Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator" rel="noopener noreferrer">patreon.com/knowyourenemy.</a>
This conversation is something of a follow-up to our <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lincoln-at-gettysburg-the-words-that-remade-america/id1462703434?i=1000775638257" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">last episode</a> on Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. We begin by "providing receipts" for the views of prominent midcentury conservative intellectuals (Willmoore Kendall, Russell Kirk, and Mel Bradford, to name a few) about the Declaration, equality, and Lincoln, then take a step back to discuss what their quarrel with Lincoln, Harry Jaffa, Garry Wills, and other partisans of equality might reveal about the nature of the American founding and the shape of our country's history. After all that—and more—we consider NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's July 3 speech celebrating America's 250th anniversary and the promise and perils of leftwing patriotism.
Listen again: "<a href="https://know-your-enemy-1682b684.simplecast.com/episodes/lincoln-at-gettysburg-the-words-that-remade-america-_MJG_tMY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lincoln at Gettysburg</a>," Know Your Enemy, July 6, 2026
Sources:
Zohran Mamdani, "<a href="https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/07/remarks-as-prepared--mayor-mamdani-delivers-address-marking-amer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Remarks as Prepared: Mayor Mamdani Delivers Address Marking America’s 250th Birthday</a>," July 3, 2026
Garry Wills, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Lincoln_at_Gettysburg.html?id=7-aynIQRkYcC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America</a> (1992)
Abraham Lincoln, "<a href="https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/speed.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letter to Joshua Speed</a>," Aug 24, 1855
— <a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/speech-at-chicago-illinois/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Speech at Chicago, Illinois</a>, July 10, 1858
— <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.1057200/?sp=1&st=text" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Message to Congress</a>, July 4, 1861
Alexander H. Stephens, "<a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-corner-stone-speech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Corner Stone Speech</a>," March 21, 1861
James Madison, "<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed39.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Federalist no. 39</a>," Jan 16, 1788
Thomas Jefferson, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/214.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letter to Roger Weightman</a>, June 24, 1826
Willmoore Kendall & George W. Carey, <a href="https://www.cuapress.org/9780813220628/the-basic-symbols-of-the-american-political-tradition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition</a> (1970)
George W. Carey, <a href="https://about.libertyfund.org/books/in-defense-of-the-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In Defense of the Constitution</a> (1997)
Russell Kirk, <a href="https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781684516391/the-roots-of-american-order/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Roots of American Order</a> (1974)
— <a href="https://about.libertyfund.org/books/john-randolph-of-roanoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics</a> (1951)
Harry V. Jaffa, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/new-birth-of-freedom-9781538114322/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War</a> (2000)
George W. Bush, <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural-address-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Second Inaugural Address</a>, Jan 20, 2005

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