VOA慢速英语2014 建国史话: 林肯赢得1860年选举

 

Lincoln Wins 1860 Election, Loses Southern States 建国史话: 林肯赢得1860年选举

From VOA Learning English, this is The Making of a Nation.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Christopher Cruise.

The presidential election of 1860 brought feelings of both hope and fear.

Americans had hope for the future because they would have a new leader. But they feared that even a new president could not hold the nation together. The states of the South were very close to leaving the Union over the issue of slavery.

The election campaign opened in the summer of 1860. Abraham Lincoln was the candidate for the Republican Party -- a new party that opposed slavery. Almost all Republicans were from the northern United States.

Most people did not know very much about Abraham Lincoln, so the Republican Party published many books and pamphlets about him. They told the story of a poor farm boy who educated himself. Through hard work and honesty, they said, he had become a candidate for president.

Lincoln’s supporters organized a loud and colorful campaign. It included marching bands and signs. But Lincoln was silent. He said, “It has been my decision since becoming a candidate to make no speeches. I am here only to see you and to let you see me.”

The Democratic Party candidate was very different. Stephen Douglas spoke¹ in nearly every state. He campaigned hard. But his health was poor. And he had trouble getting money.

Within a few weeks, Douglas recognized he had no real hope of winning. Northerners believed he supported slavery too much. And Southerners believed he did not support slavery enough.

Douglas expected Lincoln to win the election. But he knew a Lincoln victory would create problems. If Lincoln became president, some people who strongly supported slavery threatened to take the Southern states out of the union.

So Douglas turned his efforts to a campaign for the union itself. He said, “The election of a man to the presidency² by the American people, under the Constitution, is no reason for any attempt to dissolve this glorious nation.”

Two other major candidates also campaigned for president. Southern Democrats³ nominated John Breckinridge of Kentucky. And a group called the Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell.

Election Day was November 6. The popular vote was close; the vote in the Electoral College was not. Lincoln received 180 electoral votes. Breckinridge received 72. Bell received 39. And Douglas received just 12.

Abraham Lincoln would be the new president of the United States. But his victory was bittersweet. Even before Lincoln was inaugurated, the Southern states acted on their threats. They began to leave the Union.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》