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1805年，有一位最高法院法官接受审判

上周，我们向你讲述了1804年的美国总统大选，托马斯.杰斐逊，这位美国第三任总统很轻松地当选。他是民主共和党的党首，民主共和党也就是现在的民主党，他的政治对手是联邦党。现在，我们开始向你讲述杰斐逊总统第二个任期的故事。

杰斐逊在他的第一个任期中有一个良好的从政纪录。他削减了许多税种，他偿还了政府债务，而且，他未经战争就从法国人手里获得了路易斯安那地区的大量土地。联邦党人很清楚他将获得1804年的总统大选，尽管如此，他们还是没有想到他的胜利会如此之大。

杰斐逊获得了162张总统选举的选票，而他的对手，查尔斯.平克尼仅得到14张总统选举的选票。联邦党人本来预计平克尼能够得到40张总统选举的选票。杰斐逊得到了绝大多数的支持，即使在美国的东北部地区，他也获得了支持，这个地区向来是联邦党力量最大的地区。如何解释这一现象呢？有一个试图解释杰斐逊这一伟大胜利意义的人，他就是约翰.昆西.亚当斯，他是前美国总统约翰.亚当斯总统的儿子，这就是前总统的儿子所说的：“杰斐逊政府的权力有赖于绝大多数坚强的美国人民，他得到了广泛的支持，他再次当选表明联邦党所尝试的一切已经失败，联邦党想再回到人民的生活中已经不可能了，要想把联邦党再带回我们的政治生活中，那是愚蠢的，它就像把自己的生命埋藏在已经埋葬多年的躯体之中。”

在1804年的总统大选之后，只有7位联邦党人留在了参议院，只有21个联邦党人留在了众议院。

联邦党不再控制着国会，尽管它还仍然控制着法院。许多法官是在约翰.亚当斯在任最后几天里任命的。这些法官反对托马斯.杰斐逊，有些法官利用法庭作为攻击杰斐逊总统的场所。法官是不应该利用法庭发表政治演讲的。在这些最强烈反对杰斐逊的法官中有一位叫塞缪尔.蔡斯，他是美国最高法院的一名法官。

塞缪尔.蔡斯来自马里兰州，他长时间以来他一直活跃在地方和国家的政治活动中，他曾经在美国摆脱英国的<独立宣言>上签字，他在大陆会议上任职，大陆会议在美国革命及独立战争之后期间管理着美国，然而，他却不同意美国宪法中的部分内容，当马里兰州立法机构投票表决宪法时，他投了反对票。

塞缪尔.蔡斯不赞成共和政体：他认为所有美国人不应该有着同样的权利，例如，他认为所有公民不能都有投票权，他说如果所有人都有投票权，那么将会导致暴民的统治。他公开发表声明说，如果普通人拥有和那些有财产而受到过教育的人一样有着同等的权利在话，那么将会给政府带来巨大的麻烦。

杰斐逊总统听到了蔡斯的声明，他对国会议员说他很关注此事，杰斐逊问到：“难道这位法官攻击我们宪法的思想就不应该受到惩罚吗？公众将关注国会对他采取的必要措施。”

在杰斐逊总统第一个任期最后的几个月中，众议院开始讨论罢免最高法院蔡斯法官的可能性，众议院成立了一个调查委员会，这个委员会确定有足够的证据将他送到参议院接受审判，全体众议院议员一致同意。弹劾案将在1805年2月开始。

负责此案的法官是参议院议长、副总统亚伦.伯尔。伯尔将决定哪些证据可听哪些证据不可听，他的行为将对最终的裁决起到重要的影响。无论是联邦党还是共和党都密切关注这次审判，两党都想从他那寻找一些支持的证据，但伯尔什么也没有给。没有人能够找到任何理由来指责他的行为。

参议院在不到三个星期里听取了证词，然后就针对蔡斯法官的八项指控逐一进行投票表决，必须有三分之二的参议员投票同意才能宣布他确实有罪。没有任何一项针对蔡斯的指控得到参议员三分之二的投票同意，弹劾失败。最高法院的塞缪尔.蔡斯法官没有被开除。杰斐逊总统希望能够证明蔡斯有罪，但他没能如愿。不过，在这次审判之后，蔡斯再也没有利用法庭来达到他的政治目的。

