本文主要讲的是对于美国南北战争的范文。文中从美国南北战争背景略论解释并进一步阐述导致这场战争的内战原因。而文章也从经济、政治、文化和道义上进行阐述，并得出此次战争造成的作用在内战已经塑造了目前美国的景观的各个方面，从而反过来塑造世界，英语论文，直接或间接地，当考虑到美国的国家在世界上的主导地位。
Introduction
Today, I would like to talk about the American civil war, the period of history that I am most interested in. Towards a history issue, it is no wonder that we need to know the cause of the issue, the procedure of it and the effect of it. What is more, I am going to talk about the interesting part that I pay attention to during the daily study.
Background
First of all, let us talk about the background of the American civil war. In the mid-19th century, while the United States was experiencing a period of tremendous growth, there was a significant economic difference between the country’s northern and southern regions. In the north, manufacturing and industry was well established, and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms. However, as in the south, the economy there was based on a system of big farming that really depends on the black slavery. The farming there is of a great variety, especially cotton and tobacco. After the 1830s, the growth of the abolitionist sentiment in the North and the northern opposition to slavery’s extension into the new western territories resulted in many people in the south to fear that the slavery existed in America. Therefore, the backbone of their economy was in danger. In the year of 1854, the U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which significantly opened all new territories to slavery by putting forward the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional edict. Pro- and anti-slavery forces struggled violently in “Bleeding Kansas”. However, the anti- to the act in the North led to the formation of the Republican Party, a new political entity was based on the principle of opposing slavery’s extension into the western territories. In November 1860, Lincoln’s election was the final straw, and within three months, seven southern states including South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas–had seceded from the United States.
Procedure
What is more, we are going to learn more about the procedure of the American civil war. In the spring of 1861, the tensions between the northern and southern United States over issues including states’ rights versus federal authority, the westward expansion and the slavery exploded into the American Civil War. The election of the anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 had the result that seven southern states to secede from the Union, leading in forming the Confederate States of America. What is more, four more other countries joined them after the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Four years of brutal small wars were marked by historic battles at Bull Run (Manassas), Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, among others. The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, pitted neighbor against neighbor and in some cases, brother against brother. Therefore, in 1865, it ended in Confederate. The surrender the Civil War was said to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, and even millions more injured and the population and territory of the South devastated. Even when Lincoln took power in March 1861, the Confederate forces threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Sumter’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, attacked after less than two days of bombardment, leaving the fort in the hands of Confederate forces under Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Border slave some states in America such as Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland did not secede, but there was much Confederate sympathy among their citizens. Though on the surface the Civil War may have seemed a conflict, with the 23 states of the Union enjoying an enormous advantage in population, manufacturing (including arms production) and railroad construction, as for the Confederates, it had a strong military tradition, along with some of the best soldiers and commanders in the nation. They also led them to believe that preserving their long-held traditions and institutions, chief among these being slavery.
Analysis: the causes and effects of the Civil War
As what has been mentioned previously, the causes of the civil war lie in three differences between the south and the north. Firstly, economically, while the south was mainly occupied with big farming and were in need of cheap labors, the north, especially New England Area, had established modern industry which was characterized by machines and raw material, which were in need of free labors. Thus, politically, the South necessitated slavery, while the north wanted to free the slaves. Culturally or morally, the south took slavery for granted, whereas the north condemned it. What’s more, the southern plantations were separated by farmers, as a result, farmers in the south want more freedom from the control of the central government. However, people in the north wanted a central government to coordinate the establishment of infrastructures to facilitate to industrial production. Thus, they were more likely to support the intervention of the central government and its control.
Thus, standing on the point of view of modern people, the south seemed to be barbarous culturally and economically.
However, the ending of the Civil War changed the political, economic, cultural and moral landscape of the United States around the nation step by step.
Firstly, economically, the south and the north has different economic strengths on the own areas, the ending of the Civil Way strengthened both parts’ economic links, and the combination of strengths of both parts in turn facilitated the increase of national gross production, theoretically. Before the civil war, the south had plenty of raw materials, such as cotton and tobacco and exported them to foreign countries such as France and the Great Britain, since they refused to use machines to process their raw material, which in turn necessitated the continuation of slavery. In addition, the public infrastructure in the south was poor, it is said the one of the reasons why the south was defeated was that they had little public roads and no telegraphs. However, what was lack in the south was plenty in the north. For instance, they had established industry characterized by massive production and the building of infrastructure had initiated, since in the Civil War the north had developed much longer rail road than before, and, President Lincoln used telegraph to command during the war, which contributed to the triumph of the north.
