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

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

The most difficult national problem facing the administration of President Franklin Pierce was the situation in Kansas. The territory struggled with the issue of slavery.
 
Franklin Pierce

Pro-slavery settlers elected a representative to Congress. Then they won a majority of seats in the territorial1 legislature. An investigation2 found that people from the neighboring state of Missouri had voted in the elections illegally. Yet the results were accepted.

The new Kansas lawmakers did not like the territorial governor. They demanded that President Pierce dismiss him. Pierce agreed.

This week on our series, Ray Freeman and Steve Ember continue the story of the presidency3 of Franklin Pierce. And they talk about the presidential election of eighteen fifty-six.

VOICE ONE:

Anti-slavery settlers in Kansas felt they could not get fair treatment from either the president or the new governor. So they took an extreme step. They formed their own government in opposition4 to the elected government of the territory.

Their political group was known as the Free State Party. Party members wrote their own constitution and chose their own governor.

VOICE TWO:
 
Territory of Kansas

President Pierce said the actions of the Free State Party seemed revolutionary. He warned against violence. He said if party members attacked any officials or property of the territory or the federal government, party leaders should be charged with treason.

The president gave the pro-slavery governor of Kansas control of troops at two army bases in the territory. Many people feared that the governor would use the troops to arrest the leaders of the Free State government.

VOICE ONE:

Fighting between the two sides almost began when a Free State man was killed by a pro-slavery man. Free State settlers gathered in the town of Lawrence and organized a defense5 force. At the same time, hundreds of pro-slavery men crossed the border from Missouri. They planned to go to Lawrence and burn it to the ground.

The pro-slavery governor and the Free State governor agreed to hold an emergency meeting. They negotiated a settlement, and the men on both sides went home. The truce6 did not last long.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:
 
John Brown

In the weeks that followed, a number of attempts were made to stop or arrest the leaders of the Free State government. Pro-slavery officials urged private citizens to help. Once again, hundreds of men -- including many from Missouri -- gathered in Kansas. Once again, their target was the town of Lawrence. This time, however, there was no truce.

The pro-slavery mob attacked and burned several buildings. A number of people were killed. The violence might have ended quickly. But one of the men defending the town believed that the battle against the forces of slavery must continue. And he believed that God had chosen him to lead it. The man was John Brown.

VOICE ONE:

John Brown heard that five Free State men had died in the attack on Lawrence. So he said five pro-slavery men must die in return. He led a group that seized and killed five people.

The civil disorder7 in Kansas continued. Settlers were forced off their land. Houses were burned. More people were killed. The territory became known as "Bleeding Kansas."

VOICE TWO:

It was clear that there were deep differences between the northern and southern American states. The differences involved their economies, their systems of labor8, and their way of life.

The civil disorder caused by these differences was the chief issue in the presidential election of eighteen fifty-six. Three political parties offered candidates: the Democrats9, the Republicans and the Know-Nothings.

The Whig Party did not offer a candidate. The party had gone out of existence by then. Its members had split over the question of slavery in the western territories. The split could not be healed. Most southern Whigs joined the Democratic Party. Most northern Whigs joined the Know-Nothing Party.

VOICE ONE:

The Know-Nothing Party began as a secret anti-immigrant organization. It feared that too many people from other countries were coming to live in the United States.

Members did not want to admit that they belonged to the group. When asked, they said, "I know nothing."

And that is how the organization got its name.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Democratic Party was led by President Franklin Pierce. Pierce wanted to run for re-election. Many northern Democrats, however, objected to his support of the pro-slavery legislature in Kansas. Other Democrats did not think he was the strongest candidate. As a result, Pierce faced competition for the party's nomination10.

One opponent was Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Douglas had great political ability. He also had many political enemies. He was the man most responsible for gaining congressional approval of the bill that opened Kansas to slavery.

VOICE ONE:
 
James Buchanan

Pierce's other opponent for the Democratic nomination was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. Buchanan was a northerner who would probably leave the South alone.

"I am not friendly to the idea of slavery," he said. "but the rights of the South -- under our constitution -- should have as much protection as the rights of any other part of our Union. "

VOICE TWO:

The Democratic Party met in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the first time a national political convention was held that far west.

Candidates needed two-thirds of the votes to win the nomination. After several days of voting, no candidate had received enough. So, in an effort to unite the party, Stephen Douglas offered to withdraw. James Buchanan got his votes and the nomination.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Republican Party was a new political party. Its members opposed slavery for either moral or economic reasons.

Many Republicans were Abolitionists. They wanted to ban slavery everywhere in the United States. The majority of Republicans, however, were not Abolitionists. They had no interest in ending slave labor in the South. They simply did not want slavery to spread to other areas.

The Republican Party held its presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia. For months, party members had spoken of just one man. He was John Fremont. Fremont had explored the American west. He had been a senator from California. He was young and exciting. Republicans thought he was the right man to lead their young and exciting party.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Know-Nothing Party had a divided nominating convention. Northern and southern members agreed on policies that denounced immigrants. But they split on the issue of slavery. Northern members opposed it. Southern members supported it.

Delegates to the convention chose a candidate who seemed to support the party's policies. Yet he was not even a member of the party. He was a Whig, former president Millard Fillmore.

Northern members refused to support Fillmore. They broke away from the Know-Nothing Party and supported the Republican candidate, John Fremont.

VOICE ONE:
 
John C. Fremont

Fremont could not expect to win any votes in the slave states of the South. He would have to get all of his support in the North. He would have to win the votes of the big states, including Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania was the home of the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan.

Buchanan had said that the constitutional rights of the southern states should be protected. So he could expect to win some votes there. When all the votes were counted, Buchanan was elected. Now he would have to deal with the problems that presidents before him had not been able to solve.

VOICE TWO:

James Buchanan was sixty-five years old. He had served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. He had served as secretary of state and as ambassador. He was a good diplomat11. But he was not considered a strong political leader.

Buchanan usually supported the southern position in the dispute about slavery. He said the North should stop interfering12 with the South. He even said the South had good reason to leave the Union, if northern Abolitionists continued their anti-slavery campaign.

As president, Buchanan believed he could solve the slavery question by keeping the Abolitionists quiet. He wanted a cabinet that shared and supported this idea.

We will tell about James Buchanan's administration in our next program.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

Our program was written by Christine Johnson. The narrators were Ray Freeman and Steve Ember. Transcripts13, MP3s and podcasts of our programs can be found 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 #83 of THE MAKING OF A NATION


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1 territorial LImz4     
adj.领土的,领地的
参考例句:
  • The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
  • They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。
2 investigation MRKzq     
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。
3 presidency J1HzD     
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。
4 opposition eIUxU     
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 defense AxbxB     
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
参考例句:
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
6 truce EK8zr     
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束
参考例句:
  • The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
  • She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。
7 disorder Et1x4     
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
参考例句:
  • When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后,他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
  • It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。
8 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
9 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
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》
10 nomination BHMxw     
n.提名,任命,提名权
参考例句:
  • John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
  • Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。
11 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。
12 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。
13 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
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

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