Friday, July 11, 2025

Beauty for Truth's Sake by Stratford Caldecott

A fellow teacher recommended Beauty for Truth's Sake by Stratford Caldecott, stating that it had a great impact upon her. Since I greatly respect her, I figured her recommendation was as good a reason as any to buy it and read it. 

I had to read it twice. 

It's very dense. Even the title, Beauty for Truth's Sake, is enigmatic. What does that even mean? Even after reading the book twice, I'm still not sure that I can explain it. 

Caldecott is making the case for re-enchanting education. He believes we went wrong when we separated Faith and Reason. 

He begins with a discussion of the trivium, grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy, which together compose the seven liberal arts. As understood by the ancients, it was the study of these things that would lead a student to the ultimate good, which was the study of God. In this world, faith and reason worked together to free the student up for that most good, true, and beautiful. "The assumption of this system of education was that by learning to understand the harmonies of the cosmos, our minds would be raised toward God, in whom we could find the unity from which all these harmonies derive: Dante's 'love that moves the sun and the other stars.'" (53) But western civilization long ago lost the connection between faith and reason and so God and the study of theology became worthless pursuits. 

By losing sight of the purpose of education according to Plato, we have lost sight of our very humanity. Plato describes the power of learning on the soul: "the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming to that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good." (22) Knowledge, then, is its own end. It is be valued because it leads us to beauty. And truth resides in beauty. John Newman states, "I have said that all branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself as being the acts and work of the Creator." (29) True beauty is the harmony found in the universe. To miss or denigrate beauty is to lose both truth and goodness as well. And all beauty is found in acknowledging the Creator.

Caldecott then discusses the poetic imagination and our need to awaken it. This means understanding how the medievals saw at the world. Theirs was a cosmos infused with divine symbolism. "Everything that exists, in whatever mode, having its principle in the Divine Intellect, translates or represents that principle in its own manner according to its own order of existence; and thus, from one order to another, all things are linked and correspond with each other so that they join together in a universal and total harmony which is like a reflection of the Divine Unity itself." (48) It was this elimination of the symbolic and poetic understanding that caused the great divorce between science and religion and art from science.

The author then goes onto discuss how the ancients imbued that first of the quadrivium, arithmetic and numbers, with symbolism. He starts with mathematics and shows how numbers pointed the mind of man to God. It begins with 1 - the ultimate symbol of unity that exists in God, himself. Then 2, which clearly delineates the symbiosis of the Father and the Son. But it is 3 that completes the picture of the Trinity and the love that flows between Father and Son. Caldecott spends quite a bit of time on more number symbolism, including the "golden ratio," and the ways the medieval world used number theory to point the people to the truth of God. 

From arithmetic, he moves to the next topic of the quadrivium, geometry. Specifically he shows how circles and other geometric shapes point to the unity of the Trinity. Not only do circles and triangles capture the beauty of the godhead, but proportion as well. Caldecott states, "A single relationship unites the Father to Christ, Christ to his disciples. Christ is the proportional mean between God and the saints." (81) He even relates pi, and its unending string of numbers, to the infinite love of God for his creation. If the Holy Spirit is the circle connecting the two points of Father and Son, then his measure is πd, an infinite number times the distance between Father and Son. We reside in the middle of that circle!

Next in the quadrivium is music and to this Caldecott turns. According to the ancients, the universe is singing! And "to understand the universe is to appreciate its music, the harmonies between its parts, the rhythm of if movement, and the proportion of its elements." (94) This music becomes physically manifest in architecture as well. Unfortunately, we have lost sight of the verticality seen in medieval architecture, with its intentional pointing to God. We have focused on the horizontal, that is man to man and to his environment. Even the tallest skyscrapers are simply horizontal buildings stacked upon each other. He calls for an architecture based on verticality, permanence, and iconography. Not only buildings, but the natural world is singing. "The animals, plants, and minerals, the stars and elements, were universally thought to 'praise' their maker, either simply by their very existence, or when called upon to do so by man (who gives them a voice they do not possess in themselves)." (107)

This universal singing leads naturally to astronomy, the fourth branch of the quadrivium. C.S. Lewis brilliantly reminds us that "The music which is too familiar to be heard enfolds us day and night in all ages." (110) We live in an enchanted creation and we miss it because it is all too familiar. Unfortunately early astronomers missed the mark in their insistence on an earth-centered system, and so lost some credibility. The problem was that the astronomers so believed in the mythical symbolism of creation that they worked backward from that presupposition. Rather than let the actual data guide them and then discover the beauty, they tried to impose their own vision of the beautiful, distorting what God had actually designed. In attempting to "save appearance" they created increasingly complicated descriptions of what was actually a beautiful system: the sun at the center (light) and the elliptical orbits of planets which contain two centers, just as we orbit our lives around the visible and the invisible God. Much beauty exists in the truth of the created order. The ancient astronomers lacked the faith to wait for that beauty to be revealed. 

The final subject of astronomy should lead most naturally to the study of God, but in our secular and disenchanted world, we have become buffered selves, disengaged from the world. "Without those ties, without that embeddedness, nature was drained of grace, and our connection to the transcendent God became less a matter of imagination or intellect or feeling than of sheer willpower." (124) To re-enchant the universe, we must return to revelation and worship. If we define "liturgy" as "a formal ritual enacted by those who understand themselves to be participating in an action with the divine..." (Wikipedia), then liturgy may be our salvation.

