VOA慢速英语2009年-THE MAKING OF A NATION - American History

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

By eighteen sixty-three, America's northern states and southern states had been fighting a bitter civil war for two years. Both sides felt the pressure of the costly¹ struggle.

The South was beginning to suffer from a lack of supplies and men for its armies. The North was beginning to suffer from a lack of fighting spirit.

This week in our series, Larry West and Tony Riggs describe an anti-war movement that was growing.

VOICE ONE:
　
Abraham Lincoln

Many Americans in northern states did not support the war policies of Union President Abraham Lincoln. Some said openly that they did not care who won the war. They just wanted to be left alone.

Coal miners in Pennsylvania protested against a law drafting men into the Union army. They rioted and attacked officials who tried to take them. Soldiers were sent to Pennsylvania to put down the riots.

Farmers in Ohio also protested. They refused to be drafted. They attacked soldiers who were sent to arrest them. The worst anti-war riots, however, took place in New York City.

VOICE TWO:

On July thirteenth, eighteen sixty-three, a crowd formed outside a New York draft office. Inside, army officials were choosing the names of men who would be taken into the army.

Each name was written on a separate piece of paper. The papers were mixed together in a big box. The officials then began to remove the papers one at a time. They made a list of the names. These were the men of New York who must go off to fight.

On that day, however, the list was never completed. The crowd outside the draft office became louder. There were shouts of protest against the draft and against the Civil War.

VOICE ONE:
　
Police struggling to control rioters in New York

Suddenly, a stone crashed through the office window. Then another. And another. The army officials escaped. But a policeman inside could not get away. The rioters beat him badly. Then they set fire to the draft office and several buildings nearby. The riot spread across the city.

The riot began as a political protest against the draft. Poor men opposed the draft, because it permitted rich men to escape military service.

The law said a man who was drafted could stay out of the army by doing one of two things. He could pay the government three hundred dollars. Or he could pay another man to serve in his place. If a drafted man could not do either thing, then he must join the army or be shot as a deserter.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the wartime economy of the North, prices were rising much faster than wages. Even a man with a good job had a difficult time feeding his family. It was impossible for him to pay the government three hundred dollars or pay someone else to serve for him in the army.

Poor men protested against the law. They said it was unfair. "It's a rich man's war," they cried, "but a poor man's fight. The rich man's money against the poor man's blood."

VOICE ONE:

There was something else that deeply troubled working men in the North. Anti-war activists² told them that the war was not being fought to save the Union, but to free Negro slaves.

The activists said the freed Negroes would move north and take jobs away from whites. Many men believed this. They said they would not fight.

VOICE TWO:
　
An orphanage³ for black children burns during the riots in New York

Then, on July thirteenth, the angers and fears of working men in New York exploded. Their attack on the draft office that day was just the beginning. The violence lasted three days.

The rioters beat many policemen to death. They beat, burned, and hanged every Negro they could find. They also killed many whites who tried to protect the Negroes. By the time soldiers stopped the rioting, one thousand persons had been killed.

VOICE ONE:

The leaders of the anti-war movement in the north were members of the opposition⁴ Democratic Party. They wore on their coats a copper⁵ penny showing the head of a Native American Indian. This gave them the name "Copperheads." One important Copperhead was a former congressman⁶ from Ohio, Clement⁷ Vallandigham.

Vallandigham made a speech criticizing the Union government. He was charged with violating a military law that banned such criticism. He was arrested.

VOICE TWO:
　
Clement Vallandigham

The former congressman was taken before a military court. He objected. He said if he had broken a law, he should be tried by a civilian⁸ court. He demanded this as his constitutional right.

The military judges rejected his argument. They found him guilty. And they sentenced him to remain in a Union military prison until the end of the war.

People throughout the north were angry. Many did not support Clement Vallandigham's ideas. But they supported his right to speak freely.

President Lincoln could approve or reject Vallandigham's sentence. His decision would show which issue was more important: the citizens' right to free speech, or national security.

VOICE ONE:

Lincoln was a good politician and a smart lawyer. He found an unexpected way to deal with the problem. He neither approved nor rejected the sentence. He changed it.

Lincoln ordered Vallandigham to be turned over to the Confederate army. Then he explained that Vallandigham had not been arrested for criticizing the government.

"His arrest was made," Lincoln said, "because he was trying -- with some success -- to prevent men from entering the army. He was urging soldiers already in the army to leave it. Mister Vallandigham was not arrested because he was damaging the political chances of the administration, or the interests of the commanding general, but because he was damaging the army, upon which the life of the nation depends."

The Confederates welcomed the anti-war leader. They helped him get to Canada. Vallandigham continued his anti-war campaign from there.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

President Lincoln was troubled by the anti-war movement and violent opposition to the draft laws. He felt he had to make citizens understand why such laws were necessary. He prepared a speech which explained his thoughts.

"There can be no army without men," Lincoln wrote. "Men can be had only with their permission or without it. We can no longer get enough men willingly, so there is a draft. If you dispute this, and declare that men are still willing to serve in the army, then prove it by volunteering yourselves in large numbers. Then I will give up the draft."

VOICE ONE:

Lincoln never gave this speech. He felt it was too direct. Instead, he gave a different kind of speech to the people of the Union.

"You want peace," Lincoln said, "and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we get it. There are but three ways possible."

"First, to put down the southern rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, then we are so far agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for the Union? If you are, you should say so clearly. If you are not for force, and not for dissolving the Union, there only remains⁹ some kind of compromise. I do not believe any such compromise is possible."

VOICE TWO:

Politicians urged President Lincoln to investigate the anti-war protests in New York to learn who had led them. He refused.

Lincoln believed that starting an investigation¹⁰ would be like lighting¹¹ a barrel of gunpowder¹². He already was fighting a bitter struggle against rebels in the South. He did not want to fight the people of the North, too.

Southern leaders were pleased with the Copperheads' anti-war movement. Confederate General Robert E. Lee saw it as a sign of weakness in the northern war effort. He also saw it as an opening for a military victory.

That will be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Larry West and Tony Riggs. Transcripts¹³, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are online, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION - an American history series in VOA Special English.
___

This is program #108 of THE MAKING OF A NATION

 

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

6 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

7 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

12 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

13 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句