History Of The Day - Abraham Lincoln Delivers His "House Divided" Speech (1858)

Started by TFD, Jun 16, 2012, 07:01 AM

TFD

In 1858, Lincoln was nominated to challenge incumbent Illinois senator Stephen Douglas for his seat. At the state Republican convention, he accepted the nomination with a now-famous speech explaining his view that the US could not exist with both slave and free states—as "a house divided against itself cannot stand." He lost the race but won the presidency two years later. When and by whom had the same biblical reference previously been used to describe the national rift over slavery?



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