The ways of history are so intricate and the motivations of human actionsso complex that it is always hazardous to attempt to represent events coveringa number of years, a multiplicity of persons, and distant localities asthe expression of one intellectual or social movement; yet the historicalprocess which culminated in the ascent of Thomas Jefferson to the presidencycan be regarded as the outstanding example not only of the birth of a new wayof life but of nationalism as a new way of life. The American Revolutionrepresents the link between the seventeenth century, in whichmodern England became conscious of itself, and the awakening of modernEurope at the end of the eighteenth century. It may seem strange that themarch of history should have had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but only inthe North American colonies could a struggle for civic liberty lead also to thefoundation of a new nation.

　　Here, in thepopular rising against a tyrannical government, the fruits weremore than the securing of a freer constitution. They included the growthof a nation born in liberty by the will of the people, not from the roots ofcommon descent, a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. Withthe American nation, for the first time, a nation was born,

　　not in the dim past of history but before the eyes of the whole world.

　　全文翻譯：美國革命的歷史意義

　　歷史的進程是如此錯綜復雜，人類行為的動機是如此令人費解，以至于想把那些時間跨度大，涉及人數多，空間范圍廣的事件描述成為一個智者或一場社會運動的表現的企圖是危 險的。 然而以托馬斯杰弗遜登上總統寶座為高潮的那一段歷史過程可以被視為一個特殊 的例子。

　　在這段歷史時期里不僅誕生了新的生活方式，而且民族主義成為了一種新的生活 方式。 美國獨立戰爭成為聯結 17 世紀現代英格蘭的自我意識和 18 世紀末現代歐洲的覺醒 的紐帶。 歷史的行程需要跨越大西洋，這看起來似乎有些奇怪，但卻只有在北美殖民地為 民權和自由的斗爭才能導致新國家的建立。

　　這里，反對暴政的民眾起義的成果不僅是獲 得一個包含更多自由的憲法，還包括了一個依照人民的意愿誕生在自由中的國家的成長。這 個國家不是基于血緣、地理、君主或王朝的野心。 由于有了美國，第一次一個國家的誕生不是發生在歷史模糊的過去，而是在全世界人們的眼前。

　　The ways of history are so intricate and the motivations of human actionsso complex that it is always hazardous to attempt to represent events coveringa number of years, a multiplicity of persons, and distant localities asthe expression of one intellectual or social movement; yet the historicalprocess which culminated in the ascent of Thomas Jefferson to the presidencycan be regarded as the outstanding example not only of the birth of a new wayof life but of nationalism as a new way of life. The American Revolutionrepresents the link between the seventeenth century, in whichmodern England became conscious of itself, and the awakening of modernEurope at the end of the eighteenth century. It may seem strange that themarch of history should have had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but only inthe North American colonies could a struggle for civic liberty lead also to thefoundation of a new nation.

　　Here, in thepopular rising against a tyrannical government, the fruits weremore than the securing of a freer constitution. They included the growthof a nation born in liberty by the will of the people, not from the roots ofcommon descent, a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. Withthe American nation, for the first time, a nation was born,

　　not in the dim past of history but before the eyes of the whole world.

　　全文翻譯：美國革命的歷史意義

　　歷史的進程是如此錯綜復雜，人類行為的動機是如此令人費解，以至于想把那些時間跨度大，涉及人數多，空間范圍廣的事件描述成為一個智者或一場社會運動的表現的企圖是危 險的。 然而以托馬斯杰弗遜登上總統寶座為高潮的那一段歷史過程可以被視為一個特殊 的例子。

　　在這段歷史時期里不僅誕生了新的生活方式，而且民族主義成為了一種新的生活 方式。 美國獨立戰爭成為聯結 17 世紀現代英格蘭的自我意識和 18 世紀末現代歐洲的覺醒 的紐帶。 歷史的行程需要跨越大西洋，這看起來似乎有些奇怪，但卻只有在北美殖民地為 民權和自由的斗爭才能導致新國家的建立。

　　這里，反對暴政的民眾起義的成果不僅是獲 得一個包含更多自由的憲法，還包括了一個依照人民的意愿誕生在自由中的國家的成長。這 個國家不是基于血緣、地理、君主或王朝的野心。 由于有了美國，第一次一個國家的誕生不是發生在歷史模糊的過去，而是在全世界人們的眼前。