上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 On the Causes of American Civil War 关于美国内战的原因的探讨 张琪（电院计算机系，大四） Abstract:America Civil War is considered as the most deadly war of American history.There are many causes leading to it.This paper tries to focus on one or two basic point based on a simple hypothesis,that is man are selfish which leads to a selfish party consisting of those man.I will try to analysis how the war is caused by the very human nature of selfishness 摘要：美国内战是美国历史上伤亡最为惨重的战争之一。内战的原因多种多样，本文从 人性自私以及由自私人组成的党也自私的简单假设出发，主要集中讨论一两个基本点。 我将尽力分析人性自私是如何促成美国内战的。 Key Words:America Civil War,cause,the South,the North,slavery,Confederacy,Union, Selfishness 关键词：美国内战，原因，南方，北方，奴隶制，联邦，联盟，自私 As most of us already know.American Civil War (also known as the Civil War)is a war between north the Union and south the Confederacy.In a sense,it's also a war fought between free man and slaves.But I would rather call it a war fought between two groups of people with different interests and an exact same felling of selfishness. Some basic knowledge of the Civil War will help me explain my position.The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the northern free states(the United States or the Union) and several southern slave states(the Confederacy).It costs 8%of all white males'lives aged from 13 to 451(Vinovskis,1990).The total casualties are 1,030,000 which are about 3%of the populations Aside from its shocking death toll,American Civil War is of great significance to the American history."The staggering demands of total war also stimulated industrialization,especially in the heavy industries of iron and coal,machinery and agricultural implements.""The war offered many working opportunities for many women." And from"Gone with the Wind,we can peek at life of the South after the war ended.Harsh as it was for Scarlet,the south economic boomed with the new industrial energy pump. Regarding the long term result,the outcome is good,although it might be considered bad for southern whites.Yet the very causes are many fold.And as to today,there is still no commonly accepted theory on the exact cause of this significant civil war.It has been controversial since the war began.Some put slavery at the center of it,arguing slavery escalated the political tensions between Republicans,who demanded restriction of slavery expansion,and Democrats,most of who wanted to expand slavery making it legitimate in northern free states where slavery was forbidden.Surely,the war is a political issue concerning slavery.But is it all about slavery?I'm afraid others would have to argue. Sectionalism is considered a war cause.At the time,civil war was about to be fought,there at .Howard B.Woods"A panoramic History of American Civilization for Colleges".Peking University Press.2008-06.First Edition.p.164-165
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 1 On the Causes of American Civil War 关于美国内战的原因的探讨 张琪（电院计算机系，大四） Abstract: America Civil War is considered as the most deadly war of American history. There are many causes leading to it. This paper tries to focus on one or two basic point based on a simple hypothesis, that is man are selfish which leads to a selfish party consisting of those man. I will try to analysis how the war is caused by the very human nature of selfishness. 摘要:美国内战是美国历史上伤亡最为惨重的战争之一。内战的原因多种多样，本文从 人性自私以及由自私人组成的党也自私的简单假设出发，主要集中讨论一两个基本点。 我将尽力分析人性自私是如何促成美国内战的。 Key Words: America Civil War, cause, the South, the North, slavery, Confederacy, Union, Selfishness 关键词：美国内战，原因，南方，北方，奴隶制，联邦，联盟，自私 As most of us already know, American Civil War (also known as the Civil War) is a war between north the Union and south the Confederacy. In a sense, it’s also a war fought between free man and slaves. But I would rather call it a war fought between two groups of people with different interests and an exact same felling of selfishness. Some basic knowledge of the Civil War will help me explain my position. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the northern free states(the United States or the Union) and several southern slave states( the Confederacy).It costs 8% of all white males’ lives aged from 13 to 45[1] [2] (Vinovskis, 1990). The total casualties are 1,030,000 which are about 3% of the populations [3] . Aside from its shocking death toll, American Civil War is of great significance to the American history. “The staggering demands of total war also stimulated industrialization, especially in the heavy industries of iron and coal, machinery and agricultural implements.” ” The war offered many working opportunities for many women.” 1 And from “Gone with the Wind”, we can peek at life of the South after the war ended. Harsh as it was for Scarlet, the south economic boomed with the new industrial energy pump. [4] Regarding the long term result, the outcome is good, although it might be considered bad for southern whites. Yet the very causes are many fold. And as to today, there is still no commonly accepted theory on the exact cause of this significant civil war. It has been controversial since the war began. Some put slavery at the center of it, arguing slavery escalated the political tensions between Republicans, who demanded restriction of slavery expansion, and Democrats, most of who wanted to expand slavery making it legitimate in northern free states where slavery was forbidden. Surely, the war is a political issue concerning slavery. But is it all about slavery? I’m afraid others would have to argue. Sectionalism is considered a war cause. At the time, civil war was about to be fought, there at 1 .Howard B. Woods “A panoramic History of American Civilization for Colleges”. Peking University Press.2008-06.First Edition.p.164-165
