在线英语听力室

VOA慢速英语2013 Tense Relations with England Erupt into War of 1812 - James Madison Part 1 - Program No. 36

时间:2013-07-21 08:20:31

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 

Tense Relations with England Erupt into War of 1812 - James Madison Part 1 - Program No. 36

From VOA Learning English, welcome to The Making of a Nation, our weekly program of American history for people learning English. I’m Steve Ember.

James Madison of Virginia was elected president of the United States in 1808. He was inaugurated in Washington on March 4, 1809.

The people of the city were happy with the new president. But the nation was not yet sure what kind of leader he would be.

Madison's first four years were not easy. He had to deal with a foreign policy problem that the former president, Thomas Jefferson, was not able to solve: increasingly tense relations with Britain.

Historian Alan Taylor has written several books on early American history and has won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. He says Madison took office under difficult circumstances.

“Jefferson in many ways was a tough act to follow because he’d been extraordinarily1 popular. But he’d made one great policy mistake with Madison’s support. Madison had been his secretary of state. And that mistake was something known as the embargo2.”

The embargo had arisen from a war between Britain and France. The two nations refused to honor America's neutrality. Each tried to prevent the United States from trading with the other. Both interfered3 with American shipping4. And the British navy sometimes seized American sailors.

President Jefferson ordered a ban on trade with Europe. But the embargo failed to end the hostile acts against the United States.

A month after Madison took office, the British minister in Washington, David Erskine, said Britain would stop seizing American ships if the United States would trade again with Britain. But Erskine did not make clear that the British government demanded several conditions.

One condition was that the United States continue the ban against trade with France. Another was that Britain be permitted to capture American ships that violated the law.

President Madison did not accept these conditions, but he still believed he had reached an agreement with the British minister. He announced that the United States would re-open trade with Britain. Hundreds of ships left American ports. But a few weeks later, Madison received surprising news. The British government had rejected the agreement he reached with Erskine.

Letters were exchanged. But Madison could not get a good explanation for what had happened. He finally broke off all communications, and Erskine and his replacement5 left Washington.

America's policy of trade with Britain and France continued to be a serious issue. President Madison approved trade with all countries in 1810. But when relations with Britain did not improve, he stopped trade with the country again in the spring of 1811.

Trade was not the only problem, however. A growing number of Americans believed that the British were helping6 some Native Americans to fight the United States.

As the people of the United States began to move to the northern and western territories, the government made treaties with the different Indian tribes. The treaties explained which land belonged to the Indians and which land could be settled by white people.

The settlers did not always honor the treaties.

Historian Alan Taylor explains that Indian tribes were trying to defend their homelands. He says they asked the British to provide them with guns and ammunition7 to fight against the American settlements.

“The British were playing a very ambivalent8 game. In other words, they wanted to keep the Indians on a kind of retainer in the eventuality that war did happen, they would want to mobilize those Indians. So they did provide them with guns and ammunition, but they hoped that the native peoples would just use them on the defensive9.”  

A leader of the Shawnee Indian tribe, Tecumseh, decided10 to unite all Indians and help them defend against the settlers.

Throughout the West, many Americans believed that the British in Canada were responsible for Tecumseh's efforts. They demanded war with Britain to destroy the power of the tribes.

In Washington, a new Congress was meeting. Some of the new members were very different from the men who had controlled Congress before. They were less willing to compromise, and more willing to defend America's interests. They soon got the name "War Hawks11."

At the same time, America had a new secretary of state. Madison chose his close friend, James Monroe.

What the United States did not have at that troubled time was a representative in Britain. The British minister in Washington, Francis James Jackson, returned to London when Madison broke off communications. The American minister in London, William Pinkney, sailed home as well.

There was no official in either capital to report what was happening. And in the spring of 1812, the United States and Britain were moving closer to war.

President Madison had hoped for some sign of compromise. But he was sure there would be war. He had seen the instructions from London to Britain's new minister in Washington, Augustus Foster. The foreign minister warned Foster to say nothing about any compromise. He wanted the United States to see how firmly Britain would stand against neutral trade with its enemies.

Also, historian Alan Taylor says the United States did not believe Britain would stop inspecting American ships and taking away any sailors the British thought were British subjects.

“And because the British would not change that policy, the United States was determined12 to force them to change that policy. That’s why the war happened.”

