In this large and ambitious book, Jaffa demonstrates that in taking a firm stand against slavery and in favor of the equality of man on the eve of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was holding strictly to the principles of Thomas Jefferson and the other founders of the American Republic. Jaffa also argues persuasively that Jefferson and Lincoln's assertion that "all men are created equal" was and is objectively true and right. He argues vigorously and convincingly against current trends of relativism and historicism, showing that the rightness of Lincoln's and Jefferson's claims is not, as some modern scholars would claim, a matter of indifference. In a philosophical tour de force Jaffa delves into the thought of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche, as well as Jefferson and Lincoln. With rigorous logic he demolishes the philosophical constructs of John C. Calhoun, in whose thought he sees strong similarities to that of Karl Marx. Jaffa's prose is elegant and learned but complex, and, like his arguments, intellectually demanding. This absorbing book requires much effort on the part of the reader, but that effort is well rewarded.