The fight for the soul of a nation is just getting started.
一場民族靈魂之戰蓄勢待發。
Midway through the 19th century, America is entering the modern world.
十九世紀中葉美國開始進入現代社會,
In 20 years, there'll be Levi's Jeans, chewing gum and hot dogs.
此后的二十年內,李維斯牛仔,口香糖還有熱狗相繼出現,
But the nation is split, being torn apart a t the seams dividing North and South.
但是國家已經分裂了被分割為南北兩部分。
Slavery became not simply a political issue, not simply an economic issue, but a moral issue as well. It became the issue that defined North and South in the 1850s.
奴隸制已經不僅僅是一個政治問題或者一個經濟問題而演變成了倫理道德問題,它成了當時區別北方與南方的關鍵因素。”
September 1850. The Fugitive Slave Law brings the brutality of Southern Slavery to the North. Now, no African -American is safe, anywhere.
1850年9月,《逃奴法案》將南方奴隸制的殘酷帶到了北方,非裔美國人失去了最后的安身之地。
Gentlemen, you've made a mistake. This is a place of business. I'm a tailor, these are my clients. I'm a freeman. I'm not a slave, gentlemen.
先生們,你們弄錯了,這是營業場所。我是裁縫,這幾位是我的客戶,我是自由人不是奴隸,先生們。
The Fugitive Slave Law meant that if you were a slave and you managed to escape to the North, your master could come and get you, and you had no recourse.
《逃奴法案》意味著如果你當過奴隸并成功逃到北方,原先的主人可以前來將你抓回,沒人能保護你。
Not only that, if you were a free Negro, they still could sell you down the river. The search for runaway slaves had become a witch hunt.
不僅如此,如果你是自由的黑人仍然可能被賣到南方當奴隸,追捕逃跑的奴隸變成了一場政治迫害運動。
Any African-American can be condemned simply with an accusation. Even a freeman has no right to a trial by jury.
任何非裔美國人只要受到起訴即被定罪,即使自由人也沒有接受陪審團審判的權利。
Federal magistrates get $10 to rule them slaves, five to set them free. Ordinary people are outraged by the new law. Abolitionist newsp apers and literature spread like wildfire.
聯邦地方法官判定奴隸身份能得十美元,判決自由人身份能得五美元。這項新的法案引起了普通市民的強烈憤慨,廢奴報紙和文學作品如野火燎原般涌現。
Published in 1852,"Uncle Tom's Cabin" becomes the best -selling book of the century, after the Bible.
1852年出版的《湯姆叔叔的小屋》成為十九世紀僅次于《圣經》的暢銷書,
A passionate antislavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an unknown housewife from Connecticut.
這是一本由哈里特·比徹·斯托所作的充滿廢奴情緒的小說,她是來自康涅狄格州的一名不起眼的主婦。
It mainly appeals to women who are becoming politicized for the first time.Slavery is the burning issue of the day.
它的主要讀者群是這個時期開始參與政治生活的婦女,奴隸制是當時最緊迫的政治議題,
As America expands across the continent, North and South face off over each new territory. Will it be slave-owning or free?
時值美國向大陸擴張之際北方和南方爭奪每一塊新獲得的土地,新的州實行奴隸制還是自由制?
The Northerners began to see that, wait a minute, they're not gonna keep slavery just in the South, they wanna take slavery West and to turn the country into a slave country.
北方人開始意識到不對勁,南方人不會滿足于將奴隸制限制在南方,他們也想在西部實行奴隸制以至將整個國家都變為奴隸制國家。
Americans from all over the country are flooding into the new territories on the frontier. Each becomes a battleground.
來自全國各個地方的美國人都想涌進拓荒前線的新地界,每塊新土地都成了戰場,是實行奴隸制還是自由制。
Will it be slave -owning or free? It comes to a head in Kansas. A peaceful protetest turns violent.
這個爭執在堪薩斯州達到頂峰,和平抗議演變成了暴力行動。