Can we see liturgy itself, then, as the "lost key" to humane education that we have been searching for in this book; that is, to the reintegration of all things, all subjects, in a vision of sacred order? Would a renewed appreciation of liturgy help to anchor theories about number and symbolism and quality more profoundly in real life, enabling us to introduce some much needed harmony into our own souls too? (126)

Caldecott reminds us that all societies are religious societies and all contain a creation story, a doctrine of the end times, and a liturgy or set of rituals to organize time and space. Ours has moved away from true religion to a secular and God-denying counterfeit religion. We must therefore start with remembering. We were created by God and that knowledge should evoke in us gratitude. That gratitude should turn into worship. This, then, should engender an appreciation of the seven liberal arts as a way to give ontological depth to our universe and point to a harmony that harmonizes our souls with the soul of the Creator. Modernity rejects this vertical dimension and so leads to a fragmented and dissipated self. It is the very definition of hell. The man whose soul seeks to harmonize itself with its creator flies on wings of both reason and faith, all bound up in love. Reason will lead to faith as beauty is revealed and faith will naturally engage in reason to reveal more beauty. It is, as Dante tells us, love that moves it all. 

Saturday, June 7, 2025

The Good Teacher by Christopher Perrin and Carrie Eben

The book, The Good Teacher by Christopher Perrin and Carrie Eben appeared on my radar, and I decided to give it a try. I knew it contained all the familiar tropes common to Classical Education: festina lente, multum non multa, etc., and as such, I expected to learn very little new material. I guess I hoped it would validate and reinforce what I was already doing. In a way, I suppose that was true, however, not before it absolutely kicked me in my teacher behind.

Let's begin with this summary of each principle given in the back of the book. After each, I will offer an evaluation of myself based on how I am doing on that particular principle.

The Goal of All Education:

Wisdom and Virtue

By employing the following principles, teachers will naturally cultivate virtue and wisdom in the lives of their students.

1. Festina Lente, Make Haste Slowly

It is better to master each step rather than to rush through content; the quickest way forward is to ensure that you take the time needed for mastery. To make haste slowly is to set a pace that is fitting for the time that is available and that ensures students master what you teach them.

Right away, the very definition of the principle had me crying for mercy. It's true that I try to cram as much in as possible. I DEFINITELY don't "take time for mastery." Ouch. The authors claim, "To 'go forward' without mastering the skill... is to go backward and do great harm" (p. 21). So yeah... They add, "Festina lent allows the time needed for students to love something well" (p. 30). I completely failed the assessment given at the end. 

Action Steps:

  • Focus on mastery, not "covering material."
  • Ask students to repeat major lesson principles several times throughout the lesson.
  • Leave room for student questions and unforeseen learning curveballs.
  • Resist being flustered or rushed by all I feel I have to accomplish in a day or week.
  • Do not give into pressure to finish the curriculum.
  • Privilege the students' needs over the curriculum
  • Cut down on the activities and objectives per lesson, focussing on one idea or skill.

2. Multum Non Multa, Much Not Many

It is better to master a few things than to cursorily cover much content that will be forgotten; it is better to study fewer things but study them well; it is better to deeply understand a single book than to superficially read several books that will not be loved nor remembered; it is better to study deeply the truly best things available than to divide attention and comprehension among several good things.

Once again, the very definition got me. Since this one is similar to the last, of course I was going to be brought face-to-face with my failure! This one can be described with the words "savor, linger, attend, and ponder" (p. 36). They remind me that I must "be selective and only teach what is necessary for the student to learn well" (p. 36). They emphatically state that doing too much simply CANNOT be done! "If we overwhelm the students with too much of a good thing, we will do mare harm than good and even ruin their taste for something beautiful" (p.37). Double ouch! 

Action Steps:

  • Only include one objective, "truth," or logos per lesson.
  • Teach a few things deeply rather than cover a multitude.
  • Make clear to students that mastery of a skill or idea increases the joy or love of learning for this particular concept.
  • Remember that love and mastery leads to further learning. Frustration and "covering" do not.
  • Resist becoming impatient or intimidated with the depth of conversation or time on a particular idea or skill.
  • Do NOT feel overwhelmed by what needs to be covered. 

3. Repetition Mater Memoriae, Repetition is the Mother of Memory

Revisiting and reviewing are not rote learning but rather deepening love, affection, and understanding of something true, good, and beautiful. It is like kissing the photo of a beloved person. Important skill, ideas, facts, persons, stories, and books should be revisited in regular and fresh ways that deepen understanding, retention, and delight.

The authors make an interesting claim concerning repetition. I find it boring and unnecessary, while they state that ideas the students love will be a joy to review. In addition, "educators helps stop the leaks by repeating things worth remembering" (p. 60). Like the last two, in my haste to "get through" the material, I definitely neglect repetition and review. 

Action Steps:

  • Regularly review and repeat information through having students summarize and explain what we have covered.
  • Consider games, songs, and chants to help review.
  • Resist the fallacy of too much knowledge which assumes the students "get it" without first ensuring that they, in fact, do "get it."

4. Songs, Chants, and Jingles

We sing when we love, and we remember what we love and sing. Children (up to about age twelve) enjoy singing and chanting ideas and facts that they have come to know and treasure. Regular singing and chanting delight students, employing their bodies, voices, sight, and hearing; deepening learning; and making it permanent.

