigrants in California.
開始時(shí)人們不太關(guān)注這些傳言，但當(dāng)珀?duì)柨偨y(tǒng)說找到黃金時(shí)，人們開始相信果真如此。很快數(shù)以百計(jì)的淘金者向加利福尼亞進(jìn)發(fā)，然后有數(shù)以千計(jì)的人急于趕往加利福尼亞。這些首批到達(dá)加利福尼亞的人被叫做"舊金山四九人"，因?yàn)樗麄兇蠖鄶?shù)是在1849年趕到加利福尼亞。截止到這一年年底，有8萬(wàn)移民入住加利福尼亞。
343. California seeks Admission to the Union.
343．加利福尼亞申請(qǐng)加入聯(lián)邦
There were eighty thousand white people in California, and they had almost no government of any kind. So in November, 1849, they held a convention, drew up a constitution, and demanded admission the Union as a state. The peculiar thing about this constitution was that it forbade slavery in California. Many of the Forty-Niners were Southerners. But even they did not want slavery. The reason was that they wished to dig in the earth and win gold. They would not allow slave holders to work their mining claims with slave labor, for free white laborers had never been able to work alongside of negro slaves. So they did not want slavery in California.
加利福尼亞有8萬(wàn)白人，他們幾乎不屬于任何政府，因此，在1849年11月，這些人召開一次大會(huì)，他們起草一份章程并要求作為一個(gè)州加入聯(lián)邦。這個(gè)章程的特別之處在于它在加利福尼亞禁止奴隸制。許多"舊金山四九人"都是南方人，但他們?nèi)匀徊幌胍`制，原因在于他們希望親自在土里挖掘并獲得黃金；這些人不允許奴隸主指使奴隸來采礦，因?yàn)樽杂傻陌兹藙趧?dòng)力從來沒有與黑奴并肩勞動(dòng)過，因此他們不希望加利福尼亞有奴隸制。
344. A Divided Country.
344．被分裂的國(guó)家
This action of the people of California at once brought the question of slavery before the people. Many Southerners were eager to found a slave confederacy apart from the Union. Many abolitionists were eager to found a free republic in the North.
加利福尼亞人的行為立刻將奴隸制問題呈現(xiàn)在人們面前，許多南方人急于離開聯(lián)邦而組建一個(gè)奴隸聯(lián)邦；許多廢奴主義者急于在北方建立一個(gè)自由的共和政體。
