Harry V. Jaffa

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

“Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is a judgment I share with very few, if any.” So writes Harry V. Jaffa in his epilogue to this volume. Including an extensive unpublished essay entitled “Straussian Geography: A Memoir and Commentary,” Crisis of the Strauss Divided brings together a collection of Jaffa’s published arguments defending and explaining that judgment, written during the 40 years since Strauss’s death. The volume includes arguments of those who have disagreed with Jaffa about Strauss's teaching and about the nature of political philosophy. These wide ranging exchanges explore many of the great themes of political philosophy and, in particular, the implications of Strauss's thinking for America and modern civilization.

Thomism and Aristotelianism: A Study of the Commentary by Thomas Aquinas on the Nicomachean Ethics is a scholarly work by Harry V. Jaffa. The book explores the relationship between the philosophical schools of Thomism and Aristotelianism, with a particular focus on Thomas Aquinas' commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Jaffa examines the key themes and concepts within Aquinas' commentary, including the nature of virtue, the relationship between ethics and politics, and the role of reason in moral decision-making. He also considers the broader philosophical implications of Aquinas' commentary, including its influence on later thinkers and its relevance to contemporary debates in ethics and political theory. This book is an important resource for scholars and students of philosophy, theology, and intellectual history. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

"Crisis of the House Divided" is the standard historiography of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Harry V. Jaffa provides the definitive analysis of the political principles that guided Lincoln from his reentry into politics in 1854 through his Senate campaign against Douglas in 1858. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original publication, Jaffa has provided a new introduction.

In Politics and Progress, author Dennis J. Mahoney describes the emergence of American political science as a separate academic discipline in the era between the Civil War and the First World War, with the pivotal event of the founding of the American Political Science Association in 1903. His book, a testament to the integrity of American political science, chronicles its intellectual and cultural development. According to Mahoney, American political science borrowed its ideas from European, especially German, political science. Subsequently, it was influenced by the notion of scientific progress as exemplified in the writings of American pragmatists and progressivist politics. Mahoney notes that institutionalization in the American academy necessarily required the displacement of earlier approaches to politics, including the tradition of political philosophy and the political science of the American founding. As the discipline grew, it was characterized by its drive toward organization and professionalism, the study of administration (as contrasted with policymaking) and a seemingly ceaseless quest for a distinctive scientifically oriented methodology. These characteristics are maintained in contemporary mainstream political science. Politics and Progress marks an important chapter in American intellectual history and is a vital resource for political scientists researching their roots.

In Politics and Progress, author Dennis J. Mahoney describes the emergence of American political science as a separate academic discipline in the era between the Civil War and the First World War, with the pivotal event of the founding of the American Political Science Association in 1903. His book, a testament to the integrity of American political science, chronicles its intellectual and cultural development. According to Mahoney, American political science borrowed its ideas from European, especially German, political science. Subsequently, it was influenced by the notion of scientific progress as exemplified in the writings of American pragmatists and progressivist politics. Mahoney notes that institutionalization in the American academy necessarily required the displacement of earlier approaches to politics, including the tradition of political philosophy and the political science of the American founding. As the discipline grew, it was characterized by its drive toward organization and professionalism, the study of administration (as contrasted with policymaking) and a seemingly ceaseless quest for a distinctive scientifically oriented methodology. These characteristics are maintained in contemporary mainstream political science. Politics and Progress marks an important chapter in American intellectual history and is a vital resource for political scientists researching their roots.

Written by one of America's foremost political and legal theorists, Storm Over the Constitution examines the arguments of some of the leading proponents of the doctrine of 'original intent.' According to legal scholars such as Judge Robert Bork, Lino Gralia, Charles Cooper, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a jurisprudence of original intent requires that judges bring no theory to the interpretation of the Constitution. In this brilliant new book, Harry Jaffa illustrates how judges under the influence of this definition of 'original' intent particularly neglect the Declaration of Independence as a guide. Jaffa shows that this definition is, from the point of view of the American Founding, anything but original; moreover, it is openly hostile to the natural-rights theory of those who wrote and ratified the Constitution. The author implores Americans to follow the example set by Abraham Lincoln, who admired the Declaration of Independence more openly, interpreted it more deeply, and implemented it more practically than any other president before or since. Lincoln's achievement fulfilled a tradition of civic understanding and scholarship closer in time and purpose to the founders, and was thus more 'original.'