The authors make clear that this is mostly a lower grade principle, but it definitely has application even to the oldest students. And I agree. I do this, in a sense in the daily Catechism. It's a daily chant of the most important information. And since it's done daily, it incorporates the need for repetition! But I could stand to include songs a bit more. 

Action Steps:

  • Offer patriotic songs in the place of the prayer each day after the Catechism. 
  • Do not let my own lack of singing ability thwart my attempts to inculcate song in our day. 

5. Wonder and Curiosity

Wonder is an astonishing encounter with reality that sparks love and study. Curiosity is a disposition that seeks to explore, investigate, and learn. Sometimes a spirit of curiosity leads a student to an encounter of wonder; sometimes an encounter of wonder further cultivates a spirit of curiosity.

When a student has been captivated by something true, good, and beautiful, the most engaged form of learning begins because the student has become enchanted with an earnest desire to know and becomes his own teacher—he becomes an intellectually honest person. This wonder is modeled by teachers; students are inspired and imitate their teachers.

The authors remind us that "when our palpable ignorance is combined with a longing to know, we are ready to be educated--we have become a student" (p. 99). Each lessons needs to start with something to spark the wonder and curiosity of the students. This could include a question or at least an objective for the day so the student can begin to wonder at the answer. The teacher, however, should not be too quick to answer her own question: "The good teacher will neither tell students what they are to see nor explain matters before the students even raise question. She will work to place wonders before them; they will gaze, awaken, and wonder. They they will ask questions with anticipation and even hunger" (p. 101). At the same time, the teacher must resolve the questions with knowledge. Land the plane. 

Action Steps:

  • Avoid a hurried or over-planned lesson which leaves no time for wonder. 
  • Begin each lesson with an objective and/or a question to spark wonder and a recognition of a gap in knowledge. Ask myself, "How can I engage students' wonder before the lesson?"

6. Scholé and Contemplation

We long for a place, without distraction and noise, to study and contemplate with our friends. Scholé provides the atmosphere, the set-apart, sacred space and time that enable students to see together. Wonder certainly stimulates contemplation, but scholé provides the conditions for it to continue and spread

Once again, I recognize myself when the authors claim that many teachers "are often busy, distracted, and anxious--doing good things while neglecting what is best" (p. 130). They recommend a sabbath-like rhythm of allowing for approximately 1/7th of the lesson to involve contemplation. It must be strategically planned and integrated so that contemplation and active learning go hand-in-hand. 

Action Steps:

  • Provide time for relaxed discussion and contemplation during class.
  • Allow students to "play" as a part of the learning process.
  • Do not sacrifice contemplation in order to "get more done." 
  • Allow for quiet space and do not fill it with the sound of my own voice!

7. Embodied Learning -- Liturgical and Poetic Learning

Because humans are bodies as well as souls, creating academic, sensory, and bodily rhythms modulates and deepens learning. Students as bodies learn through all five senses; embodied learning honors learning through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and hands. Students will desire to be in harmony with the world's beauty when they experience embodied rhythms, practices, liturgies, and routines. 
Because humans are bodies as well as souls, one way we know reality is through a sensory, participatory bodily engagement with the world, which evokes awe, delight, and sometimes even fear.

Liturgies are "any communal activity that is patterned, ordered, and formative" (p. 146). These are the routines that we do as a class. My Catechism is a great example of this. As we stand and recite together, we are incorporating "embodied" learning which engages both body and mind. The key word for me to remember is "formative." The liturgies must have the impact of forming the student into the virtuous person I desire. Part of this embodied learning is the decor and sounds that pervade the room. They suggest a "coffee station" for the smell alone! Cocoa in the winter and lemonade in the summer! The authors chastise us for failing to engage the whole of the student. "Our mistake is that we routinely overlook and fail to harmonize all of the senses when teaching and act as if students had one giant set of eyes, a modest set of ears, very small hands, and practically no nose or tongue" (p. 159). 

Liturgiical Action Steps:

The authors suggest a daily routine, similar to hosting a meal, that I find very helpful:

  • Invitation: Establish the classroom as a welcoming space to explore the good, true, and beautiful.
  • Preparation: All the work accomplished in prior lessons.
  • Welcome: Build interest and expectations for the coming lesson.
  • Drinks and hors d'oeuvres: Short review/contemplation.
  • Seating at the table: Arrange desks in the most conducive manner.
  • Prayer: Ask the Spirit of God to illuminate understanding
  • Conversation: Lecture, seminar or tutorial.
  • Dessert and coffee: Conclusory part that is relaxed and summative.
  • Departure and good-bye: Exchange of thanksgiving and gratitude/well-wishing.

Poetical Actions Steps:

Poetic knowledge involves "showing, not telling." It incorporates all the senses. Consider projects/simulations. But not to excess. 

  • Incorporate all five senses.
  • Include beautiful art, music, and/or poetry in each lesson.

8. Docendo Descimus, By Teaching We learn 

Students want to teach what they have come to know, and when they do, their friends pay particular attention and are inspired to learn. Knowledge taught is twice learned. Peers can teach peers; older students can teach younger students; students when they teach become filled with greater desire to learn.

This principle reinforces the notion that students learn best when they are the teachers. I try to incorporate this in our daily discussion as well as projects. I think I'm doing ok on this! But I could be better and more intentional.

