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Not only is slavery growing
奴隶制不仅仅在
in the American South in the 1820s, '30s, and '40s in leaps and bounds
1820到1840年代的美国南部以极其迅速地方式增长
I mean, the American slave population doubled in 25 years between 1820 and the mid-1840s.
重点是 全美国的奴隶数在25年里翻了一番 从1820年代到1840年代中期
By the 1850s, slavery became,
到1850年代 奴隶制
slaves became the single greatest economic asset in the entire American economy.
奴隶成为支持美国经济体的 中流砥柱
It was the engine of wealth for the American South, and frankly for a good deal of the American North,
奴隶们是美国南部的财富发动机 大量美国北部人也因此收入颇丰
especially the banking system in New York and other cities.
特别是纽约和其它城市的银行体系
At that point, you had a nation growing in leaps and bounds,
在那个阶段 这样一个国家正在突飞猛进之中
had a sense of its infinite boundlessness,
既有无穷无尽之可能的感受
but also a sense of great anxiety and great dread of what on earth are they going to do about this problem.
也有强烈的焦虑和巨大的矛盾 对于到底如何解决奴隶制这个问题
The figure who was to do most to tip America into crisis
那个差点让美国陷入危机的人
was the man who was also to become Abraham Lincoln's political nemesis.
最终成了亚伯拉罕·林肯政治上的死敌
Stephen A Douglas,a Democrat from Lincoln's home state of Illinois, introduced in 1854
他就是 斯蒂芬A道格拉斯 一位来自林肯老家伊利诺斯州的民主党人 在1854年引进了
a clause that would allow slavery to spread into the new Western states of Kansas and Nebraska.
一项法律条款 允许奴隶制扩散到 新建立的西部诸州即堪萨斯州和内布拉斯加州
To oppose this, a new political party was formed in the North,the Republicans,
为了反对这一举措 一个新的政党在北方成立 那就是共和党
and Abraham Lincoln abandoned his legal career to join them.
亚伯拉罕·林肯放弃了自己的律师生涯加入了共和党