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 America existed two distinct economy,the plantation agricultural economy of south heavily based on slaves and the industrialized northern economy with free employees as its primary workforce."On one hand slavery declined in the border cities could barely survive in cities and industrial areas,while on the other hand,as the demand for cotton grew,the price for slave soared"2.Also as Professor Howard.B.Woods argued"In the profoundest sense, economic differences between the industrializing north and the agricultural South constituted significant causes for the conflict between the North and the South.In the North,urban development continued until one out of every seven Americans lived in cities of 8,000 populations or more by 1860""On the other hand the South grew to be known as the Cotton Kingdom,where the widespread belief that capital invested in land and slaves yielded more income than any other type of investment did much to prevent the development of a diversified economy"3.These are all great points and none can dispute about its correctness. But I want to go further beyond the political aspect or sectionalism to the very nature of mankind.And explore how selfishness has led to war between the North and the South. I would like to take a hypothesis,deduction and conclusion method,that is we make a general hypothesis and deduct based on it to get the conclusion.My hypothesis is man is selfish.Although this is a controversial hypothesis and people would have thousands of facts to argue with me that man are not,I appreciate their position and would gently ask those who could not accept this hypothesis to stop reading and throw away my paper in case of further offending. As Professor Dacher Keltner puts it"Humans are selfish.It's so easy to say. Likewise for so many assertions that readily follow.Greed is good.Altruism is an illusion. Cooperation for suckers.Competition is natural,war inevitable.The bad in human nature is stronger than the good.Let's put aside its correctness and accept it as a basic hypothesis that humans are selfish.In the following deduction,I will refer the selfishness of mankind as a fact, and we shall have no problem about it. At the very bottom of the Civil War is disagreement between two groups of different interests.The South wanted its plantation agricultural economy to expand and endure through time,while the North developed industrial economy and demanded restriction of slavery expansion.Aided and flared by the human selfishness,this unsolvable interest confliction ultimately led to war between the North and South. Politically,single human selfishness constituted party selfishness.A party is formed by people;no matter he is a Democrat or a Republican;He is selfish.And a bunch of selfishness forms a larger sense of selfishness that is party selfishness.Democratic Party or Republican Party whatever they say about its nature or founding principles they be selfish as their constituents is selfish.A selfish party is a magnified image of a selfish person.Its behavior resembles him,the selfish person.A party also represents a group of people with similar belief on the surface,similar interests at the bottom.Their selfishness compels them to procure and preserve their interests.It is by this unique motivation that party forms.Democrat party is formed this way,so is Republic party.When it comes to 1860,tensions between Republic and Democrat were sky high.Why so?The Republic was a representative of the northern people 2 Wikipedia.American Civial War.Sectionalism 3 Howard B.Woods"A panoramic History of American Civilization for Colleges".Peking University Press-06.First Edition.p.156. Dacher Keltner,University of California,Berkeley,"The Evolution of Compassion" 2