Action Steps:

The authors recommend the following structure:

  1. First Little Talk: Introduction of the topic/"Entice"
  2. Presentation of the Artifact: Actual lesson or artifact under consideration.
  3. Narration: Students summarize and describe the lesson (repetitio mater memoriae/docendo discimus). 
  4. Second Little Talk: Analyze the narration for what is missing or incomplete. Use the Common Topics:
    • Relationship: Cause/effect
    • Circumstance: Context
    • Comparison: Compare to other lessons/artifacts
    • Testimony: Credibility of the author or other author's opinions
    • Definition: What is it under consideration?
    5.  Response: Student respond somehow to what they learned.

9. Optimus Magister Bonus Liber Est, The Best Teacher is a Good Book

The voices of great teachers in the good books never stop beckoning, inspiring, teaching, again and again with infinite patience. The best book is by a great author and is a book wisely selected (usually by a teacher) for a particular student at a fitting time. One who guides a student through a study of a good book is a tutor; the teacher is the author. Together the author (teacher), tutor, and student engage in a three-way conversation that educates remarkably.

According to Seneca, "You must linger among a limited number of master thinkers and digest their works if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind. Everywhere means nowhere" (p. 213). This absolutely pierces to my soul! I am so guilty of trying to introduce so much to my students that I fear they remember, and certainly own, little of it. 

This section, however, validates my idea that reading aloud text and privileging the text is the right way to go. It also serves as a good reminder to get students using their commonplace journals. Often, in my too-stuffed lesson plans, we have no time to actually do this. I am skipping the point of the lesson. Allow them  to begin to "own" the learning by recording it!!!

Like the previous section, they recommend the use of the Common Topics to find great questions, with the addition on an "Ethic/Obligation" section asking "What should this person have done and why?" (p. 225).

Action Steps:

  • Use Commonplace Journal with every reading.
  • Use Common Topics for discussion questions, maybe even in reading packets/reading quizzes.

10. Conversation and Friendship

Ongoing conversation between teachers and students, and between students and fellow students, creates a friendship of the soul that gives birth to learning that is personal, mutual, delightful, and deep. In continuing exchanges over long spans of time, the teacher forms the student in his likeness. But the student too renews and refreshes the love of learning in the teacher. Academic conversation characterizes all learning; both the student and teacher seek the true, good, and beautiful together as academic friends and fellows.
C. S. Lewis starts the section with, "The schoolmaster must think about the pupil: everything he says is said to improve the boy's character or open his mind--the schoolmaster is there to make the pupil a 'good' man" (p. 236). I need to make sure that all my lesson have the virtue of the student and his character formation in mind. Even if it is just tenacity or thoroughness, all lessons must be used to further an actual good in my students. 

The section describes a "college" as a collection of learners. It asks us to invite our older students in the college that already exists in the faculty. They are to become its "junior" members. I love this idea! I think it treats our *almost* adult students with the gravitas they deserve. The classroom then becomes a place of restful and inviting conversation among *semi* equals. 

Action Steps:

Review with the class what "kills" the conversation and thus makes them ineligible for membership in the "college":

  • Judgment
  • Ridicule
  • One person dominating
  • Thinking about what to say instead of listening
  • Interrupting
  • Side conversations


APPENDIX

Some questions are given in the Appendix D that I think will be helpful in creating and using discussion questions from a Christian perspective.
  1. Questions that reflect on God's nature and will
  2. Questions that examine moral and ethical implications
  3. Questions that explore human purpose and calling
  4. Questions about the nature of Truth and knowledge
  5. Questions that encourage humility and dependence on God
  6. Questions about redemption and restoration
  7. Questions that foster wonder and gratitude
  8. Questions that discern spiritual growth
  9. Questions that build community and mission

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Our bookclub read The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, the tale of four women who interacted during the time of Jewish resistance to the Romans on Masada. Loosely based on a true story, it describes the strengths and weaknesses of each of the women.

It begins with the journey of "The Assassin's Daughter," Yael, who is forced to flee Jerusalem with her father and another family, into the desert. When she finally arrives at the desert refuge of Masada, she is pregnant and hardened to the reality of the harsh life of a refugee. 

There she meets Shirah, an Egyptian and her daughter, Aziza, as well as Revka, a baker's widow. All of the women have their own story of love and loss and betrayal. All have made it to Masada with a deep desire to survive and all are strong in their own ways. Shirah is a mystic, full of magic and spells, despite their forbidden nature; Aziza harbors her own secret identity, disguising herself as a her brother and receiving acclaim for her heroics; Revka has proven she will kill, if the situation calls for it, to protect her family. 

Hoffman tells the story in sections, with each portion told in the voice of one of the four women. This necessitates a non-linear style as the story shifts back and forth in time. It's told in a lovely and haunting manner, full of beautiful imagery and language. The story is one I'm only vaguely familiar with and to have it dramatized was a delight.

Yet, I can't say I loved the book. 

All of the women are mystics of one sort or another, despite professing a Jewish faith. While they claim to serve the one true God, Adonai, a little reliance on the magic of spells and talisman seems to be the better option, especially when faced with particularly treacherous circumstances. In fact, the God they claim to serve never actually comes through for them. It is only magic that serves their purposes. And even that is not always to be relied upon. 

I guess, I wanted to see their faith in God manifest, but it never is. They live their lives reliant on themselves and whatever incantations and spells available. I actually didn't like any of the characters and could not see them as real people. They were too... much. All of them were very intense. Their thoughts, actions, and interactions were unlike those of anyone I've ever met. That made them seem wholly unreal and contrived. They are the version of women that this author wants women to be. But I didn't recognize them at all.

