20美元上的美國民主故事

Should Jackson Stay on the $20 Bill?

20美元上的美國民主故事

WASHINGTON —IN 1928 the Treasury Department issued the first $20 bill featuring Andrew Jackson, replacing Grover Cleveland. After almost a century, Jackson needs to step aside — and this time, the bill should feature John Ross, a Cherokee leader and Old Hickory’s opponent in a fight to control Indian land.

華盛頓——1928年，美國財政部(Treasury Department)首次發(fā)行印有安德魯·杰克遜(Andrew Jackson)頭像的面值為20美元的紙幣——原來的是格羅弗·克利夫蘭(Grover Cleveland)。在將近一個世紀之后，杰克遜得讓位了。這次將換成切諾基族領(lǐng)袖約翰·羅斯(John Ross)的頭像，他在一場爭奪印第安土地控制權(quán)的戰(zhàn)爭中與“老核桃樹”(Old Hickory，杰克遜的綽號。——譯注)為敵。

Jackson infamously won that fight, but used methods that stained his country’s honor. Ross lost, but only after resisting for over 20 years. Placing Ross on the $20 bill would bring a measure of symbolic justice to a seminal episode of American history.

杰克遜不光彩地贏了這場戰(zhàn)爭，他使用的手段是美國榮譽的一個污點。羅斯失敗了，但是是在頑強抵抗20年之后。在面值為20美元的紙幣上印刷羅斯的頭像，將象征性地為美國歷史上一個重要事件主持公道。

This is hardly the first proposal to change the $20 bill. Calls to replace Jackson, a slave owner, with an American Indian or an African-American are common; this year a brilliant campaign to put a woman on the $20 bill has gained traction. We should be adding diverse figures to our money. But we should do this without losing sight of the incredible era the $20 bill now represents: America’s formative years between the Revolution and the Civil War.

這遠非第一個改變20美元鈔票頭像的提議。時常有人提出用美洲印第安人和非裔美國人的頭像替換奴隸主杰克遜;今年有人發(fā)起了一場非常妙的活動，要求將20美元紙幣的頭像換成女性，引來不少關(guān)注。但我們這么做時，不應(yīng)該忽略20美元紙幣現(xiàn)在所代表的不可思議的時代：獨立戰(zhàn)爭和內(nèi)戰(zhàn)之間的時間是美國的成形期。

It was an era of nation building, and Jackson was a nation builder. Before running for president, he was a soldier, whose exploits changed the map of the United States. Alabama could not become a state until after he crushed the Creek Nation, which owned most of it. Florida belonged to Spain until after he invaded it.

那是一個締造國家的時代，杰克遜是一名國家締造者。在參加總統(tǒng)競選之前，他是一名戰(zhàn)士，他的開拓行動改變了美國的版圖。在他鎮(zhèn)壓克里克族印第安人之后，亞拉巴馬成為美國的一個州，這里的大部分領(lǐng)土原本由克里克族印第安人控制。佛羅里達州原本屬于西班牙，直到他侵占了這部分領(lǐng)土。

The trouble lies in how Jackson made the country we inherited. His troops massacred Indians. He coerced Native Americans into surrendering land through unjust treaties. In 1830, President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, supporting a policy to push all natives west of the Mississippi. One result was the Trail of Tears in 1838, when 13,000 Cherokees left their homeland in the Appalachians. Another was a war against Florida’s Seminoles, lasting nearly as long as the war in Iraq.

問題在于，在締造我們所繼承的這個國家的過程中，杰克遜使用的手段。他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的軍隊屠殺印第安人。他迫使美洲原住民接受不平等條約，交出領(lǐng)土。 1830年，杰克遜簽署《印第安人遷移法》(Indian Removal Act)，支持將所有原住民遷往密西西比河以西的政策。一個結(jié)果是迫使1.3萬名切諾基族人在1938年走上血淚之路，被迫離開了阿巴拉契亞山的家園。另一個結(jié)果就是導(dǎo)致與佛羅里達州塞米諾爾人開戰(zhàn)，這場戰(zhàn)爭的持續(xù)時間幾乎與伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭一樣長。

The story is even worse than is generally known. Jackson and his friends obtained slices of Cherokee real estate for personal profit, and colonized the land with lucrative cotton plantations worked by slaves.

