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Even though he produced eloquent denunciations of slavery,
尽管他口若悬河地对奴隶制进行了谴责，
and he saw himself as a progressive on the question,
尽管他自认为在这个问题上自己是进步人士，
he has been faulted for not working as hard for the freedom of African Americans as he did for that of white colonists.
他还是受到了指责，理由是他没有像为白人殖民者那样努力地为非裔美国人的自由奔波。
He also questioned the equal intellectual capacity of black people,
他还对黑人与白人智力平等这一理念提出了质疑，
and he never really contemplated the equality of women on terms satisfactory to us today.
也从未真正考虑过达到令当今时代的我们感到满意的水平的女性平等。
Even acknowledging all of that,
尽管存在上述种种不足，
we cannot ignore the transformative and bold words Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:
我们还是不能对杰斐逊在《独立宣言》中写下的那句大胆的变革之语视而不见：
that it is “self-evident” that “all men are created equal.”
“不言而喻”，“人人生而平等”。
Many people, enslaved and free, black and white, believed those words;
无论是奴隶之身还是自由之身，无论是黑人还是白人，他们中间都有很多人对这句话深信不疑；
believed they expressed their long-held intuitions and condemned the wrongness of the oppression they suffered.
他们认为，这些字眼道出了他们一直以来的直觉，是对他们遭受的错误的压迫的声讨。
They were moved to act.
因为感动，他们不再沉默。
In the American Revolution, enslaved African Americans (and some free black people)
美国独立战争爆发后，被奴役的非裔美国人(还有一些自由的黑人)
joined the fighting on both sides, to vindicate their equal humanity.
纷纷加入南方和北方两大阵营的战斗，试图维护他们的平等人权。
When they had the chance, they filed freedom suits
机会一来临，他们便为自由提起了诉讼，
arguing that the words proclaiming the equality of mankind made their enslavement illegal and unjust.
他们声称，宣扬人类平等的言论推翻了他们的奴隶身份的合法性和公正性。
Many African-American agitators—from Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King Jr.—
许多鼓动民众反抗的非裔活动家——从弗雷德里克·道格拉斯到马丁·路德·金——
have pointed to the Declaration as a promise of equal citizenship.
都将这一宣言奉为了公民身份平等的承诺书。
Indeed, many groups—women, immigrants, members of the LGBTQ community—
事实上，许多群体——女性、移民、LGBTQ人群——
have looked to the document to justify their claims to an equal place in American society.
也将这一文件奉为自己应该在美国社会中争取平等地位的正当理由。
With his stubborn support for the French Revolution, his calls to separate church and state,
由于他坚定支持法国大革命，呼吁政教分离，
and his desire to expand the voting franchise among white men,
还希望扩大白人男性的投票权，
Jefferson gained a reputation as a dangerous radical who would turn society over to a mob.
杰斐逊还多了个危险的，会将大家变成暴民的激进分子的外号。
His claims of equality frightened many in America.
他提出的有关平等的主张吓坏了许多美国人。
In the months before he died in 1826,
1826年去世前的几个月，
Jefferson reaffirmed the ideas expressed in the Declaration,
杰斐逊重申了宣言中的思想，
whose meaning had long transcended its original purpose—
而这一宣言的意义早已超越了其原始初衷——
announcing the break with Britain and the colonies’ determination to form a new nation.
宣布与母国英国决裂，宣布殖民地决意组建新的国家。
In a letter to Roger Weightman,
在写给罗杰·韦特曼的信中，
declining an invitation to participate in a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence because he was ill,
杰斐逊以生病为由拒绝了参加独立宣言50周年庆祝活动的邀请，
Jefferson insisted that “all eyes are open, or opening, to the rights of man.”
杰斐逊坚称，“面对人权问题，所有人的眼睛都是睁开着或正在睁开的。”
He also said he believed that the universal language of the Declaration would one day apply “to the world.”
他还说，他相信，有朝一日，“宣言”里的“通用语言”之花终将开遍“全世界”。
Equality was the wave of the future.
因为平等是未来大势所趋。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
