[May 10, 2021] Years ago, as I was boarding a charter flight to Kuwait, a young woman stood in the doorway handing out mini-copies of the U.S. Constitution. I thanked her as I stuffed my
copy into my helmet liner for later review. For those that know me professionally, they are aware that I am an advocate for studying America’s founding documents. My wife thinks it’s boring but I like tracing the evolution of thinking about freedom and it’s intrinsic linkage to Christianity. This is a personal journey into self-improvement that, I believe, goes beyond the inadequacy of traditional academics. This thinking method is more Aristotelian and rewarding. Today, I’m happy to review a book about a philosophical debate over the core principles of the Constitution. My review, by design is short but I hope it gives the reader an appreciation of
crucial facets of the slavery question in the Constitution.
A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution, Damon Root, 2021
In our time, there has been a hard-fought, often acrimonious debate, including violence, over issues regarding race, justice, and the Constitution. Slavery and the aftermath of persistent institutional racism, have divided our nation. Damon Root’s new book addresses this historical Constitutional debate. The position of Frederick Douglass was the antislavery foundations of the unique U.S. Constitution. Root devotes part of his book to reviewing the story of Douglass’ relationship with abolitionist Lloyd Garrison. Garrison was an early, uncompromising radical who believed in an old interpretation that our Constitution was pro slavery. While Douglass and Garrison influenced one another, this disconnect drove these two men apart. Root compares Douglass’s view with that of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the late 1850s. For example, both took the position that slavery was a moral evil and that the federal government had the power to ban slavery in its territories. The difference between these two men is not explored in the book but remains for future historians to write.
Douglass welcomed the outbreak of the Civil War as an opportunity to “deal a death-blow to the monster evil of slavery.” Fighting hard for black suffrage, Douglass was outraged by several U.S. Supreme Court decisions curbing constitutional protections of all men. The book also enlightens us over the debate with and agreement with women suffragists. However, he believed that the priority should be to black male suffrage after the Civil War. The Glorious Liberty is an
excellent introduction to an important topic of relevance today.
The book is neatly summed up by Root’s statement that Douglass time and again “returned to the bedrock liberal principles enshrined in America’s founding documents.” Highly recommended.
Great job again, Gen. S. I loved the past few weeks and how you have developed so many ideas in greater detail. This is what I’m looking for in a leadership website.
Res, rj and this book review as well.
I think that this website is one of the best leadership sites around. Easy to read. Easy to understand. Plenty of references, occasional well-studied opinion. Keep up the educational and entertaining aspects of this site.
Thanks, Gen. Satterfield for another book review. This new book has been so far well received. That is the first of the good news. Once it has been critiqued then and only then will we get a better understanding of how well it fits recorded American history and how much Douglass was a part of making for a better republican government.
Well said, Sillyman. 👍
Frederick Douglass is more of a person that helped found the US than most of us have been lead to believe based on our upbringing and education. Because he was a slave, I doubt the book banning tendency of so many democrat politicians and their ilk will ban this book. But, it does tread on their PC ideology.
Another reason for me to come to this leadership website. Gen. S. sure does have a long list of successful articles that are about some of the more important books of our time. This one by Root should be one of them. I hope so. It should be studied in High School classrooms across the nation … and even the world to see that there is no perfect govt but that all govts can be improved upon.
Well said and I agree fully. I wouldn’t require the book, but it is certainly a starting point for discussion on American values and ideals.
I also come to this website for insight and a bit of motivation.
My opinion, I think so as well.
Thanks Gen. Satterfield for the great book review. Well done!
This book has a place on my bookshelf and I have ordered it already. I no longer order from Amazon because they ban certain books they don’t like politically. This means that this book might soon be “burned” by the fascists in American that write under the misleading label of “anti-fascists.” Get the book now.
Great comment Don, and I hope this book is never banned. I’ll be buying it as well. It may
not be a perfect book but it certainly appears to be one of the classics of study on the beginnings
of America.
Yes, good comment. Our political ‘ class’ is allowing this shutting down of free speech and Pres Biden specifically is okay with it. Anyone with a brain cell knows this. Why do so many love him for being such a truant in waiting.
Once again, an exceptional review of a book that takes us back in time to the founding, the
debates, the struggles with improving upon the US and its institutions. Great work. Keep it up.
I’m a regular reader of your blog and it helps me understand leadership as well as myself.