Crisis of the House Divided

by Jaffa, Harry V.

• ISBN13: 9780226391137
• ISBN10: 0226391132
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Crisis of the House Dividedis the standard historiography of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Harry Jaffa provides the definitive analysis of the political principles that guided Lincoln from his re-entry into politics in 1854 through his Senate campaign against Douglas in 1858. "Crisis of the House Dividedhas shaped the thought of a generation of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War scholars."Mark E. Needly, Jr.,Civil War History "An important book about one of the great episodes in the history of the sectional controversy. It breaks new ground and opens a new view of Lincoln's significance as a political thinker."T. Harry Williams,Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences "A searching and provocative analysis of the issues confronted and the ideas expounded in the great debates. . . . A book which displays such learning and insight that it cannot fail to excite the admiration even of scholars who disagree with its major arguments and conclusions."D. E. Fehrenbacher,American Historical Review

Author Biography

Harry V. Jaffa is the Henry Salvatori Research Professor of Political Philosophy emeritus, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont Graduate School, and Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introductory

1958: The Crisis in Historical Judgment

1958: Lincoln versus Douglas The Alternatives

The Case for Douglas

Slavery

Manifest Destiny

The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

The Legal Power and Practical Impotence of Federal Prohibitions of Slavery in the Territories

The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

Did the Compromise of 1850 "Supersede" the Missouri Compromise?

The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

What Douglas Intended on January 4, 1854

The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

Tragedy The Extremes Crush the Mean

The Political Philosophy of a Young Whig

The Teaching Concerning Political Salvation

The Teaching Concerning Political Moderation

The Case for Lincoln

The Legal Tendency toward Slavery Expansion

The Political Tendency toward Slavery Expansion

The Intrinsic Evil of the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

The Universal Meaning of the Declaration of Independence

The Form and Substance of Political Freedom in the Modern World

Popular Sovereignty: True and False

The Meaning of Equality: Abstract and Practical

The "Natural Limits" of Slavery Expansion

Did the Republicans Abandon Lincoln's Principles after the Election of 1860?

The End of Manifest Destiny

Notes

Appendices

Some of the Historical Background to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Some Notes on the Dred Scott Decision

Index

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