在这次弹劾结束的几天之后，托马斯.杰斐逊就要宣誓就任总统，开始他的第二个任期。在当时，美国总统的就职典礼在3月而不是在1月举行。亚伦.伯尔将不再是杰斐逊的副总统，共和党不再支持他竞选副总统，转而提名乔治.克林顿为副总统，乔治.克林顿曾经是纽约州的州长。在伯尔离开副总统之前，他决定在参议院发表最后一次演讲。

参议员们对伯尔所要说的都很感兴趣，即使是他的政治对手也静静地坐在那听他的演讲。伯尔向他的朋友们道别，他说他许再也看不到他们了。不过他说他们将仍然团结在一起共同保护自由和社会公正。他说参议员的重要责任在于保护自由、法律和宪法，他说，“如果宪法一旦被毁，那么宪法的最后一缕气息也将从这里产生。”

亚伦.伯尔面临各种问题，他已经失去了所有的政治权力，他欠下了大笔的钱，他不能回到位于纽约地区的家，在那他将因与亚历山大.汉密尔顿决斗而受到有罪指控，在那次决斗中，伯尔开枪杀死了汉密尔顿。在1805年3月底，伯尔给他的女儿写信，他说：“十天或十二天后，我将向西部去，我也许到新奥尔良，也许会走的更远。”他还给他的女婿写信，他说他将不再回家，他写到：“在纽约，我将失去自由，而在新泽西，我将被吊死，所以，目前，我没有什么别的选择。”

伯尔会做什么呢？一年多来，他一直在思考一个秘密的计划，这个计划的细节我们不太清楚，因为他就此计划对不同的人说过不同的话。但历史学家说，这是一个有关从西班牙手里夺取墨西哥的计划。伯尔无法向任何人保守他的秘密计划，他需要帮助。他和两个人一起合作，一个是前美国参议员乔森纳.代顿，另一个是詹姆士.威尔金森，他是路易斯安那地区的军事长官。

伯尔还需要钱，他从他的女婿那得到了一些钱，而且他还从俄亥俄州的一位名叫哈曼.伯莱尼哈斯特的人手里得到一些钱。伯莱尼哈斯特先生在他从爱尔兰移民到美国之后成为一位很有钱的人。历史学家说，伯尔还设法从英国那获得帮助，伯尔告诉在华盛顿的英国大使，他需要钱和船只以便创建一个新国家，这个新国家包括墨西哥和美国西部的几个州，这些州将从美国联邦中脱离出来。

英国大使喜欢伯尔的计划，他对伯尔说，他将寻求英国政府对这个计划的支持。然而，英国大使与在伦敦的英国政府沟通至少四个月的时间。伯尔决定不等英国政府的回答，他开始了他的西部之旅。

欲知后事如何，请听下周分解。

简评：

    无论是谁，不管他身居何职，不管他的权力多大，只要他违反宪法，只要他犯了错误，就有机构能够对他进行审判。这样，不仅是对一个国家负责，也是对个人负责。因为如果真的这样的话，他就不敢为所欲为，他就不敢妄自尊大，他就不会在权力中无限地膨胀，他就不会因此而给国家，给他自己带来灭顶之灾。这就是平衡和制约的功效。一个国家、一个组织、一个单位如果都能如此，那么这个国家、这个组织、这个单位就会永葆青春。

A Supreme Court Justice Is Put on Trial in 1805  

We talked last week about the presidential election of eighteen hundred and four. Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president, was easily re-elected. He was head of the Democratic-Republican Party, known today as the Democratic Party. His political opponents were called Federalists. Now, we begin the story of his second term as president of the United States. 

Jefferson had a very good record during his first term as president. 

He ended many taxes. He paid government debts. And he gained possession of the huge Louisiana Territory from France without going to war. The Federalists were sure he would win the election of eighteen-oh-four. Still, they were surprised by the strength of his election victory.

Jefferson won one hundred sixty-two electoral votes. His opponent, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, won just fourteen. The Federalists had expected Pinckney to get about forty. Jefferson received support even in the Northeast. That is where the Federalists had their greatest strength. What was the explanation? One man tried to explain the meaning of Jefferson's great victory. He was John Quincy Adams, son of former president John Adams. President Adams had been a firm Federalist. This is what his son said:  "The power of Jefferson's administration rests on a strong majority of the American people. The president has great popular support. His re-election shows that the experiment of the Federalists has failed. It never can and never will be brought to life again. To try to bring it back would be foolish. It would be like trying to put life into a body that has been buried for years." 

After the election of eighteen-oh-four, only seven Federalists remained in the United States Senate. Only twenty-five remained in the House of Representatives. 

