Crisis of the House Divided by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Jaffa studies the 1858 Senate campaign between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas and argues that it was a contest over the meaning of American democracy. Douglas's popular sovereignty held that the people of a territory may vote slavery up or down, treating the question as one of indifference. Lincoln insisted that slavery is a moral wrong and that the Declaration's statement that all men are created equal is the nation's governing principle.

Jaffa contends that Lincoln was the true heir of the founders, and that to reduce the republic to majority will, as Douglas did, loses sight of the natural rights that justify majorities in the first place. The book draws on Aristotle and on Locke to make that case.

Why it matters

The book is a keystone of the West Coast Straussian school and fuels the argument over whether the American founding rests on universal principles. It has caused long controversy among conservatives, some of whom favor a more historical and constitutional reading of the founding.

About the author

Harry V. Jaffa (1918-2015) was a student of Leo Strauss who taught for many years at Claremont Men's College and Claremont Graduate School in California. He is associated with the West Coast Straussians, who emphasize the American founding as an expression of natural right. He also wrote A New Birth of Freedom, a later study of Lincoln.

Who should read it

Readers of Lincoln, the Declaration and the philosophical basis of American politics.