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In 1840, John Tyler's political career seemed to be over.
1840年，约翰·泰勒的政治生涯似乎结束了。
After his resignation in 1836, he had broken with Andrew Jackson's Democratic party, which had caused him to gravitate to their opponents the Whigs.
1836年辞职后，他与安德鲁·杰克逊的民主党决裂，这使他被民主党的对手辉格党所吸引。
But Tyler didn't like much of the Whig platform either, which was dominated by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky.
但是泰勒也不太喜欢辉格党的纲领，辉格党由肯塔基州参议员亨利·克莱主导。
Clay considered one of the 19th century's most brilliant politicians was the champion of centralization, having been an architect of the Second Bank of the United States.
克莱被认为是19世纪最杰出的政治家之一，他是中央集权的拥护者，曾是美国第二银行的缔造者。
And when Andrew Jackson successfully killed it in 1836, Clay vowed that he would start another one.
当安德鲁·杰克逊在1836年成功地将其扼杀时，克莱发誓要再建立一个党羽。
1840 was the great chance for the Whigs to seize power and make Clay's dreams a reality.
1840年是辉格党夺取政权并使克莱的梦想成为现实的大好机会。
The country had been gripped by an economic depression since 1837 and many blamed Democratic President Martin Van Buren and his party's fiscal policy for it.
自1837年以来，美国一直处于经济萧条中，许多人指责民主党总统马丁·范布伦及其政党的财政政策。
At the party's nomination convention in Harrisburg, the Whigs eventually settled on General William Henry Harrison as their candidate for president.
在哈里斯堡举行的辉格党提名大会上，辉格党最终选定威廉·亨利·哈里森将军为总统候选人。
But who would be his running mate?
但谁会成为他的竞选伙伴呢?
Nobody seemed to want the job of being vice president and it isn't hard to see why.
似乎没有人想要副总统的职位，原因也不难理解。
It was considered a political dead end.
人们认为这是政治僵局。
In those days, VPs had little to do besides preside over the Senate and they only voted in that body when there was a tie to break.
在那些日子里，副总统除了主持参议院之外没有什么事可做，只有需要打破平局时才会在参议院投票。
And it wasn't seen as a natural stepping stone for the presidency either between 1800 and 1968.
在1800年到1968年之间，副总统并不被视为总统职位的天然垫脚石。
Only one man who had previously served as vice president had been elected president in his own right.
只有一位曾经担任过副总统的人凭借自己的实力当选总统。
After several verbal candidates turned them down, the Whigs turned to Tyler who accepted and the ticket was complete.
在几位候选人口头拒绝副总统职位后，辉格党人求助于泰勒，泰勒接受了他们的邀请，候选人名单也就完整了。
The Whigs won big in the 1840 election, backs of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.
辉格党在1840年的选举中大获全胜，他们还支持蒂珀卡诺和泰勒。
A popular campaign slogan that referred to General Harrison's famous victory in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
这是一个热门的竞选口号，指的是哈里森将军1811年在蒂珀卡诺战役中取得的著名胜利。
Not only did they win the White House, but they swept majorities in both houses of Congress as well.
他们不仅赢得了白宫的选票，而且在国会两院也获得了多数席位。
Henry Clay believed he had a mandate from the American people to enact his legislative agenda.
亨利·克莱相信他得到了美国人民的授权来制定立法议程。
And nothing appeared to stand in his way.
似乎没有什么能阻挡他。
But they was about to change the course of American history.
但美国历史的进程即将改变。
On the 4th of April, 1841, only a month after being sworn in his vice president, John Tyler woke up to a knock on his door in the middle of the night.
1841年4月4日，约翰·泰勒宣誓就任副总统仅一个月后，在半夜被敲门声惊醒。
The news he received was grave, President Harrison was dead at the victim of pneumonia.
他得到了一个沉重的消息，哈里森总统因肺炎去世。
He was needed in Washington immediately.
美国政府急需他的帮助。
This was the first time that the constitutional line of succession needed to be used and it immediately provoked confusion.
这是第一次需要使用宪法的继承顺序，立即引起了混乱。
No one was sure if John Tyler assumed the office of president upon the death of William Henry Harrison, or if he remained vice president and merely assumed the duties of president until a new one could be elected.
没人知道约翰·泰勒是在威廉·亨利·哈里森去世后接任总统一职，还是继续担任副总统，只是在新总统选出之前履行总统的职责。
Constitutional confusion was averted when Tyler himself decided that he was now the president.
当泰勒决定现在担任总统时，宪法混乱得以避免。
He took the oath of office the next day, and for the rest of his life, he would return all mail that addressed him as Vice President Tyler or acting President Tyler unopened.
第二天，他宣誓就职，在他的余生里，他将所有称呼他为副总统泰勒或代理总统泰勒的邮件原封不动地收回。
This set a precedence in the seven subsequent cases where a president died and off as the vice president has taken over after taking the oath of office.
这在之后的7次总统宣誓就职，由副总统接任总统职务后去世的情况中，开创了先例。
The line of succession was eventually clarified with ratification of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in 1967.
随着1967年宪法第25修正案的批准，继承顺序最终明确下来。
Still, it wasn't all smooth sailing for John Tyler for the rest of his term.
尽管如此，在约翰·泰勒余下的任期中，并非一帆风顺。
His opponents derided him as his accidency because of the way that it assumed the office.
他的对手因他上任的方式嘲笑他的当选是一次意外。
