The American Civil War was a war lasting from 1861 to 1865 between the Northern states and the Southern states of the United States of America. The main issue contributing to the outbreak of war was states' fights: whether or not individual state governments had the right to make their own decisions about their own matters. The South feared that the U.S. government would take too much control over state governments, listening to the more powerful Northern states and then forcing changes that would be harmful to the Southern states' economies and freedoms. They were afraid of this control because it reminded them of the British king's rule, which they had escaped 100 years ago. When Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865), who was very anti-states' rights, was elected president in late 1860 by an election that was swung by Northern states' votes, the Southern states all left the Union and formed a new government called the Confederate States of America. The North tried to force the South to join the Union again, declaring war on the Southern states. After the war began, Lincoln made slavery one of the turning points of the fight. There were many slaves in the United States, both in the North and the South, but the citizens of the Southern states greatly depended on slaves to work on their large plantations, which were the basis of the South's economy. Over the next four years, much of the South's economy, cities and countryside were destroyed, until finally the South surrendered to the North. Since the war, however, the same basic question of states' rights has continued to trouble American society.

美國南北戰(zhàn)爭是在1861年到1865年之間，發(fā)生在美國北方聯(lián)邦政府與南部同盟政府之間長達四年之久的內戰(zhàn)。美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭后，南方和北方逐漸形成完全不同的社會政治經濟制度。南方以種植園為其主要經濟形式，而種植園中的主要勞動力是種植園主的黑人奴隸;北方的主要經濟形式則是大工業(yè)生產，工廠中的主要勞動力是自由勞工。到19世紀60年代，南北兩方經濟利益的沖突集中表現(xiàn)在究竟是把自由勞工制還是蓄奴制引入美國擴張中的西部領土上去。1860年亞伯拉罕·林肯當選總統(tǒng)，在許多南方的白人農場主看來，這是一個長期的和不可挽回的政治失敗，這個失敗將導致南方蓄奴制度的瓦解和社會動亂。1861年，南部11州紛紛脫離聯(lián)邦政府，并宣布成立“南部聯(lián)盟”，另立政府。1861年4月12日，南方軍隊向聯(lián)邦設在南卡羅來納州的薩姆特要塞開火，美國內戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)。1865年4月9日，南軍部隊陷入北方軍隊的重圍之中，被迫投降，美國內戰(zhàn)終止，美國恢復統(tǒng)一。北方在戰(zhàn)爭中的勝利確立了大資產階級在全國的統(tǒng)治地位。內戰(zhàn)取消了奴隸制，加速了美國經濟的發(fā)展。