“House Divided”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Abraham Lincoln was a major influential individual in the late 1850’s early 60’s. He had strong morals and beliefs and rose to conquer what he knew was unacceptable in society. Lincoln was affiliated with the Whig party which would later become to the Republican party. On June 16, 1858 in Springfield, Illinois Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech that left a lasting impression on many Americans. He was a firm believer in that slavery was evil to man kind and the ideas of it could not coexist morally, socially, or legally. He delivered this speech when he was running against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln had recently accepted the Illinois Republican …show more content…
With territory expanding westward he feared that slavery would expand as well and corrupt America. Quoted from his speech Lincoln says, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the 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.” This is a well known figure of speech referring to the New Testament. In this direct quote he clearly states that by having a split country will lead to chaos and further corruption. When Lincoln talks about the House he is referring to the Union. His main goal was to preserve the Union and protect the freedom of slaves. He believes that as a country slavery needs to be abolished or continued as a whole. He also realized that only the federal Government had the power to end slavery. Lincoln feared that after the recent supreme court decision of the Dred Scott case would slavery would become legal in every state. Specifically, in Lincolns speech he states, “…what Dred Scott’s master might Lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves in Illinois, or in any other free State.” His respect of Dred Scott and other slaves in shown
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Abraham Lincoln was a major influential individual in the late 1850’s early 60’s. He had strong morals and beliefs and rose to conquer what he knew was unacceptable in society. Lincoln was affiliated with the Whig party which would later become to the Republican party. On June 16, 1858 in Springfield, Illinois Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech that left a lasting impression on many Americans. He was a firm believer in that slavery was evil to man kind and the ideas of it could not coexist morally, socially, or legally. He delivered this speech when he was running against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln had recently accepted the Illinois Republican …show more content…
With territory expanding westward he feared that slavery would expand as well and corrupt America. Quoted from his speech Lincoln says, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the 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.” This is a well known figure of speech referring to the New Testament. In this direct quote he clearly states that by having a split country will lead to chaos and further corruption. When Lincoln talks about the House he is referring to the Union. His main goal was to preserve the Union and protect the freedom of slaves. He believes that as a country slavery needs to be abolished or continued as a whole. He also realized that only the federal Government had the power to end slavery. Lincoln feared that after the recent supreme court decision of the Dred Scott case would slavery would become legal in every state. Specifically, in Lincolns speech he states, “…what Dred Scott’s master might Lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves in Illinois, or in any other free State.” His respect of Dred Scott and other slaves in shown