A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (with New Foreword)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
Results 1-5 of 46
Page xviii
... postal officers, and federal marshals, sheriffs, and judges to positions across the South where they would destabilize the South's “peculiar institution.” Rather than wait for the inevitable, South Carolina (followed by xviii Foreword.
... postal officers, and federal marshals, sheriffs, and judges to positions across the South where they would destabilize the South's “peculiar institution.” Rather than wait for the inevitable, South Carolina (followed by xviii Foreword.
Page xix
... South Carolina (followed by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Texas) called a state convention and announced its secession from the Union, and the creation of a rival republic, the Confederate States of America. They ...
... South Carolina (followed by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Texas) called a state convention and announced its secession from the Union, and the creation of a rival republic, the Confederate States of America. They ...
Page 34
... South Carolina in 1832 as supplying the precedents justifying its Ordinance of Nullification. We will also observe their similar role 34 Chapter One.
... South Carolina in 1832 as supplying the precedents justifying its Ordinance of Nullification. We will also observe their similar role 34 Chapter One.
Page 38
... South Carolina and her spokesmen in the debates surrounding nullification and secession from circa 1831 to 1861. Madison's language in the key Virginia resolution closely resembles Jefferson's above. That this assembly doth explicitly ...
... South Carolina and her spokesmen in the debates surrounding nullification and secession from circa 1831 to 1861. Madison's language in the key Virginia resolution closely resembles Jefferson's above. That this assembly doth explicitly ...
Page 40
... South Carolina nullifiers and especially the use made by these nullifiers of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. In the same essay, Madison shows how ever present the compact theory of government was to Americans of the Revolutionary ...
... South Carolina nullifiers and especially the use made by these nullifiers of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. In the same essay, Madison shows how ever present the compact theory of government was to Americans of the Revolutionary ...
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