Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson!

等等，傑佛遜！

These words from the Declaration of Independence and the facts behind them are well known.

這些美國獨立宣言的引言以及背後的史實廣為人知。

In June of 1776, a little more than a year after the war against England began with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord,

在 1776 年的 6 月，也是向英國開戰屆滿一年不久，即是從萊辛頓與康科特戰役的第一聲槍響算起，

the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to discuss American independence.

大陸會議在費城舉行討論美國獨立。

After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776.

在激烈的爭辯後，對於獨立的方針終於在 1776 年 7 月 2 日通過。

America was free!

美國自由了！

And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever.

而一些人，比如約翰‧亞當斯覺得應該要永久紀念這個日子。

But it was two days later that the gentlemen in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence,

但是在大陸會議的兩天後，議員們才決定通過獨立宣言，

largely written by Thomas Jefferson, offering all the reasons why the country should be free.

此宣言由湯瑪斯‧傑佛遜起草，並且闡述了所有美國應該要獨立的原因。

More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday.

在 235 多年後的今日，我們將通過的那天訂為美國的國慶日。

But there are some pieces of the story you may not know.

但其中有一些你可能不知道的故事。

First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for writing the Declaration,

首先，湯瑪斯‧傑佛遜因為獨立宣言起草而留名後世，

but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why America should be independent:

但有五個人同時在做這件事，他們共同寫一份文章來解釋美國為什麼必須獨立：

Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams were all named first.

羅伯特‧李維頓、羅傑‧謝爾曼、 班傑明‧富蘭克林、還有 約翰‧亞當斯，他們都是既定人選。

And it was Adams who suggested that the young and little-known Thomas Jefferson join them because they needed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation,

是亞當斯推薦年輕卻寂寂無名的湯瑪斯‧傑佛遜加入的，因為他們需要一個從具有影響力的維吉尼亞州來的人，

and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was.

此外，亞當斯覺得傑佛遜的文筆比他好。

Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes or credited his sources, some of his memorable words and phrases were borrowed from other writers and slightly tweaked.

第二，傑佛遜從來不做註記，也不寫出他文章的靈感來源，但其實很多他的名言佳句都是因為受到他人的啟發，他只是援引佳句並稍微修改一下而已。

Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions.

之後，富蘭克林跟亞當斯也提供了一些建議。

But the most important change came after the Declaration was turned over to the full Congress.

但最重要的更改卻是在此宣言上呈大陸會議之後。

For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson sat and fumed while his words were picked over.

接下來的兩天，湯瑪斯‧傑佛遜不太開心議員對他的起草挑三撿四，他也只能乾坐生悶氣。

In the end, the Congress made a few minor word changes and one big deletion.

最後，議會作出一些微小的用字修改，還有一大項的刪減。

In the long list of charges that Jefferson made against the King of England,

在長長一串傑佛遜對英皇的控訴中，

the author of the Declaration had included the idea that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade and was preventing America from ending slavery.

文章作者也提到了喬治三世應該要為奴隸交易負責，且他阻止美國廢除奴隸制度。

That was not only untrue, but Congress wanted no mention of slavery in the nation's founding document.

這不僅是錯的，而且議會也不想在建國文件上提到奴隸制度。

The reference was cut out before the Declaration was approved and sent to the printer.

於是，在獨立宣言通過並付梓之前，這一段落就被刪除了。

But it leaves open the hard question:

但也因這個段落的刪減而產生一個重大問題：

How could the men, who were about to sign a document, celebrating liberty and equality, accept a system in which some people owned others?

那些人們，簽署此份宣言的人們，怎麼能夠在慶祝自由與平等的同時也默認奴隸制度呢？

It is a question that would eventually bring the nation to civil war and one we can still ask today.

這是個最終將美國導向南北戰爭的關鍵問題，也是時至今日，我們可以反思的問題。