這個故事實際上比通常聽到的版本還要糟糕。杰克遜和他的朋友將切諾基族人的部分土地占為己有，將它們變?yōu)槊藁ǚN植園謀取利益，并役使奴隸耕種。

What redeems this as an American story is the resistance of John Ross. A Cherokee of mixed race, Ross navigated between cultures in a way that feels familiar today. As a young man he fought in Jackson’s army. Later he became Jackson’s antagonist, rejecting his efforts to capture the Cherokee homeland in north Georgia and surrounding states.

約翰·羅斯的反抗，是對這個美國故事的一種救贖。作為一個混血的切諾基族人，羅斯以一種今人所熟悉的方式在不同的文化間穿越。年輕時期，他曾是杰克遜軍隊的一員。后來，他成為杰克遜的敵人，反抗杰克遜在喬治亞州北部及周邊各州奪取切諾基族人土地的行動。

Determined to adapt to white civilization, Cherokees embraced white styles of clothing and agriculture. Some, including Ross, also took up slavery. (There are few saints in this tale.) The ultimate adaptation came in 1828, when Ross was chosen as principal chief under a new constitution modeled on that of the United States. Ross’s government started a newspaper, publishing exposés of the Cherokees’ white antagonists. He worked with white allies, including women. Cherokees even sued, asking the Supreme Court to recognize their right to govern their land.

切諾基族人決定適應(yīng)白人文明，接受了白人的衣著風格和農(nóng)業(yè)。包括羅斯在內(nèi)的一些人開始采用奴隸制。(這個故事中沒圣人)。1828年，根據(jù)以美國憲法為摹本制定的新憲法，羅斯當選邦部首領(lǐng)，這是對白人文明的全盤接受。羅斯領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的政府開辦了報紙，揭露切諾基族人的白人對手。他與白人聯(lián)盟合作，包括女性。切諾基族人甚至提出控告，要求美國最高法院(Supreme Court)承認他們擁有管治自己土地的權(quán)利。

A ruling in their favor was ignored. But Cherokees were more than mere victims. They enriched our democratic tradition. Ross wanted the Cherokee Nation to become a territory or state within the Union — which it did, in a way, generations later as part of Oklahoma.

一項對他們有利的裁決遭到了無視。但切諾基族人不單單只是受害者。他們豐富了我們的民主傳統(tǒng)。羅斯希望切諾基族成為聯(lián)邦內(nèi)的一個區(qū)域或一個州，幾代人之后，這部分領(lǐng)土確實成為俄克拉何馬州的一部分。

Ross deserves a prominent place on our currency. But that doesn’t mean Jackson should go completely. He should remain on the $20 bill, but on the flip side — because there’s a flip side of the story.

羅斯有資格成為貨幣頭像。但這并不意味著杰克遜應(yīng)該完全消失。他的頭像應(yīng)該留在20美元紙幣上，但應(yīng)該在另一面——因為故事還有另一面。

Jackson, too, enriched our democratic tradition. Orphaned in youth, this son of poor Scots-Irish immigrants started life with almost nothing. His election as president was a landmark: No one from such a modest background had ever risen so high in America.

杰克遜同樣也豐富了我們的民主傳統(tǒng)。他的父母是有蘇格蘭和愛爾蘭血統(tǒng)的貧窮移民，年少時便成了孤兒的他開始時幾乎一無所有。他當選為總統(tǒng)是一座里程碑：在當時的美國，從未有出身如此卑微的人上升到那么高的地位。

He won the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, blocking British invaders with an army of white frontiersmen, black militia troops, Gulf Coast pirates and Indians. Given Jackson’s greed for Indian real estate, it is startling to read an 1817 letter in which he insisted his Cherokee troops receive pay and benefits equal to those of white soldiers.

