The importance was that it said, "We are on the side of Emancipation."
解放宣言的重要性就在于它宣称 我们是支持解放奴隶的
It said, "The Union is an anti-slavery Union."
上面写道 这是一个反对奴隶的联邦
Before the Emancipation Proclamation, the war was about Union,
在奴隶宣言发表之前 这场南北战争仅仅是为了建立一个联邦国家
and Lincoln said if I can restore the Union without freeing a single slave, I'll do it.
林肯自己也说 如果我不需要解放一个奴隶就能重振美联邦 我肯定会这么做
But he couldn't do it and the Emancipation Proclamation became the symbolic turning point of the war.
但事实是他做不到 而奴隶解放宣言 成为了战争中具有象征意义的转折点
It committed the whole war effort now, whether those generals and colonels wanted to or not, to Nending slavery as an aim of the war.
这表明这场南北战争将竭尽全力 无论那些将军们 和少校们是否愿意 都将以结束奴隶制度为战争的一个目标
Four million slaves, the labour system of the South, that is a radical move, because once you do that there's really no going back.
四百万的奴隶是美国南部的整个劳动力体系 那是破釜沉舟的一步 因为一旦你那么做了那就真的没有退路了
If you start rounding up thousands of slaves to free them and give them some kind of new status,
如果你将成千上万的奴隶集合在一起 解放他们 然后给予他们新的身份
you surely cannot send them back to anything resembling slavery.
你当然不能再把他们送回去做任何类似于奴隶的事情
The modern reputation of Abraham Lincoln rests above all on his status as the Great Emancipator.
在当代 林肯之所以声望显著 乃由于其解放者之身份
It's the story that the Lincoln industry and the academic establishment stand behind,
这是所有对林肯的专门研究 以及整个学术界所支持的观点
and it's what all Americans are taught at school.
美国的学校也是这么教授美国人的
Abraham Lincoln is one of the best presidents this country has ever had because of what he did for the slaves.
亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国历史上最伟大的总统之一 因为他解放了美国南部的奴隶
He thought it was wrong and no person should own and other person.
他认为奴隶的存在是错误的 一个人并不能拥有另一个人
He'd just abolished slavery and all the wrongdoings of our country.
他结束了奴隶制 也中止了我们国家所犯下的种种罪恶