I can see why the book has great reviews. It's beautifully written and apparently deeply researched, but it wasn't for me.

Saturday, March 8, 2025

The Bletchley Riddle Hardcover by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Our book club chose The Bletchley Riddle Hardcover by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. Apparently Ruta Sepetys writes historical fiction for adults and joined with Steve Sheinkin to write a YA novel.

I know a bit about Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine and Britains battle to break the German's code during World War II. That was the most interesting part. It was also the part that wasn't really the focus. 

Most of the novel deals with Lizzie desperate to find out the truth about her mother, Willa, who disappeared in Poland at the time of the German invasion. She and her brother, Jacob, work to uncover the clues left behind while holding down jobs at Bletchley Park.

For a book directed at tweenagers, it was very cute and readable. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to an adult. There are much better books on the topic for that. 

But it was an enjoyable, quick read.

Friday, November 8, 2024

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

It was my time to choose a book for Book Club and I picked a book that had long been on my list: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Dennis Prager says it's his favorite book and it changed his life.

So my expectations were high.

Plus I've read A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Gulag Archipelago, and Darkness at Noon. All in the same genre. 

I think because of my prior exposure to those books, this one did not seem as impactful. If anything, I'd say The Gulag Archipelago was the one that most made an impression on me.

Frankl writes as do the others, disjointed and out of chronological order. It's more thematic. It makes me wonder if having that kind of state-sponsored trauma impacts one's ability to tell the story. Or perhaps for them, it's not about the day-to-day events, but the larger meaning behind it all. 

Certainly Frankl wants to get at why he and his fellow prisoners suffered the way they did at the hands of the Nazis. Even before being detained, Frankl was spreading interested in the question of meaning and purpose in life. He was convinced that if a man did not have a sense of meaning or purpose he would die either mentally or even physically. So he looked on his fellow prisoners as a kind of science experiment. He clearly saw that those who gave up hope always died. It was those, like himself, who felt that their unjust suffering had a purpose of some sort that survived. 

I suppose the most remarkable thing about the book (and the others of the same genre) is how disconnected they were from their own tortures. They can discuss it dispassionately and disconnect from the personal experience of it. I suppose that necessary for survival. In Solzhenitsyn's case, he writes in a sarcastic manner, further removing himself from the horror. 

Frankl is also remarkable for the fact that he could forgive and move on once released from the prison. He recognized the humanity of each person, whether guard or prisoner. All had the ability to be cruel or kind. He famously states, "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts."

The second half of his book discusses his theory of "Logotherapy." In a nutshell, after the war, he started his psychiatric practice helping people discover meaning in their lives. He was convinced that lack of meaning and purpose was the root of all mental suffering. He worked to reframe and redirect his patients towards discovering meaning in their circumstances, whatever they be.

One disappointment is that he never directs the reader to faith. I think he had faith in God as a result of his Judaism, but he never recommends that faith as a source of meaning and purpose. I suppose that's because he wants everyone, believer or not, to be able to access a life filled with meaning. That's a fair point. Obviously for me, a life whose meaning is found outside of God is just a temporary fill, but for Frankl that's enough. 

The book is worth reading because it's such a cultural touchstone. I'm sorry to say it did not impact me the way it impacted some. I wish it had. 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Lincoln and Douglas by Allen C. Guelzo

One of my former students, Will Rhodes, who attends Princeton, gave me this book, signed by his professor and my favorite Lincoln scholar, Lincoln and Douglas by Allen C. Guelzo. What a delight this book was. 

Of course I'm familiar with the Lincoln/Douglas debates. I have read most if not all of them. But this book, following the pair from stop to stop really brought it alive for me. 

It begins with Lincoln's frustration at what Douglas was claiming on the campaign trail for senator of Illinois. Lincoln began to follow him and rebut his claims soon after Douglas' speeches. Annoyed, and definitely not in his best interest, Douglas agrees to formally debate Lincoln at each of the seven remaining campaign stops. 

Douglas is a very popular politician and his doctrine of "popular sovereignty" is popular as well. The idea that slavery should be voted up or down in a new territory and state appeals to Americans' democratic disposition. But Lincoln sees the end of this argument: slavery will exist, eventually, in every state in the union. 

Because the 17th Amendment has not yet been passed, senators are chosen by the state legislators. How this plays out practically is that men, like Douglas, campaign, not for themselves, but for legislative candidates pledged to support his bid for senator. It is, de facto, a popular vote on the senator, using the institutional constraints of the Constitution. While it is technically incorrect to say they are "running" for the Senate, it is arguable that that is exactly what they are doing. Lincoln, however, is a very dark horse in this race. He was a one-term member of the House of Representatives and a local lawyer. He is unknown outside of his home district and is not a national figure, by any means. 

These debates will change all that. 

With the advent of the new, anti-slavery Republican Party, the political ground was shifting rapidly. Whigs were in disarray and their vote is up for grabs. Henry Clay, the quintessential Whig is Lincoln's political hero, and his only hope is to persuade them that he, and the Republicans, are not rabid abolitionists, but align with the Founders. His opponent must simply seem reasonable. One thing I loved about his book is to discover how the political landscape is not so different from today. We think we are polarized now and mythologize some distant past where politics was civil and gentlemanly. That is a past that never existed and never will. Politics is bloodsport and Lincoln understood that better than most. 

