书城外语美国公民读本(彩色英文版+中文翻译阅读)
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第41章 法律是怎样执行的(3)

the United States and faithfully to perform his duties.Then the new president delivers to the great audience an address,explaining how he thinks the government ought to be managed.The procession then escorts the new president to his home in the White House.These ceremonies are called the inauguration of the president.

15.The VicePresident.If the president should die before the four years of his term should be ended,it would leave the federal administration without a head.To have another election so soon would be troublesome and expensive.So the Constitution provides that the electors,at the same time they elect a president,shall also choose another man as vicepresident of the United States.The vicepresident must not live in the same state as the president.His duty is merely to be chairman of the senate.But in case the president dies,or in any other way there should be no president,the vicepresident at once ceases to preside in the senate and performs the duties of president.

16.Four times in our history a president has died in office,and the vicepresident has succeeded to the chief place.In 1841William Henry Harrison became president,General Harrison was an old man who had made a brilliant record as a leader of the American armies in war against the Indians,and in the second war with Great Britain,in 1812.Only one month after the inaugurationGENERAL ULYSSES S.GRANTU .S .G r a n t w a s b o r n in Ohio in 1822.He was educated at West Point,and served several years in the army as lieutenant and captain.In 1854he resigned his commission to engage in business.When the civil war broke out,in 1861,he was made colonel of an Illinois regiment.He soon proved an able commander,winning many victories,and was promoted repeatedly,until in 1864he was made commander of all the armies of the United States.It was to him that General Lee surrendered in 1865.In 1868General Grant was elected president of the United States,and he was reelected in 1872.He died in 1885.A fine monument has been erected to his memory in the City of New York.

President Harrison died.The vicepresident was John Tyler,of Virginia,who thus became president.

17.The second president to die was Zachary Taylor,who also had been a gallant soldier.General Taylor was inaugurated in 1849,and died in 1850.He was succeeded by VicePresident Millard Fillmore,of New York.

18.Abraham Lincoln,of Illinois,became president in March,1861.Almost immediately after his inauguration the republic became involved in a great civil war.Ten states,dissatisfied with the Union,withdrew and formed a new republic of their own.But President Lincoln,supported by the rest of the states,denied the right of any state to leave the Union.Armies were formed on both sides,and,as was said,a terrible war resulteda war which lasted for four years.Before it was ended Mr.Lincoln was elected for a second term,and was inaugurated in March,1865.Within a few weeks the war came to an end by the victory of the national armies.And amid the excitement a fanatical sympathizer with the losing side assassinated the president.The vicepresident was Andrew Johnson,of Tennessee,who then became president.