Morality and Realpolitik:The Ideas of American Upper Class in the North on the Blacks and Slavery Before the Civil War  

作　　者：Gao Yue 高岳(Northeast Normal University,Changchun,Jilin Province,P.R.China)

机构地区：[1]Northeast Normal University,Changchun,Jilin Province,P.R.China

出　　处：《World History Studies》2022年第2期35-55,共21页世界史研究（英文版）

摘　　要：The condemnations of black slavery were not common before the mid-18th century,and they were mostly based on Christian egalitarianism.Around the American Revolution,with the spread of the theory of natural rights,many social elites believed that slavery deprived blacks of their natural rights and violated the principle of equality in a democratic republic.Anti-slavery gradually became the mainstream public opinion.However,since slaves were private property of many politicians,the abolition of slavery would act against the interests of white elites,and the ideology of racial confrontation between blacks and whites provided an identity to the white community.Therefore,slavery was reserved from the founding period.In the mid-19th century,various social reforms arose.Humanitarianism was deeply rooted in elites'minds,and the idea that blacks have the general attributes of human beings is gradually accepted by educated white people.The sense of dignity of work in the North constituted a different value from the South and became another theoretical basis for public voice to criticize slavery.However,for the sake of party unity and the national interest,the abolition were not put into practice until the Civil War broke out.By the middle of the 19th century,although the public opinion of anti-slavery was formed in the North,the upper class elites held the position of realpolitik while balancing the morality of abolition and the economic and political interests.

关 键 词：BLACKS SLAVERY Upper Class in the North Natural Right HUMANITARIANISM 

分 类 号：K712[历史地理—历史学]