In June of 1858, Lincoln was nominated to represents the Republicans in the Illinois Senate race and delivered his "House Divided" speech. Recalling Jesus' admonition that "a house divided against itself cannot stand," Lincoln posited that an America, similarly divided on the question of slavery, could not stand. To his detractors, this sounded like a call for civil war. To his admirers, he was finally asking that the question be answered, not in political or economic terms, but moral terms. Americans must answer whether slavery was right, and should therefore be national, or wrong, and should therefore be put on a path towards extinction. Lincoln believed he stood with the Founders and answer that slavery was immoral. But the intervening years had given way to political solutions and Americans, Lincoln believed, had forgotten the question. 

Guelzo does a great job uncovering the political consideration, and they were myriad, that Lincoln faced seeking to upset Douglas. He refers to letters and newspaper articles describing the in-the-weeds political needle Lincoln had to thread. That part is interesting and new to me, but what really fascinated me was the flow of the debates as they moved from town to town. While much was repeated, a new emphasis and nuance was introduced at each stop, culminating in the final, and what I believe to be the crux of the argument, debate. 

The first debate took place in Ottawa. While it was friendly territory for Lincoln, Douglas began by describing the Republican Party as a party of rabid abolitionists and challenged Lincoln to defend each of the planks of their Illinois State Convention platform. Of course each was framed to inflame the passions of the audience. Douglas referred back to the "House Divided" speech, implying Lincoln wanted war to settle the issue. In fact, Douglas stated that it was he, not Lincoln, on the side of the Founders. Weren't they the ones who "made this Government divided into free State and slave States, and left each State perfectly free to do as it please don the subject of slavery"? And as for the Declaration's claim that "All men are created equal"? Obviously that meant all white men are created equal. To read it any other way was to say the blacks and whites were equal in every way. This horrified the crowd. What Douglas left out was any mention of the already failed popular sovereignty doctrine in "bleeding" Kansas and the results of the Dred Scott Supreme Court case, which guaranteed slavery free passage anywhere in the nation. 

Unfortunately, Lincoln took the bait and proceeded to spend his time defending himself against Douglas' charges rather than make the moral case against slavery. He said he never signed on to the Illinois Republican platform. He did not believe blacks were equal in every sense, just as fellow humans. He did not want to abolish slavery everywhere, but simply keep it where it was. He tried to argue that Dred Scott had effectively made popular sovereignty moot. In fact, Lincoln argued, the decision was all part of a vast conspiracy to extend slavery nationally and, like any good conspiracy theorist, he tried to show that all evidence for or against the conspiracy only pointed to its validity. The crowd wouldn't hear it. They simply heard he was anti-war in the "good" war (Mexican American) and pro-war in the bad one (civil war) and wanted to give black people all the privileges currently given only to whites. 

In this debate, it's hard to call a "winner." Douglas went on a rabid attack and Lincoln spent his time on the ropes defending himself. Yet he did defend himself. Against the nation's best debater, that seemed like a win. 

The second debate took place at Freeport. Once again the crowds showed up for what promised to be a robust political spectacle. This time Lincoln spoke first. Lincoln began on the defensive, stating all of the queries Douglas had posed at the last debate and answering them all again. In fact, he answered them in such a way that even his admirers felt he had given away the entire Republican doctrine. But as a lawyer, Lincoln understood that it's better to give up what you cannot keep and save one irrefutable argument in your pocket. This was his belief that only Congress had the right to answer the slavery question in the territories. This went directly against popular sovereignty and Dred Scott. Then Lincoln went on the offensive asking Douglas to defend his positions in light of Dred Scott which ruled that any new territories could not lawfully keep out slavery. Lincoln, through a series of questions, walked Douglas through to the only logical conclusion: that Douglas would be ok with all new territories entering the Union as slave territories and that there was nothing to be done about it. This seems to have very much concerned the people of the free state of Illinois. He also made clear that what Douglas claimed to be the platform of the Illinois state Republicans was actually that of another organization and that Douglas had no right to hold him accountable to it. He claimed Douglas was careless in his facts and therefore could not be trusted.

Douglas responded by breezing past Lincoln's question, reiterating his popular sovereignty mantra, once again, as if Dred Scott had not made it moot. He then went on to disparage Lincoln as a "Black Republican," and implied that Lincoln stood for mixing of the races on every level. Again and again, Douglas plays the race card and appeals to the bigotry of his audience. 

The most important part of this second debate was Lincoln's second question to Douglas at Freeport, "Can the people of the United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?" The key word is "lawful." Lincoln knew the Dred Scott decision had already answered this question with a "no," since slaves were property and could not be excluded based on the territories' borders. But Douglas could not afford to acknowledge this. He wanted to straddle the fence with his "don't care" philosophy towards the legality of slavery in any particular state. This question would pursue him time and again at subsequent debates. This is Lincoln playing the long game. He knew in 1858 that Douglas' answer might satisfy the people of Illinois, but he knew Douglas had presidential ambitions and that question would destroy any chance he had on the national stage in 1860. Guelzo believes Lincoln was also desperate to deny Douglas a place at the top of the Republican ticket. He could see Douglas believing he could unite northern Democrats with Republicans and win in a landslide. Lincoln saw that as the death of the Republican Party. 

The third debate took place in the southern town of Jonesboro. In this very poor and largely illiterate town, Douglas had a hard time connecting and certainly had no energy to feed off of. Although the area definitely leaned pro-slavery, Douglas spent a good deal of time on Republican inter-party weeds before finally getting to his main point about Lincoln's supposed desire to give black people all the civil rights enjoyed by whites. He reiterated that it was he, not Lincoln, upholding the Founders' intentions to let each state decide the slavery question for itself. 

