Abraham Lincoln: The Prophetic ‘Re-Founder’.

The article reviews Edward J. Erler's book *Prophetic Statesmanship: Harry Jaffa, Abraham Lincoln, and the Gettysburg Address*, which explores Abraham Lincoln's political thought through the lens of Harry V. Jaffa's scholarship. Jaffa, a prominent interpreter of Lincoln, portrayed Lincoln as a "re-founder" of American political principles rooted in natural rights and moral duty, though his later work complicated this view by aligning Lincoln's thought more closely with traditional natural law and Christian teachings. Erler builds on Jaffa's legacy by analyzing Lincoln as a "prophetic statesman" who used Biblical allusions to uphold the Declaration of Independence's doctrine of natural equality, particularly in the Gettysburg and Second Inaugural Addresses. The book also addresses ongoing debates about Lincoln's legacy and the relevance of his vision in contemporary discussions of race and constitutional principles.