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This conversation is something of a follow-up to our last episode 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: "Lincoln at Gettysburg," Know Your Enemy, July 6, 2026

Sources:

Zohran Mamdani, "Remarks as Prepared: Mayor Mamdani Delivers Address Marking America’s 250th Birthday," July 3, 2026

Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (1992)

Abraham Lincoln, "Letter to Joshua Speed," Aug 24, 1855

— Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858

— Message to Congress, July 4, 1861

Alexander H. Stephens, "Corner Stone Speech," March 21, 1861

James Madison, "Federalist no. 39," Jan 16, 1788

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Roger Weightman, June 24, 1826

Willmoore Kendall & George W. Carey, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (1970)

George W. Carey, In Defense of the Constitution (1997)

Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (1974)

— John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics (1951)

Harry V. Jaffa, A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (2000)

George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 2005