Lincoln agreed that the Founders had indeed left slavery up to the states, but disagreed that they intended that situation to prevail. He pointed out evidence that the Founders had always hoped to see slavery on a path to extinction. He also tried, with little success, to tie Douglas to some Democratic positions that sounded on slavery exactly like Lincoln's. Lincoln denied that he was agitating for war, but did remind the people the closest they got to war was the perpetual question of slavery with the addition of each new territory. Lincoln did, however, add a question concerning a federal "slave code" that would ensure the property rights in slavery in any territory. This, like the second Freeport question, was a damned if you do, damned if you don't question. Douglas could not concede any federal right to regulate slavery in the territories, because they could make it legal everywhere. He also could not say the federal government could protect a state in its anti-slavery legislation either. Douglas simply reverted to his magical panacea of "popular sovereignty." 

No clear winner emerged from this southern excursion, but Lincoln had little to lose in unfriendly territory anyways.

The fourth debate took place in Charleston, a Whig stronghold. While hating slavery, they also abhorred the idea of equality in civil rights. Lincoln was therefore forced to clarify that he did not believe blacks were equal in any way other than natural human rights. This marks a low point and is the basis for declaring Lincoln a racist. He certainly panders to a racist crowd, trying to thread the needle between full acknowledgment of the humanity of blacks and full social equality. 

Douglas responded with his own conspiracy of the ways in which Lincoln and the Republicans were seeking to make the Whigs abolitionists. He knew this to be an anathema. He also rejected Lincolns forceful claims to only want human rights for blacks by saying Lincoln opposed Dred Scott, which made citizenship illegal for blacks. He therefore implied that Lincoln must be for citizenship for blacks and all that entails. 

While Lincoln wanted to argue that he opposed Dred Scott because it put the slavery question in the hands of the Supreme Court, arguing for the states to decide on the civil rights of black people edged a little too close to Douglas' popular sovereignty doctrine. He also had to spend time diffusing Douglas conspiracy charges of "abolitioning" the Whig party. But Lincoln scored a few points. He made Douglas look inconsistent on his "don't care" policy regarding slavery by showing Douglas had actually voted against legal provisions that would have helped the anti-slavery movement. He used the morality of slavery as a cudgel against Douglas and reiterated that the best and least harmful path forward was the one the Founders advocated, an inexorable path to extinction. And, most importantly, he stood his ground. The people came to see Lincoln as the equal of the "Little Giant" Douglas when it came to the debates. 

The fifth debate took place in Galesburg, friendly territory for Lincoln. Plus Douglas had been wearing himself out physically, battling bronchitis, and was becoming more and more dependent on the bottle. He trotted out his tired arguments on popular sovereignty and tried to hold himself out as a man willing to stand up to both pro- and anti-slavery forces and fight for the will of the people. But he lacked energy and enthusiasm.

Lincoln, in contrast, came out swinging. Lincoln dismissed most of the speech for what it was, simply the same things Douglas had said at every stop. He would focus, however, on the Declaration's claim that "all men are created equal." Lincoln pointed out that one could search in vain for any evidence at all that the Founders only intended it to apply to white people. He pointed out that the author, Jefferson himself, "trembled" when he considered that God is just and that slavery would never gain His favor. Here Lincoln became quite elevated indicating that if slavery is right or wrong based on a majority's opinion, then morality itself is on the ballot. If Douglas continued to willfully blind himself to Lincoln's natural law argument that black and white people are inherently equal as humans, then Douglas would bring down the entire moral edifice of right and wrong. If Douglas persisted in claiming he "don't care" whether slavery is voted up or down, and refused to recognize the moral degeneracy of slavery, then Douglas had no right to speak of "right" and "wrong" in any context. Right and wrong then became entirely dependent on the mood of the electorate. Lincoln ended by saying that the only way to put the immoral practice of slavery on a path to extinction was to elect Republicans. 

In his rebuttal, Douglas found his fire. He rabidly called out Lincoln for hypocrisy, literally foaming at the mouth and shaking his fist. He said Lincoln was not for equality in unfriendly territory like Jonesboro but now claimed he was for equality in friendly Galesburg. He angrily defended his honor against Lincoln's charges of lying about the Republican resolution brought up in the first debate. He claimed that Lincoln, with his opposition to Dred Scott, invited mob rule. 

The debate ended with a defeated and deflated Douglas, and a Lincoln who could now see a path forward on offense. 

The sixth debate took place at Quincy, on the border of slave state Missouri. Lincoln spoke first, coming after Douglas with a vengeance. He called Douglas a liar for continuing to pin resolution on him that Lincoln had not agreed to; he called Douglas a dodger for refusing to see the logic of Dred Scott and the way it demolished his popular sovereignty doctrine; and he called out Douglas for willfully refusing to debate on the moral principle of slavery and obfuscating instead with racial rhetoric. Lincoln made it exceptionally clear that the reason slavery presented a fight every time it came up was because Americans knew it was a moral question: some believed it to be wrong, the Republicans; some believed to be right, the Democrats. Lincoln posited that that was the only question up for consideration. Was slavery right or wrong? Was it a refutation of the Founders and the Natural Law upon which the nation had been founded or was it simply another political position to be left to political institutions? The audience could join with the Republicans and at least acknowledge it as a moral wrong, and leave the "then what" to the future or join with the Democrats and deny even the immorality of the institution. 

