Diana Schaub on the Life and Political Thought of Frederick Douglass

Conversations with Bill Kristol

News, Society & Culture, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2018

⏱️ 59 minutes

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Summary

Diana Schaub is a professor of political science at Loyola University Maryland and a leading interpreter of political philosophy and American political thought. In this Conversation, Schaub considers the life and ideas of the statesman and political thinker Frederick Douglass (c. 1818 – 1885). Schaub reflects on Douglass’s life, including his experience of slavery, his abolitionist politics, his work on behalf of the Union in the Civil War, and his post-war efforts to secure civil rights. Schaub demonstrates Douglass’s importance as a political thinker, pointing to his reflections on the corruptions of slavery, the meaning and requirements of freedom, the significance of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the role of prudence in politics.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the Welcome to Conversations, I'm Bill Crystal, and I'm pleased today to be joined by an old friend, Diana Schaub, Professor of Political Science at Loyola University, Maryland, author years ago of an excellent
0:27.7	book on Montesquieu on the Persian letters.
0:29.8	You've turned your attention more in recent years.
0:32.2	You still do the political philosophy, but to American things and the co-editor of a terrific anthology with Amy Cass and Leon Cass,
0:39.0	what so proudly we have, which people should buy, and there's a website where you can find poetry,
0:46.0	speeches, fiction about America.
0:48.9	I particularly like the holiday, organized by holidays.
0:52.4	So for July 4th, you can read July 4th appropriate material. So
0:55.4	thank you for doing that. It's excellent and thank you for joining me today.
0:59.6	And we're talking about Frederick Douglas, who you've written on very interestingly.
1:07.0	So you should tell us about Frederick Donald Trump actually gave Frederick Douglas simplicity.
1:12.0	This is a little, I wanted to have this conversation before. actually gave Frederick Douglass some publicity yeah.
1:12.6	I wanted to have this conversation before Donald Trump reminded the world of Frederick Douglass's
1:17.0	existence, which I think he did in February, right?
1:18.8	What he said, what did he?
1:20.0	He said, Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is getting
1:25.4	the recognition more and more, I notice.
1:28.4	It's a lot unclear that the President knows exactly who he is, but you agree with that? Yeah he led an amazing life and
1:38.4	he could still be doing good work today in other words words, Donald Trump could be right if we spent more time reading Frederick
1:47.2	Douglas, reading his speeches and writings, his autobiography, a little more attention to his life and achievements would mean that we could say
1:56.0	you know he's doing good work and getting more attention for it.
1:59.8	This conversation will vindicate the president so that's good.
	...

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