Crisis of the House Divided

Why it’s on the list: Jaffa reads the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates as a serious philosophical argument: Douglas’s popular sovereignty against Lincoln’s claim that the Declaration’s equality clause binds majorities. His thesis — the founding text of West Coast Straussianism — is that Lincoln reinterpreted the Declaration and refounded the republic on natural right.

Where I heard about it

• Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, under The American Experiment, a section that runs from the founding documents through Lincoln. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Abraham Lincoln — one of the two debaters, and the book’s subject.
• Founding Fathers — the Declaration whose meaning is being argued over.
• Democracy — popular sovereignty is the doctrine on trial.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.