疫情之下，美国独立日感怀

点击上方“蓝字”，发现更多精彩。

7月4日 星期六 晴

疫情之下，庆祝美国独立日，除了参加反向游行 （reverse parade)、观看邻居家门口的焰火、居家小聚之外，还有重读历史和感怀。

中文版：

1776年7月4日，美国13个殖民地的代表在费城国会集会，批准了《独立宣言》，这一天就成为美国独立纪念日。该文件包含一长串针对英国国王乔治三世的申诉。《独立宣言》声称，政府的“正当权力是经被统治者同意所授予的”，然而乔治国王强加于殖民地的法律已违背了这一权利。

托马斯·杰斐逊的话宣告了自治权是上帝赋予的权利，而且在《独立宣言》最著名的段落中阐明了“这些真理不言而喻：人人生而平等，造物者赋予他们不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。”。 

十一年后，在美国人击败了世界上最强大的军队之后，殖民地代表再次开会，同意建立新政府的规则。地球上没有完美的事物，因此美国宪法不能保证《独立宣言》中宣布的上帝赋予理想的现实。尽管如此，《宪法》的作者将他们的文件作为努力实现这一理想的首要目标是：“我们美国人民，为了建立一个更加完善的联邦……”

宪法提供了一个程序，通过该程序可以添加修订以改进文件。在特拉华州成为第一个批准宪法的州之后仅四年，即被称为《权利法案》的前十项修正案成为法律。但是，只要一部分人口仍被奴役，很显然, 宪法就远远没有达到《独立宣言》的理想。

值得一提的是，亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）用 “Four score and seven years ago 八十七年前” 一词打开了他在葛底斯堡的演说。他要求听众回顾美国独立战争，在《宪法》制定前，《独立宣言》为真正的建国纲领。他恳求他的同胞从那些用鲜血奉献在这个战场的士兵中汲取灵感，并推动使《独立宣言》的理想变为现实的事业。这个国家应该“自由重生，而民有、民治、民享之政必永续于世”。

每年的七月四日，我们庆祝建国纲领的采纳，这一宣言使我们想起了上帝赋予我们的权利，这些权利构成了我们政府形式的基本要求。所有公民天生就有追求美国梦的平等机会。作为人类的努力，我们的政府体制一定是不尽完善的。在244年之后，我们仍为实现《独立宣言》所宣称的理想而努力。

英文版 English Version：

On July 4, 1776, representatives of the thirteen American colonies, in Congress assembled, approved the Declaration of Independence. The document contains a long list of grievances against King George III of Great Britain. The Declaration asserted that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed" and that King George had imposed laws upon the colonies that violated this right.

Thomas Jefferson's words proclaimed that the right to self-government was a right given by God and - in the most famous passage of the Declaration - it is "self-evident that all men are created equal." 

Eleven years later, after the Americans had defeated the most powerful military in the world, colonial representatives met again to agree to the rules under which the new government should be established. There is nothing perfect on this earth, so the U.S. Constitution could not guarantee the reality of the God-given ideals proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence. The writers of the Constitution nevertheless set as their first goal that their document should be an effort to approach this ideal: "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union..."

The Constitution provided a process by which amendments could be added to improve the document. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, became law just four years after Delaware became the first state to ratify the constitution. Nonetheless, as long as a portion of the population remained enslaved, it was clear that the Constitution fell far short of the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

It is significant that Abraham Lincoln opened his Gettysburg Address with the phrase "Four score and seven years ago." He asked his audience to look back a few extra years before the Constitution and consider the Declaration of Independence as the true founding document of the nation. He implored his countrymen to take inspiration from the soldiers who had consecrated this battleground with their blood and to advance the cause of making the ideals of the Declaration of Independence a reality. The nation should "have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Every Fourth of July, we celebrate the adoption of our nation's founding document, this declaration that reminds us of the God-given rights that form the basic requirements of our form of government. All citizens are born with equal opportunity to pursue their American dream. As a human endeavor, our governmental system must be imperfect. But after 244 years, we are still striving toward the ideals proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.