James Read, Professor of Political Science delivered the Alpheus T. Mason Address at Princeton University...

James Read, Professor of Political Science and Joseph P. Farry Professor of Public Policy, delivered the Alpheus T. Mason Address to the James Madison Program at Princeton University on March 23. The title of the talk was "The Only True Sovereign of a Free People? The Problem of Majority Rule in Madison, Calhoun, and Lincoln." It described how in Lincoln's view, the Civil War was a test of the moral legitimacy of majority rule, in contrast to Calhoun who rejected majority rule in favor of state nullification of federal law. Both Calhoun and Lincoln claimed to be followers of Madison. A video recording of the address is posted at http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/calendar/flash/Read.html