Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates [Paperback]

Harry V. Jaffa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0226391132 | ISBN-13: 978-0226391137 | Edition: 1

Crisis of the House Divided is 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 Divided has 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

Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 1 edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226391132
• ISBN-13: 978-0226391137
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Vitally important work that's a must-read for policy makers August 1, 2004

By Chuck DeVore

Format:Paperback

Professor Harry V. Jaffa's "Crisis of the House Divided" is an extremely important book. In it, he succeeds in turning back the revisionist historians of the mid-Twentieth Century who sought to devalue Abraham Lincoln's commitment to the proposition that "All men are created equal."

This tide of revisionism took two general forms; partisans for the South who placed the full blame on Mr. Lincoln for sparking the "War of Northern Aggression"; and modern historians, skeptical of any higher motives and virtues in statesmen of the past, who claimed that there were really no substantial policy differences between Mr. Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas. If the latter class of historian could prove that Lincoln didn't really believe in freedom for slaves and that his rhetoric against slavery was irresponsible (knowing how it offended Southern sensibilities) while Douglas' "Popular Sovereignty" policy would have eventually led to the limitation and elimination of slavery, then Lincoln's legacy as President could be shown to be the largely accidental.

Fortunately, Professor Jaffa's work demolishes the corrosive contentions of the revisionists, showing, beyond any doubt, that Mr. Lincoln believed America was founded on the principle of human equality as much as it was founded on the idea of democracy. That democracy and equality were the twin pillars of the American Republic and were in tension was something Mr. Lincoln well understood while Judge Douglas honored only democracy. Hence, Douglas' "Popular Sovereignty" led to the concept that the majority could decide slavery was not only legal, but also moral. In opposition, Mr. Lincoln argued that a majority did not have the right to sanction the enslavement of other men, regardless of their alleged inferiority, because "All men are created equal."

Professor Jaffa shows that Mr. Lincoln built upon the Founders' thoughts in the Declaration of Independence and urged their maturation towards the ideal. Lincoln saw how the Founders invoked passion, hatred and revenge in support of the cause of independence from Britain but how these passions were no longer adequate to the task of preserving the Union from the dangers of mobocracy or dictatorship - dangers made more immediate by the revolutionary birth of America and the tendency of unrestrained democracy to disdainful the rule of law. Instead, Lincoln recommended virtuous reason to lift the United States up, to show the world that it was truly capable of lasting self-governance. Of course, the cornerstone of this reason was the thinking through in the body politic, the practical consequences of the principle, "All men are created equal."

Professor Jaffa's book is a gift to America and the world. Were more people in office aware of the fundamental issues debated by Judge Douglas and Mr. Lincoln in 1858 during their remarkable campaign for the Illinois Senate, and their implications for policies even today, our nation would be stronger and our democracy more secure.

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is Vice President of Communications and a senior fellow for fiscal policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He served in the California State Assemblyman from 2004 to 2010. Before his election, he was an executive in the aerospace industry. He was a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988. He is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army (retired) Reserve. DeVore is the co-author of "China Attacks."

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly relevant decades after publication March 23, 2006

By J. Grattan TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a most profound examination of the thinking of both Sen. Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln concerning all of the issues associated with slavery up to the Civil War. Jaffa wants to set the record straight as far as any number of contentions by well-known historians of his era, known as revisionists. Most importantly, he flatly disputes the notion that the thinking and actions of Douglas (the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854) endorsing popular sovereignty were essentially equivalent to the principled stand of Lincoln based on the equality of all men in their long-term ramifications for slavery. Those revisionist historians contend that Lincoln and the Republicans should have accepted Douglas' solution to the slavery crisis, thus not precipitating the Civil War.

Another claim against Lincoln that Jaffa thoroughly discredits is that Lincoln, in fact, did not hold Negroes as equals, and simply used the issue for personal political gain regardless of the consequences for the Union. But Lincoln understood that politics is the art of the possible. The author makes clear that Lincoln held an intense respect for the principles of the Declaration of Independence, including the rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for all, including Negroes. It was one thing for the Union to be formed with the taint of slavery, but the contention that Southerners came to that slavery was a "positive good" was felt by Lincoln to have the potential to completely undermine the basis of the US. Perhaps it could even be justified to enslave a group of "inferior" whites. Lincoln felt compelled to move the nation back to its core principles without alienating those who did not have the same clarity as to what was at stake.

The book is a challenging read. The issue of permitting slavery in territories became and remained contentious from 1820 on. The arguments for and against slavery in territories are quite subtle involving constitutionality, Congressional acts, territorial legislative bodies, and court decisions. The Dred Scott decision in 1857 disallowing restrictions on taking property (slaves) into territories is examined. Lincoln and the Republicans, rightfully so, were very apprehensive as to the long term ramifications of that decision. It was hardly a stretch to see where free states could become a thing of the past.

The book is only indirectly concerned with the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They are randomly referred to throughout the text, but earlier writings and speeches receive far more attention. Douglas' words concerning the Mexican territories and the Kansas-Nebraska Act are well covered. The author devotes a large segment to examining Lincoln's speech to the Young Men's Lyceum in 1938, where his thinking on major issues had already crystallized. Lincoln's address on temperance receives much attention.

The author is a disciple of Leo Strauss, the natural rights theorist. He does regard Lincoln as a preeminent natural rights thinker. There is some discussion of pre-civil society versus civil society. But the overall import of the book does not turn on acceptance of natural rights in a purist sense.

This book, decades after its publication, cannot be ignored for understanding Lincoln.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars In depth analysis January 24, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Harry Jaffa's definitive work on the most famous debates in American history is necessary reading for anyone interested in Civil War history or, more specifically, the philosophical views that influenced the leading players on both sides leading up to it. The first half of the book is an in depth examination of Douglas's position on popular sovereignty and the spread of slavery. The second (and perhaps more interesting half) is devoted to the origin of Lincoln's ideas in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Jaffa is a combative writer who is not afraid to criticize (sometimes harshly) the writings of prominent historians on this subject. However, though he clearly admires Lincoln's natural rights thinking and rejects Douglas's "might makes right" philosophy, he gives a fair analysis of both men's positions. As far as I know, this work remains the authority on this subject even after more than 4 decades in print.