Speech · 1858

“House Divided” Speech

Speaking to the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, which had named him its choice for the U.S. Senate, Lincoln warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and that the government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. He argued that the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision pointed toward making slavery lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South.

““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.”

Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1858

Why it matters

The speech opened Lincoln’s 1858 campaign against Senator Stephen A. Douglas, including their famous debates; Lincoln lost the Senate seat but emerged as a national leader of the Republican Party.

Read the full text at nps.gov

Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

slavery union elections lincoln-douglas debates

From the library

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