内战前美国南部蓄奴势力的发展及其对外战略

The Development and Foreign Strategy of Slave-holding Power in the American South before the Civil War

美国内战前,南部蓄奴势力始终借助大英帝国或联邦政府的权力来维护和扩张奴隶制。从殖民地时期到19世纪初,北美殖民地在英国的统治下大力发展蓄奴经济,扩张奴隶制。随着英国开始限制和破坏殖民地的奴隶制,美国南部转向寻求蓄奴州的自主权,奴隶主们利用宪法条款论证奴隶制的合法性。从19世纪初到19世纪30年代,南部蓄奴州被各种废奴力量围困,尤其是英国的废奴运动和海地革命。为应对这一局面,南部奴隶主积极寻求联邦政府的支持,限制自由领土的扩张。从19世纪30年代到内战前,南部奴隶主精英领导人在联邦政府中拥有巨大影响力。他们为扩张奴隶制,借助联邦权力大力发展海军,吞并德克萨斯,与墨西哥开战。但是林肯当选总统,打破了南部奴隶主精英对美国政治的控制权。前南部同盟各州选择脱离联邦,目的是要建立一个贯通西半球的奴隶制国际体系。

Pre-Civil War,the slaveholding South always relied on the power of the British Empire or the federal government to maintain and expand slavery.From the colonial period to the early 19th century,the North American colonies vigorously developed the slave economy and expanded slavery under British rule.As Britain began to restrict and destroy slavery in the colonies,the southern United States turned to seek the autonomy of slave states.Slaveholders used constitutional provisions to demonstrate the legitimacy of slavery.During the first three decades of the 19th century,the southern slave states were besieged by various abolitionist forces,notably the British abolitionist movement and the Haitian Revolution.In reply,Southern slaveholders actively sought the support of the federal government to limit the expansion of free territories.From the 1830s until the Civil War,elite Southern slave-owning leaders had enormous influence on the federal government.In order to expand slavery,they used federal power to vigorously develop the navy,annexed Texas,and went to war with Mexico.But Lincoln’s election as president broke the control of the Southern slave owning elite over American politics.The former Confederate states chose to secede in order to create an international system of slavery across the Western Hemisphere.