A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (with New Foreword)Rowman & Littlefield, 2018 M09 1 - 620 pages When it originally appeared, A New Birth of Freedom represented a milestone in Lincoln studies, the culmination of over a half a century of study and reflection by one of America's foremost scholars of American politics. Now reissued on the centenary of Jaffa’s birth with a new foreword by the esteemed Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo, this long-awaited sequel to Jaffa’s earlier classic, Crisis of the House Divided, offers a piercing examination of the political thought of Abraham Lincoln and the themes of self-government, equality, and statesmanship on the eve of the Civil War. “Four decades ago, Harry Jaffa offered powerful insights on the Lincoln-Douglas debates in his Crisis of the House Divided. In this long-awaited sequel, he picks up the threads of that earlier study in this stimulating new interpretation of the showdown conflict between slavery and freedom in the election of 1860 and the secession crisis that followed. Every student of Lincoln needs to read and ponder this book.”— James M. McPherson, Princeton University “A masterful synthesis and analysis of the contending political philosophies on the eve of the Civil War. A magisterial work that arrives after a lifetime of scholarship and reflection—and earns our gratitude as well as our respect.”— Kirkus Reviews “The essence of Jaffa's case—meticulously laid out over nearly 500 pages—is that the Constitution is not, as Lincoln put it, a 'free love arrangement' held together by passing fancy. It is an indissoluble compact in which all men consent to be governed by majority, provided their inalienable rights are preserved.”— Bret Stephens; The Wall Street Journal |
From inside the book
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Page xxiv
... denial that the government of the United States, within its constitutionally defined sphere, had ever been the actual government of the people of each state.” Even worse, the seceders read sovereignty as if it were co-terminous with ...
... denial that the government of the United States, within its constitutionally defined sphere, had ever been the actual government of the people of each state.” Even worse, the seceders read sovereignty as if it were co-terminous with ...
Page xxxvii
... denial of any constitutional standing to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Since this denial by Calhoun is shared by virtually all of the legal profession today, including nearly all members of the Supreme Court, I ...
... denial of any constitutional standing to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Since this denial by Calhoun is shared by virtually all of the legal profession today, including nearly all members of the Supreme Court, I ...
Page 19
... deny the legitimacy of the church of which he was the head. It would call into question the apostolic rights of every bishop consecrated under the authority of the Crown since 1534. Even more important, it would call into question the ...
... deny the legitimacy of the church of which he was the head. It would call into question the apostolic rights of every bishop consecrated under the authority of the Crown since 1534. Even more important, it would call into question the ...
Page 23
... deny any authority or legitimacy from the Norman Conquest. What he says about the Normans is intended to preclude any ascription of legitimacy to feudal ideas of property or representation. Above all, he is at pains to deny that any ...
... deny any authority or legitimacy from the Norman Conquest. What he says about the Normans is intended to preclude any ascription of legitimacy to feudal ideas of property or representation. Above all, he is at pains to deny that any ...
Page 25
... denial that it is possible in any case that Jefferson denies it to the king. It is upon his insistence that it is an impossibility in nature that one man can rightfully own another that the entire argument of the Summary View depends ...
... denial that it is possible in any case that Jefferson denies it to the king. It is upon his insistence that it is an impossibility in nature that one man can rightfully own another that the entire argument of the Summary View depends ...
Contents
1 | |
73 | |
Chapter 3 The Divided American Mind on the Eve of Conflict James Buchanan Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens Survey the Crisis | 153 |
Chapter 4 The Mind of Lincolns Inaugural and the Argument and Action of the Debate That Shaped ItI | 237 |
Chapter 5 The Mind of Lincolns Inaugural and the Argument and Action of the Debate That Shaped ItII | 285 |
Chapter 6 July 4 1861 Lincoln Tells Why the Union Must Be Preserved | 357 |
Chapter 7 Slavery Secession and State Rights The Political Teaching of John C Calhoun | 403 |
Appendix The Dividing Line between Federal and Local Authority Popular Sovereignty in the TerritoriesA Commentary | 473 |
Notes | 489 |
Index | 539 |
About the Author | 551 |
Other editions - View all
A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War Harry V. Jaffa Limited preview - 2000 |
A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War Harry V. Jaffa Limited preview - 2004 |
A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War Harry V. Jaffa No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Lincoln according Alexander Stephens American Revolution antislavery appeal argument Aristotle Articles Articles of Confederation assertion authority Becker become believed British Buchanan Calhoun cause citizens civil claim colonies common compact concurrent majority Confederate Congress consent constitutional right constitutionalism created equal crisis Davis debates Declaration of Independence denied despotism divine right doctrine Douglas Douglas’s Dred Scott election electoral ernment fact federal Federalist Federalist Papers Founding freedom fugitive slave Gettysburg Address God’s human idea inaugural individual institutions interest Jaffa Jefferson Jefferson Davis justice laws of nature liberty Madison majority rule man’s means ment mind moral nation natural rights nature’s Negroes opinion party popular sovereignty president principles proposition proslavery question race ratified reason republican right of revolution secede secession Senate slavery social society South Carolina Southern speech Stephens stitution Summary View Taney Taney’s territories theory tion truth tyranny Union United Virginia vote