他贏得了1812年戰(zhàn)爭中的新奧爾良戰(zhàn)役，用一支由白人拓荒者、黑人民兵力量、墨西哥灣沿岸地區(qū)的海盜和印第安人組成的軍隊，攔下了英國入侵者?？紤]到杰克遜對印第安人房產(chǎn)和地產(chǎn)的貪婪，讀到他在1817年的一封信時會讓人感到吃驚。杰克遜在信中堅持要求，自己帶領(lǐng)下的切洛基士兵領(lǐng)取和白人士兵相同的工資和福利。

Given that he bought and sold human beings, it is equally strange that he played a role in slavery’s eventual demise. He prevented the Union from fracturing during his stormy presidency, and his fortitude set an example. Decades later, as Abraham Lincoln strained to save the Union during the Civil War, a portrait of Jackson hung on his wall.

考慮到他曾買賣人口，杰克遜在奴隸制的最終滅亡中所起的作用，也同樣讓人感到奇怪。他在自己沖突不斷的總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)阻止了聯(lián)邦的分裂，并且他的堅韌也樹立了榜樣。幾十年后，當亞伯拉罕·林肯(Abraham Lincoln)在內(nèi)戰(zhàn)期間竭力挽救聯(lián)邦時，他的一面墻上就掛著一幅杰克遜的畫像。

A $20 bill with Ross and Jackson would set a pattern for other bills. Each denomination should feature two different people who together tell a story, illustrating our democratic experience.

在面值20美元的紙幣上同時印上羅斯和杰克遜的頭像，會為其他紙幣樹立典范。各種面額的紙幣都應(yīng)該印上兩個不同的人的頭像，他們一起講述著同一個故事，闡釋著我們的民主經(jīng)歷。

Lincoln could share the $5 bill with Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who prodded him to move faster to end slavery. Ulysses S. Grant could share the $50 bill with Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose antislavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” did as much to start the Civil War as Grant’s armies did to end it.

面值5美元的紙幣上，除了林肯還可以印上弗雷德里克·道格拉斯(Frederick Douglass)的頭像。作為一名逃跑的奴隸，道格拉斯促使林肯加快行動以結(jié)束奴隸制。尤利西斯·S·格蘭特(Ulysses S. Grant)可以和哈麗特·比徹·斯托(Harriet Beecher Stowe)一同出現(xiàn)在面值50美元的紙幣上。斯托的反奴隸制小說《湯姆叔叔的小屋》(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)對發(fā)起內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的意義，與格蘭特領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的軍隊對結(jié)束內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的意義相當。

Pairings can even clear space for new stories. Four of today’s seven bills feature founding fathers. Pair the founders on two bills — Washington and Franklin, Hamilton and Jefferson. (The latter pair clashed viciously over federal versus state power, a conflict that still animates our politics.) Two bills will then be available for more recent figures. Imagine a civil rights-era bill with Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.

配對甚至還能為新故事創(chuàng)造出空間。在當下七種面值的紙幣上，有四種印的是開國先賢。可以讓他們兩兩出現(xiàn)在兩種紙幣上——華盛頓和富蘭克林一起，漢密爾頓和杰斐遜一起。(后面這一對在聯(lián)邦權(quán)力和州權(quán)力的問題上交鋒激烈，這個沖突現(xiàn)在依然讓我們的政壇充滿活力。)這樣，剩下的兩種紙幣就可以印上距今更近的人物頭像了。想象一下，羅莎·帕克斯(Rosa Parks)和塞薩爾·查韋斯(Cesar Chavez)出現(xiàn)在一張反映民權(quán)時代的紙幣上。