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 2 America existed two distinct economy, the plantation agricultural economy of south heavily based on slaves and the industrialized northern economy with free employees as its primary workforce. “On one hand slavery declined in the border cities could barely survive in cities and industrial areas, while on the other hand, as the demand for cotton grew, the price for slave soared” 2 . Also as Professor Howard.B.Woods argued” In the profoundest sense, economic differences between the industrializing north and the agricultural South constituted significant causes for the conflict between the North and the South. In the North, urban development continued until one out of every seven Americans lived in cities of 8,000 populations or more by 1860”.” On the other hand the South grew to be known as the Cotton Kingdom, where the widespread belief that capital invested in land and slaves yielded more income than any other type of investment did much to prevent the development of a diversified economy” 3 . These are all great points and none can dispute about its correctness. But I want to go further beyond the political aspect or sectionalism to the very nature of mankind. And explore how selfishness has led to war between the North and the South. I would like to take a hypothesis, deduction and conclusion method, that is we make a general hypothesis and deduct based on it to get the conclusion. My hypothesis is man is selfish. Although this is a controversial hypothesis and people would have thousands of facts to argue with me that man are not, I appreciate their position and would gently ask those who could not accept this hypothesis to stop reading and throw away my paper in case of further offending. As Professor Dacher Keltner puts it” Humans are selfish. It’s so easy to say. Likewise for so many assertions that readily follow. Greed is good. Altruism is an illusion. Cooperation for suckers. Competition is natural, war inevitable. The bad in human nature is stronger than the good.” 4 Let’s put aside its correctness and accept it as a basic hypothesis that humans are selfish. In the following deduction, I will refer the selfishness of mankind as a fact, and we shall have no problem about it. At the very bottom of the Civil War is disagreement between two groups of different interests. The South wanted its plantation agricultural economy to expand and endure through time, while the North developed industrial economy and demanded restriction of slavery expansion. Aided and flared by the human selfishness, this unsolvable interest confliction ultimately led to war between the North and South. Politically, single human selfishness constituted party selfishness. A party is formed by people; no matter he is a Democrat or a Republican; He is selfish. And a bunch of selfishness forms a larger sense of selfishness that is party selfishness. Democratic Party or Republican Party whatever they say about its nature or founding principles they be selfish as their constituents is selfish. A selfish party is a magnified image of a selfish person. Its behavior resembles him, the selfish person. A party also represents a group of people with similar belief on the surface, similar interests at the bottom. Their selfishness compels them to procure and preserve their interests. It is by this unique motivation that party forms. Democrat party is formed this way, so is Republic party. When it comes to 1860, tensions between Republic and Democrat were sky high. Why so? The Republic was a representative of the northern people 2 Wikipedia.American Civial War. Sectionalism 3 Howard B. Woods “A panoramic History of American Civilization for Colleges”. Peking University Press.2008-06.First Edition.p.156. 4 Dacher Keltner, University of California,Berkeley,”The Evolution of Compassion
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 who demanded restriction of slavery to secure their industrial economy or even abolishment of slavery to further pump the industrial economy.The Democrat was a representative of the southern whites who wanted to expand slavery to develop their plantation economy or at least wanted to maintain slavery to preserve their plantation economy.Furthermore,the Republic wanted more free man to pump the industrial economy because by doing this their interests was better acquired.And Republic as a party formed by man was selfish enough to ignore the southern whites.On the other hand,the Democrat wanted more slaves to plant their plantation because by doing this their interests was better suited,more wealth could be achieved.And Democrat also as a party formed by man was equally selfish enough to ignore the North.Thus by the difference in interests and with the spur of selfishness tensions between the North,Republicans,and the South,most Democrats,flared and made their significant contributions to Civil War. Now let's ponder on the sectionalism.Sectionalism refers to the different economies, social structure,customs and political values of the North and South.Political values are discussed above,so let's look at the remaining respects.Economy differences between the North and the South widened savagely s]before the war.Each economy,accompanied with different social structure and customs,wanted a better future for themselves or one that was not worse compared to the current situation.The North was selfish and thought industrial economy was the right one.The South was also selfish but thought,on the opposite, plantation economy was the right one.Both thought the other was wrong,and their own economy would get them more profit.And right here is where selfishness comes to play.The selfish South and the selfish North all wanted to content their selfishness by