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