‘As Planets Faithful Be’: The Higher Law of Science in Emerson’s Antislavery Lectures

Abstract

Admits Emerson’s antislavery lectures of 1844-1863 would seem an unlikely place to look for his scientific ideology, but claims they contain some of that ideology’s most compelling expressions. Argues Emerson turned to evolutionary time and planetary space to combat the American crime of slavery, drawing on the constitution of the universe itself to demonstrate the flaws in the Constitution of the United States. Emerson’s “higher law” was fundamentally based in his belief that the physical universe is the embodiment of moral truth, governed by the laws of nature and nature’s God. Concludes that when he turns to higher law to combat slavery, Emerson’s goal is to swing the power of the universe itself to the side of social justice.