expanding their own economy and making more wealth or at least preserving the current one.When the two economies confronted,war began,as a puppet pulled by selfishness. At last,let's assume man was not selfish,and see what would happen instead of war. Despite of the wide difference between North and South.now situation had changed.People had learnt to relate to each other,and so had the party formed by those people.No political tension would have built.The North would respect southern white man,while the South would return the same respect.As with slavery,if there was no selfishness,slave holders would know from their heart that slavery is selfish.And there wouldn't even exist slavery at the first place To sum up,American Civil War is a war caused by human selfishness.Reasons, regardless of its political nature or economic nature.ultimately come down to its human nature.And that nature is human selfishness. Bibliographical References: [1].Maris Vinovskis "Toward a social history of the American Civil War:exploratory essays".Cambridge University Press.1990.p.7.ISBN 978-0-521-39559-5. [2].Richard Wightman Fox(2008)."National Life Afier Death".Slate.com. [3].Nofi,Al(June 13,2001)."Statistics on the War's Costs".Louisiana State University. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11.Retrieved 2007-10-14 [4].Mitchell,Margaret "Gone with the wind"Conroy,Pat Scribner Book Company.2011-05 3
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 3 who demanded restriction of slavery to secure their industrial economy or even abolishment of slavery to further pump the industrial economy. The Democrat was a representative of the southern whites who wanted to expand slavery to develop their plantation economy or at least wanted to maintain slavery to preserve their plantation economy. Furthermore, the Republic wanted more free man to pump the industrial economy because by doing this their interests was better acquired. And Republic as a party formed by man was selfish enough to ignore the southern whites. On the other hand, the Democrat wanted more slaves to plant their plantation because by doing this their interests was better suited, more wealth could be achieved. And Democrat also as a party formed by man was equally selfish enough to ignore the North. Thus by the difference in interests and with the spur of selfishness tensions between the North, Republicans, and the South, most Democrats, flared and made their significant contributions to Civil War. Now let’s ponder on the sectionalism. Sectionalism refers to the different economies, social structure, customs and political values of the North and South. Political values are discussed above, so let’s look at the remaining respects. Economy differences between the North and the South widened savagely [5] before the war. Each economy, accompanied with different social structure and customs, wanted a better future for themselves or one that was not worse compared to the current situation. The North was selfish and thought industrial economy was the right one. The South was also selfish but thought, on the opposite, plantation economy was the right one. Both thought the other was wrong, and their own economy would get them more profit. And right here is where selfishness comes to play. The selfish South and the selfish North all wanted to content their selfishness by expanding their own economy and making more wealth or at least preserving the current one. When the two economies confronted, war began, as a puppet pulled by selfishness. At last, let’s assume man was not selfish, and see what would happen instead of war. Despite of the wide difference between North and South, now situation had changed. People had learnt to relate to each other, and so had the party formed by those people. No political tension would have built. The North would respect southern white man, while the South would return the same respect. As with slavery, if there was no selfishness, slave holders would know from their heart that slavery is selfish. And there wouldn’t even exist slavery at the first place. To sum up, American Civil War is a war caused by human selfishness. Reasons, regardless of its political nature or economic nature, ultimately come down to its human nature. And that nature is human selfishness. Bibliographical References: [1]. Maris Vinovskis “Toward a social history of the American Civil War:exploratory essays”.Cambridge University Press. 1990 .p.7.ISBN 978-0-521-39559-5. [2]. Richard Wightman Fox(2008).”National Life After Death”.Slate.com. [3]. Nofi, Al(June 13,2001).”Statistics on the War’s Costs”.Louisiana State University. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11.Retrieved 2007-10-14. [4]. Mitchell, Margaret “Gone with the wind” Conroy, Pat Scribner Book Company.2011-05
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 [5].Carter,Susan B.,ed,"The Historical Statistics of the United States:Milennial Edition(5 v0ls”,2006. 4
上海交通大学通识核心课程“历史视野下的美国文化”结业论文 4 [5]. Carter, Susan B., ed, “The Historical Statistics of the United States:Milennial Edition(5 vols)”,2006