In the United States, Congress continued to prepare the nation for war. Lawmakers voted to increase the size of the army and to borrow money to pay for things the larger army would need.

But not all lawmakers wanted war with Britain. Many Federalists, especially, opposed it.

Congressman13 Hermanus Bleecker showed the House a list of hundreds of names from his area of New York. He said all these people opposed the embargo and the idea of war with Britain. It is impossible, he said, that we can go to war when the embargo ends, 60 days from now. Where are our armies? Our navy? Have we the money to fight a war? Why, it would be treason to go to war this soon, so poorly prepared.

Treasury14 Secretary Albert Gallatin was having a difficult time finding money to borrow. He could get almost no money at all from Federalist bankers in the New England states in the Northeast. Congress had approved borrowing $11 million. But Gallatin found the banks would lend only $6 million to the federal government.

The Federalists charged that Gallatin's difficulties showed that the people did not want war, especially the people of New England. If the people of the West and the South wanted to fight, then let them pay for the war.

Yet, sure that Britain would not change its hostile policies, President Madison sent a secret message to Congress on June 1, proposing that war be declared. Madison listed the reasons for war:

British warships15 had violated the American flag at sea. The British navy had seized and carried off persons protected by the flag. British warships also violated United States waters, interfering16 with American ships as they entered and left port. Another reason, he said, was Britain's orders against trade with France or allies of France.

International law, he said, gave Britain no right to make such orders.

Madison also spoke17 of the hostile Indians of the northwest territory, and seemed to charge British Canada with helping the Indians.

The president's message went to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives for discussion. The final vote in the House on declaring war was 79 for and 49 against. In the Senate, the vote was closer: 19 for and 13 against.

President Madison signed the bill into law on June 18. The War of 1812 had begun.

The leaders in Washington did not know it, but two days earlier Britain had ended its orders against neutral American trade. The orders might have been withdrawn18 earlier, except for a number of events.

British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, under great political pressure, had decided to end the British orders on neutral trade. Businesses and traders were loudly protesting that the orders were destroying England's economy. On May 11, before Perceval could act, he was shot to death. Not until June 8 was agreement reached on a new prime minister, Lord Liverpool.

Eight days later, his government announced that the orders were ended immediately. This was only two days before war was to be declared in Washington. And, with ships being the only method of communication, the British action was not learned of in time.

If the United States had had a minister in London during the spring of 1812, the diplomat19 would have been able to report progress toward ending the orders. But the American minister, William Pinkney, had returned home a year earlier.

Neither Americans nor British were sure they wanted war, even after it was declared. The public’s reaction will be our story next week.


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 extraordinarily Vlwxw     
adv.格外地;极端地
参考例句:
  • She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
  • The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨,大海出奇地宁静。
2 embargo OqixW     
n.禁运(令);vt.对...实行禁运,禁止(通商)
参考例句:
  • This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
  • During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间,他们禁止与敌国通商。
3 interfered 71b7e795becf1adbddfab2cd6c5f0cff     
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
参考例句:
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 shipping WESyg     
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船)
参考例句:
  • We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
  • There's a shipping charge of £5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。
5 replacement UVxxM     
n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品
参考例句:
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
6 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
7 ammunition GwVzz     
n.军火,弹药
参考例句:
  • A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
  • They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。
8 ambivalent Wx4zV     
adj.含糊不定的;(态度等)矛盾的
参考例句:
  • She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
  • Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人,然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。
9 defensive buszxy     
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的
参考例句:
  • Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题,使她警觉起来。
  • The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。
10 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
11 hawks c8b4f3ba2fd1208293962d95608dd1f1     
鹰( hawk的名词复数 ); 鹰派人物,主战派人物
参考例句:
  • Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
  • Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。
12 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
13 Congressman TvMzt7     
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。
14 treasury 7GeyP     
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
参考例句:
  • The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
  • This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。
15 warships 9d82ffe40b694c1e8a0fdc6d39c11ad8     
军舰,战舰( warship的名词复数 ); 舰只
参考例句:
  • The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后,敌舰退出了海战。
  • The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。
16 interfering interfering     
adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词
参考例句:
  • He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事!
  • I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预,让我自己拿主意。
17 spoke XryyC     
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。
18 withdrawn eeczDJ     
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出
参考例句:
  • Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
  • All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。
19 diplomat Pu0xk     
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人
参考例句:
  • The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话,紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
  • He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。