THE LINCOLN PERSUASION by J.David Greenstone ( 9780691037646 )

Item Details

Title:

THE LINCOLN PERSUASION
REMAKING OF AMERICAN LIBERALISM

By:

Format:

Paperback

List price:	£13.95
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ISBN 10:

0691037647

ISBN 13:

9780691037646

Publisher:

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

14 August, 1994

Series:

Princeton Studies in American Politics

Pages:

352

Description:

This analysis of American liberalism describes Abraham Lincoln's contribution to the political fabric of the USA. It traces the existence of two fundamentally different liberal ideologies during the Civil War, and describes how Lincoln synthesized the factions into a new political outlook.

Synopsis:

In his last work, J. David Greenstone provides an important new analysis of American liberalism and of Lincoln's unique contribution to the nation's political life. Greenstone addresses Louis Hartz's well-known claim that a tradition of liberal consensus has characterized American political life from the time of the founders. Although he acknowledges the force of Hartz's thesis, Greenstone nevertheless finds it inadequate for explaining prominent instances of American political discord, most notably the Civil War. Greenstone argues instead for the existence of a fundamental bipolarity in American liberalism between what he calls "humanist liberalism" and "reform liberalism." The two traditions, equally liberal, share beliefs in three fundamental liberal tenets - individual rights, private property, and government by consent - but they differ sharply on other, still liberal, beliefs. Humanist liberals, such as Thomas Jefferson and the Jacksonians, emphasized the satisfying of individual preferences; by contrast, reform liberals concentrated on fostering individual human development. Greenstone traces the development of this bipolarity from the political thought of the founding generation through that of the Jacksonians and finally to Lincoln. In the antebellum years, the manifest inability of either political tradition alone to resolve the growing dispute over slavery led Lincoln to the development of a new political outlook that was a synthesis of the two liberal traditions. Greenstone suggests that this synthesis, the Lincoln "persuasion, " amounted to a new founding of the nation.

Publication:

Imprint:

Princeton University Press

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

RACE AND AUTHORITY IN URBAN POLITICS (HB)

RACE AND AUTHORITY IN URBAN POLITICS (PB)

THE LINCOLN PERSUASION (HB)

THE LINCOLN PERSUASION (PB)