The Federalists no longer controlled the Congress, although they still controlled the courts. Many judges had been appointed during John Adams's last days as president. These judges opposed Thomas Jefferson. Some used the courtroom as a place to attack his policies. Judges were not supposed to make political speeches in court.  One of the most powerful anti-Jeffersonian judges was Samuel Chase. He was a member of the Supreme Court.

Samuel Chase was from the state of Maryland. He was active in local and national politics for a long time. He had signed America's Declaration of Independence from Britain. He had served in the Continental Congresses that governed America during and after its Revolutionary War. Yet he did not agree with all parts of the United States Constitution. When the Maryland legislature voted to approve or reject the Constitution, he voted against it.

Samuel Chase was not a republican: he believed that Americans should not have the same rights. For example, he believed that all citizens should not have the right to vote. He said this would lead to mob rule. He declared that great trouble would come to the government if common people had the same rights as educated people who owned property. 

President Jefferson heard about Chase's statement. He told a member of Congress that he was concerned. Jefferson asked: "Should this judge's attack on the ideas of our Constitution go without punishment? The public will look to Congress to take the necessary action against him."   

During the last months of Jefferson's first term as president, the House of Representatives began discussing the possibility of removing Justice Chase from the Supreme Court. A committee was named to investigate. The committee decided that there was enough evidence to bring him to trial before the Senate. The full House agreed. The impeachment trial was to begin in February, eighteen-oh-five. 

The judge in the trial was the chief officer of the Senate, Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr would decide what evidence could or could not be heard. His actions would have great influence over the final decision. Both Federalists and Republicans watched Burr closely during the trial. Both groups looked for some sign of support. Burr gave none. No one found any reason to criticize his actions.

The Senate heard testimony for a little more than three weeks. Then it voted on each of the eight charges against Justice Chase. A two-thirds vote was needed to declare him guilty. None of the charges received the necessary two-thirds vote. The impeachment had failed. Samuel Chase could not be removed from the Supreme Court.  President Jefferson had hoped that Chase would be found guilty. He did not get this wish. But, after the trial, Chase no longer used the courtroom for political purposes. 

A few days after the impeachment trial ended, Thomas Jefferson was to be sworn in as president for a second term. In those days, the inauguration of the American president was held in March, not January. Aaron Burr would not be serving with Jefferson again. The Republican Party had not supported him for vice president. Instead, it chose George Clinton, who had been governor of New York state. Before leaving office, Burr decided to make one last speech to the Senate. 

The senators were very interested in what Burr had to say. Even his political opponents sat up and listened. Burr told his friends goodbye. He said he might never see them again. Yet he said they could still join together in defending freedom and social justice.  He spoke of the senators' great responsibility to protect liberty, the law, and the Constitution. "If the Constitution is ever destroyed," he said, "its final breaths will come on this floor."

Aaron Burr faced a future full of questions. He had lost all political power. He owed large amounts of money. He could not return to his home in the New York area. He would face criminal charges there as a result of his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Burr had shot and killed Hamilton in the duel.  At the end of March, eighteen-oh-five, Burr wrote to his daughter. "In ten or twelve days," he said, "I shall be on my way west. The trip may lead me to New Orleans, perhaps even farther."   He also wrote to his daughter's husband. He said he would not return home. "In New York," he wrote, "I would lose my freedom. In New Jersey, I would be hanged. So, for the present, I will not take a chance." 

What would Burr do instead? For more than a year, he had thought about a secret plan. Details are not clear, because he said different things to different people. But history experts say the plan involved an attempt to seize Mexico from Spain.  Burr could not keep his plan a secret from everyone. He needed help. He worked with two men. One was Jonathan Dayton, a former United States senator. The other was James Wilkinson, military governor of the Louisiana Territory. 

Burr also needed money. He got some from his daughter's husband. And he got some from a man in Ohio named Harman Blennerhassett. Mister Blennerhassett had become rich after coming to America from Ireland.  History experts say Burr tried to get help from Britain, too. Burr told the British ambassador in Washington that he wanted money and ships to create a new country. It would include Mexico and several western states. The states would be split away from the Union. 

The British ambassador liked Burr's plan. He told Burr that he would urge his government to support it. It would take at least four months, however, for the ambassador to communicate with his government in London. Burr decided not to wait for an answer. He began his trip to the West. That will be our story next week. 

http://www.wwenglish.com/m07/voa/spec/2008/06/wwenglish.com_nation080626.mp3