Summary of Our Ancient Faith by Allen C. Guelzo: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment

By SUMMARY GP

DISCLAIMER
 
This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Our Ancient Faith by Allen C. Guelzo: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment

IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET:

• Chapter astute outline of the main contents.
• Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.
• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book

Allen C. Guelzo's book, Our Ancient Faith, explores Abraham Lincoln's vision of democracy, which guided him through the Civil War and remains relevant today. Guelzo argues that Lincoln's commitment to the balance between majority and minority rule allowed him to stand firm against secession and commit the Union to reconciliation. He also assesses Lincoln's actions on civil liberties and views on race, highlighting his vision for the role of government that would have made him a pivotal president even without the Civil War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Feb 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9783755468493

Book preview

Summary of Our Ancient Faith

A

Summary of Kristin Hannah’s Novel

Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment

GP SUMMARY

Summary of Our Ancient Faith by Allen C. Guelzo: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment

By GP SUMMARY© 2024, GP SUMMARY.

All rights reserved.

Author: GP SUMMARY

Contact: [e-mail]

Cover, illustration: GP SUMMARY

Editing, proofreading: GP SUMMARY

Other collaborators: GP SUMMARY

NOTE TO READERS

This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Allen C. Guelzo’s Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment designed to enrich your reading experience.

DISCLAIMER

The contents of the summary are not intended to replace the original book. It is meant as a supplement to enhance the reader's understanding. The contents within can neither be stored electronically, transferred, nor kept in a database. Neither part nor full can the document be copied, scanned, faxed, or retained without the approval from the publisher or creator.

Limit of Liability

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. You agree to accept all risks of using the information presented inside this book.

Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.

Note

The author's life has been a rollercoaster of public agonies, from the Vietnam War to the current economic and political turmoil. They have been a lover of democracy, but have seen it stifled by arrogance and those who seek its richest benefits. However, they find consolation in the example of one American who lived a different life and gave democracy a new lease on life. The author offers this man's example to those despised of the future or whose lives have been ruined by the current failures. They take up Lincoln's principles with the hope that once again, democracy may have a new birth of freedom. The author has written several pieces on Lincoln's life, including Lincoln's Statesmanship in Navigating a Divided Nation, Lincolnomics: The Economic Mind and Policies of Abraham Lincoln, and What If Abraham Lincoln Had Lived? They also drew on this material for lectures on Lincoln and democracy at the New-York Historical Society.

Introduction

The Disposition of Democracy

Democracy has been criticized for being the worst form of government, and it has been repeatedly tried and failed, with recent failures being most pronounced after 1991. The United States of America, the longest-functioning large-scale democracy in the world, is the longest and most still-functioning democracy. Its founding documents, the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and the federal Constitution of 1787, articulate many of the fundamental principles of a democracy: the natural equality of all humanity, a national government of explicitly limited powers, and a separation of even those powers within the national government. However, the United States is not a pure democracy, as its size and the impracticality of the face-to-face democracy of ancient Athens have made it difficult to implement. The American founders were also concerned that democracy had not always behaved well or wisely, as the Athenian assembly made heroes of scoundrels and martyrs of freethinkers. The number of people living in genuinely democratic states has fallen by more than half since 2003, and the countervailing forces of state control of media, curbs on political assembly, judicial corruption, and bureaucratic metastasis make a mockery of the word.

The American Constitution of 1787 laid significant restrictions on the democratic nature of the American republic. The republic would be a federal republic, a union, and an association of quasi-sovereign states, with the president elected by the states through the Electoral College. The national legislature would be elected by direct vote every two years, and the federal judiciary was appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The American Revolution's aftermath did not change this