A New Birth of Freedom

Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (with New Foreword)

Harry V. Jaffa, Ryan Williams

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781538114339
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

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

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The Election of 1800 and the Election of 1860
• Chapter 2 The Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the Historians
• Chapter 3 The Divided American Mind on the Eve of Conflict: James Buchanan, Jefferson Davis, and Alexander Stephens Survey the Crisis
• Chapter 4 The Mind of Lincoln’s Inaugural and the Argument and Action of the Debate That Shaped It—I
• Chapter 5 The Mind of Lincoln’s Inaugural and the Argument and Action of the Debate That Shaped It—II
• Chapter 6 July 4, 1861: Lincoln Tells Why the Union Must Be Preserved
• Chapter 7 Slavery, Secession, and State Rights: The Political Teaching of John C. Calhoun
• Appendix “The Dividing Line between Federal and Local Authority: Popular Sovereignty in the Territories”—A Commentary
• Notes
• About the Author