Overview

When Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office, seven slave states had preemptively seceded rather than recognize the legitimacy of his election. His immediate purpose was to argue against the legitimacy of a powerful minority forcibly partitioning the United States because it was dissatisfied with the results of a free, constitutionally conducted election. His wider purpose was to make the case that a deliberate, constitutionally checked majority, though by no means infallible, was the appropriate ultimate authority not only on routine political questions but even on the kind of difficult, deeply divisive questions--like the future of slavery--that could otherwise trigger violent contests. Sovereign of a Free People examines Lincoln's defense of majority rule, his understanding of its capabilities and limitations, and his hope that slavery could be peacefully and gradually extinguished through the action of a committed national majority. James Read argues that Lincoln offered an innovative account of the interplay between majorities and minorities in the context of crosscutting issues and shifting public opinion. Read offers the first book focused on Lincoln's understanding of majority rule. He also highlights the similarities and differences between the threats to American democracy in Lincoln's time and in our own.

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9798874639495

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James H. Read is professor of political science at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University of Minnesota. His books include Majority Rule versus Consensus: The Political Thought of John C. Calhoun and Sovereign of a Free People: Lincoln, Slavery, and Majority Rule. Joshua Saxon is passionate about literature and working with authors, publishers, and artists to help them deliver their story utilizing his voice. Storyteller of over sixty novels and short story collections, the combination of his passion for words and dialects gives him a unique ability to bridge the gap between the prose on the page and the ear of the listener.

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