Due to the ending of the Civil War and the Reestablishment of the nation, the south was able the take advantage of the north. For instance, the south were able to take advantage of technique for building infrastructure to build their rail road telegraph, which facilitated the mobility of population, goods and information. And the cost of production caused by poor transportation previously would be cut sharply. For another instance, the south can sale their raw material to the north, which would make it possible to free themselves from the dependence on foreign countries economically and cut the cost induced by international trade attritions. As far as the north was concerned, the industry of the north would have bigger market in the south. As a result, marginal costs in both part’s industry would be massively deduced and the national gross production would be increased. All in all, economically, both parts of the nation achieve a double-win game in the ending of the war.
Politically, the ending of the civil war and the combination of economy made slavery impossible. Before the Civil War, constitutionally the slavery was confirmed by the American Constitution of 1787. However, the congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution on January 31, 1865, abolishing slavery. According to this Amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (Amendments to the Constitution, Amendment 13th) This Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865.
What’s more, the complementary economic feature of both parts of the nation had uprooted the possibility of slavery in the south. For instance, when the south had more infrastructures, labors used in transportation would be reduced. In addition, when the south was largely influenced by the northerner’s machines, they would be motivated to take advantage of machines rather than slaves. As a result, labors needed in hard-word production in the south would be by and large reduced, which facilitated the emancipation.
In addition, the combination of economy in the nation made it possible for the United State to alleviate their dependence on other countries, politically and economically. As we all know, political dependence is one the result of economic dependence. However, once both parts were combined economically, their dependence of economy on other countries would decrease. For instance, just as what has been mentioned above, before the civil war, the south economy was driven by the import of France and The Great Britain. However, once the northern cotton was processed by the north, and the northern import of raw materials from other countries alleviated, the economy in the whole nation would be more self-sufficient. The economic self-sufficiency has great impact on the American people in the following history. After the Civil War, the American people won a peaceful environment for the development of economy. One of the reasons is that, while European economy was disrupted by off-and-on wars in the First World War, American economy did not depend on the import or export from the Europe, and the American people did not involve in the European wars. This is also one of the reasons why American dominated the world economy and politics nowadays: the American people had a tradition of economy self-sufficiency and political independence since the ending of the Civil War.
Culturally and morally, the ending of the Civil War had aroused people’s awareness of the evil of slavery, especially those of the southerners. Since the American War of Independence, the Black people played important role in the growth of the American land. As we all know, in the War of Independence, the American army consisted of people of both color, black and white. The reason is that, no one is naturally a slave and everyone loves freedom. In the Civil War, the black people still played significant role in both part’s army. In both wars, black people shown that they had the same reason and sentiment with the white people and were in need of liberty and equal concern.
Nowadays, liberty and equality has been imprinted in the mind of American people. For instance, according to John Rawls, people are regarded as free and equal persons, because of the fact that every individual has the minimal features as a personthe capacity for a sense of justice and the capacity of a conception of the good. And the idea that people are morally equal has been rooted in the public culture of the America. Rawls says, “ We surveyed three respects in which persons are regarded as free, and have noted that in the public political culture of a constitutional democratic regime citizens conceive of themselves as free the this ways” (Justice As Fairness, 34,John Rawls)
Thus, slavery, which is rooted in the racial discrimination, is no longer a controversial issue in the American culture, but rather intuitively wrong. Rawls says, “For example, we are confident that religious intolerance and racial discrimination are unjust” (A Theory of Justice, 19, John Rawls)
In order not to exaggerate the effect of the Civil War, it is important to note that the equality of black people is not resulted solely from the ending of the Civil War, since the 13th Amendment was only making the discrimination against the black people unconstitutional. However, the discrimination against the black people continued in the workplace and some other public places. It is until the Civil Right Movement of middle twenty century, leading by Martin Ruther King, that the discrimination of the African-American people has been wiped out. “During the year-long Montgomery bus boycott…….King urged perseverance. ‘This is not a war between the white and the Negro,’ he said, ‘but a conflict between justice and injustice.’” (A People and A Nation, 876)
To sum up, the Civil War had shaped the landscape of the current United States in all aspects, and thus in turn shaping the world, directly or indirectly, when the taking into account of the dominant position of United State in the world.
Works Cited
John Rawls, Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press (1993):34
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press（1971）:19
Mary Beth Norton, A People and A Nation. Cengage Learning: 876网站原创范文除特殊说明外一切图文作品权归所有；未经官方授权谢绝任何用途转载或刊发于媒体。，英语论文题目，
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