{"product_id":"frederick-douglass-race-and-the-rebirth-of-american-liberalism-paperback-softback-9780700636112","title":"Frederick Douglass; Race and the Rebirth of American Liberalism (Paperback \/ softback) 9780700636112","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eFrederick Douglass\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eRace and the Rebirth of American Liberalism\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003ePeter C. Myers (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780700636112\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 30 September 2023\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e280 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.272 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A first-rate exposition of Douglas’s political philosophy, and a testament to his personal strength, character, and abiding faith in America.\"—\u003ci\u003ePolitical Science Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Taken all in all, Myers’s volume is the best contribution to understanding Douglass in a generation.\"—\u003ci\u003eClaremont Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Myers’s book is an incisive and comprehensive examination of the political thought of the greatest of all black abolitionists. But it is more than that. As a fervent defense of Douglass’s ‘natural rights liberalism’ it makes a significant contribution to current debates on the meaning of liberty and equality.\"—George M. Fredrickson, author of \u003ci\u003eRacism: A Short History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A beautiful, thoughtful, deeply felt volume that not only gives us the greatness of Douglass as he was in his time, but his continuing relevance in ours.\"—Michael P. Zuckert, author of \u003ci\u003eLaunching Liberalism: On Lockean Political Philosophy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A splendidly persuasive new interpretation.\"—Wilson J. Moses, author of \u003ci\u003eCreative Conflict in African American Thought\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eFor Frederick Douglass, the iconic nineteenth-century slave and abolitionist, the foundations for his arguments in support of racial equality rested on natural rights and natural law-and the bold proclamation of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. But because many Americans never observed this principle—and in Douglass’s day even renounced it—he made it his life’s work to move the nation toward this vision of a more noble liberalism. Peter Myers now considers that effort and the natural rights arguments by which Douglass confronted race in America.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMyers examines the philosophic core of Douglass’s political thought, offering a greater understanding of its depth and coherence. He depicts Douglass as the leading thinker to apply the Founders’ doctrine of natural rights to the plight of African Americans—an activist who grounded his arguments on the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the inherent injustice not only of slavery but of any form of racial superiority.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMyers first reconsiders Douglass’s descriptive analysis of slavery, developing his arguments for its natural wrongness and for its natural weakness in conjunction with the right of resistance. He then examines Douglass’s understandings of civil government in general and of the U.S. constitutional order in particular, exploring his argument on the Constitution’s relation to slavery and his thoughts on the powers and duties of the federal and state governments in the matter of postslavery race relations—including new insight into Douglass’s controversial “do nothing” doctrine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMyers argues that Douglass’s political thought at its core is both more coherent and more defensible in substance than his critics acknowledge. He maintains that Douglass was right in finding the natural rights principles of the Declaration a sufficient theoretical basis for addressing the nation’s racial problems and contends that his hopefulness for the demise of slavery and white supremacy was marked by moderation and realism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMyers finds in Douglass’s political thought the foundations of a revitalized argument for the mainstream civil rights, integrationist tradition of African American political thought. His analysis offers a new way of looking at an important thinker, as well as a compelling case for hoping that race relations in America will improve over time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePreface and Acknowledgments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1. “\u003cbr\u003eKilled All the Day Long”\u003cbr\u003e: The True Philosophy of Slavery\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2. The Moral Government of the Universe: Natural Rights, Natural Law, and the Natural Demise of Slavery\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3. “\u003cbr\u003eThe Pound of Flesh, but Not One Drop of Blood”\u003cbr\u003e: The Constitution against Slavery\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4. “\u003cbr\u003eLet Us Alone”\u003cbr\u003e: Race and the Constitution of Liberty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e5. The Waves and the Sea: Race, America, and Humanity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConclusion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndex\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","brand":"University Press of Kansas","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52620047057176,"sku":"9780700636112","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/frederick-douglass-race-and-the-rebirth-of-american-liberalism-paperback-softback-9780700636112","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}