Douglas, addled in in poor form, continued to deny slavery was a moral issue. He agreed with Lincoln that truly didn't care about the morality of slavery. For him all the agitation that came with the slavery question was promulgated by abolitionist like Lincoln. He continued to claim he was directionally correct in tying Lincoln to the resolutions put forth in the first debate, if not factually correct. He defended his honor against Lincoln's charges of lying and being part of a conspiracy to extend slavery to the whole nation. He seemed genuinely unable to understand Lincoln's point about Dred Scott's protection of slavery in any territory, and by extension, any state. He simply could not see why a territory or state could not disallow slavery as they would any other property, like alcohol. 

Lincoln responded that the only question under consideration was, once again, the morality of slavery. ALL opposition to the institution stemmed from moral opposition. The Founders opposed it on moral grounds and put it on a path to extinction. Had not the cotton gin made it economically feasible, it would have remained on that path. It was Douglas, not Lincoln, who departed from the American ideal. To the charge of changing his message to suit his audience, Lincoln offered his notes from each debate and speech he'd given to show that his message remained the same. 

The seventh and final debate took place in Alton. Douglas began, looking quite haggard from the exertions and the alcohol. Douglas harkened back to the "House Divided" speech and once again portrayed Lincoln as a war-monger. He continued to paint Lincoln as a man who believed in civil and social equality between the races. He accused Lincoln of slandering the Founders in refusing to accept a permanently half-slave and half-free nation. He pointed out that he had broken with the Democrats over slavery numerous times, but that Lincoln had refused to reject the position of the extreme abolitionists. Lincoln simply listened to the charges he had heard again and again. Lincoln wanted civil war. Lincoln was a n_____ lover. Douglas was the true hero who stood up for the rights of the people.

Lincoln stood and made a joke that watching Douglas distance himself from the pro-slavery aspects of his party was like a battered wife watching her husband fight off a bear: she wasn't sure who to root for. 

Then he got down to business. Douglas had claimed that Lincoln refused to acknowledge the authority of the Supreme Court by rejecting the logic of Dred Scott. Lincoln said that was nothing compared to Douglas' willful misrepresentation of the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln quoted from the Great Compromiser (and notable Whig) Henry Clay to the effect that all men are created equal, but that does not always imply social and civil equality (i.e. women and children were not civilly and socially equal to men). In opposing the "House Divided" speech, Lincoln put Douglas on the side of satan disparaging the Bible, as it was biblically inspired. Lincoln reiterated the clear evidence that the Founders believed they had put slavery on a path to extinction. Pulling the rug out from Douglas' popular sovereignty argument, Lincoln stated that he no problem with the principle if contained to subjects over which the majority had the right to decide. He simply believed morality fell outside that boundary. And he claimed everyone listening knew that. Finally Lincoln boiled his entire argument down to one statement, "The real issue in this controversy--the one pressing upon every mind--is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does not look upon it as a wrong." (p. 265) All practical questions of how to deal with the institution as it existed must be pushed aside until that fundamental question could be answered. 

In fact, argued Lincoln, the arguments for slavery were identical to the arguments for a king, rejected by our Founders. Slavery did not just dehumanize black people, it introduced the idea of a hierarchy among people. Worse, according to Douglas, this hierarchy could be determined by a vote! "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, can not long retain it" (p. 267). Thus the apex of his argument was formed. After starting out on the defense, Lincoln had moved solidly into offense.

Douglas was wholly unable to rebut him. He sunk back to his tired arguments of blaming the abolitionists for all the unrest. He deeply resented Lincoln's resort to the question of morality for it implied that Douglas was, himself, immoral. He stood solidly with all those who before him had punted on the question of morality and appealed to the pragmatism of popular sovereignty. 

Douglas was a broken and defeated man.

Yet, Lincoln did not win the Senate campaign. By a narrow margin, pro-Douglas legislators were voted into office. It was always a long shot anyways. 

But, in 1860, Lincoln won the bigger prize: the presidency. The nation would go to war, which Lincoln vigorously opposed, to settle the slavery question once and for all. Lincoln would be magnanimous in victory as he appealed to the "better angels" of our nature. 

I'm so glad I got to dive into the details of each debate from so well-respected a scholar as Allen Guelzo. My appreciation for Lincoln rose tremendously.


*note bene: Guelzo makes a handwritten correction to a typo and signs it on page 238.

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Our book club decided to choose a "re-read a book you loved as a child." Our pick was Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I've never read it, so it was fun to dive into. 

The story centers around the Tuck family, who have drunk a magic elixir and now are fated to live forever, and a little girl named Winnie, who discovers their secret.

The book details the lengths to which the Tucks will go to keep word from getting out. Although it's a child's book, some of the adventures could give a child nightmares. 

Although it's set in the late 1800s, it soon became clear to me that the book had a more modern origin. Sure enough, it was written in 1975. That made sense. That's a time when books were full of children with voices sounding very much like adults. Winnie is precocious and thinks and speaks and reasons in a way her adult author imagines a child might. But she actually reveals an adult's ruminations on deep questions. 

The book was an easy read. Not exactly satisfying. It's not supposed to "end well" according to the author. Some questions and simply beyond our purview and offer no easy answers. Tuck raises questions but doesn't answer them in a way that feels satisfactory.