jun 16, 1858 - “House Divided” speech
Description:
In this opening speech of the 1858 US Senate campaign against Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln identified slavery as a moral and a political issue that threatened the existence of the United States. Invoking the famous biblical phrase, “A house divided against itself can not stand,” he declared, “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 put it in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawfull in all the states, old, as well as new. “
Added to timeline:
APUSH Unit 5
Date:
