A House Divided
On June 16, 1858 (153 years ago today) Abraham Lincoln gave his famous "house divided" speech in Springfield Illinois. The speech is best remembered for the line "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
Lincoln made the speech when he accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination to run as that state's United States senator. Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign which included the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. The speech talked about the danger of disunion because of slavery. The best-known passage of the speech is:
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.
The goal of the speech was for Lincoln to highlight the differences between him and Douglas. Douglas campaigned for popular sovereignty, in which the settlers in each new territory would decide if that state would be a slave or free state. Lincoln believed that the United States would eventually become either all slave or all free. As long as the North and South held such distinct opinions, and as long as this issue permeated every political question, the Union could not function. The key phrase in the speech is borrowed from the Bible. It comes from Matthew 12:25 which reads "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."
In those days the US Senator was chosen not by popular vote, but by the legislature. In the 1858 election the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes,but the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas to the Senate. Despite suffering the election loss, Lincoln's powerful advocacygave him a national profile and a strong positive political reputation.
Following is a movie except of Raymond Massey portraying Abraham Lincoln. This scene dramatizes one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, which include that immortal line:
Lincoln made the speech when he accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination to run as that state's United States senator. Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign which included the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. The speech talked about the danger of disunion because of slavery. The best-known passage of the speech is:
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.
The goal of the speech was for Lincoln to highlight the differences between him and Douglas. Douglas campaigned for popular sovereignty, in which the settlers in each new territory would decide if that state would be a slave or free state. Lincoln believed that the United States would eventually become either all slave or all free. As long as the North and South held such distinct opinions, and as long as this issue permeated every political question, the Union could not function. The key phrase in the speech is borrowed from the Bible. It comes from Matthew 12:25 which reads "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."
In those days the US Senator was chosen not by popular vote, but by the legislature. In the 1858 election the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes,but the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas to the Senate. Despite suffering the election loss, Lincoln's powerful advocacygave him a national profile and a strong positive political reputation.
Following is a movie except of Raymond Massey portraying Abraham Lincoln. This scene dramatizes one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, which include that immortal line: