American Soul: Contested Legacy of Declaration of Independence

Description

The Declaration of Independence has been the subject of competing interpretations since its adoption by the Continental Congress on the Fourth of July 1776, and for nearly two and a half centuries the political ideas expressed in its preamble have inspired reform movements both at home and abroad. From the early debates on the nature of the American Republic to abolitionism, progressivism, the civil rights movement, and contemporary debates about American economic and foreign policy, the Declaration is, as it has been, a vibrant and dynamic, though perennially disputed, source of American ideals. American Soul Contents Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction Part I: The Declaration and the American Founding 1 The Declaration of Independence 2 Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence 3 Letters to Abigail 4 A Short Review of the Declaration 5 The American Mind 6 Popular Sovereignty 7 Keeping the Revolution 8 The American and French Revolutions 9 American Principles 10 Fifty Years Later 11 The Lives and Characters of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Part II: The Declaration in a House Divided 12 Petition for Freedom 13 The Constitution and Slavery 14 Republican Consistency! 15 Amistad Argument 16 The Cause of the Present Crisis 17 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? 18 Party Platform 19 The Dred Scott Decision 20 Debate on the Dred Scott Decision 21 The Chief Cornerstone 22 Gettysburg Address 23 Reconstructing America Part III: The Declaration in the Modern World 24 Seneca Falls Declaration 25 Declaration of the Rights of Women 26 The Inevitability of Women’s Suffrage 27 What is Progress? 28 Speech on the Fourth of July 29 Commonwealth Club Address 30 Speech at the Bicentennial of the Constitution 31 The Sanctity of Human Life 32 America’s Work in the World 33 A More Perfect Union Notes Index About the Author