Lincoln's House Divided Speech facts for kids

Abraham Lincoln in May 1858

The House Divided Speech was a famous talk given by Abraham Lincoln on June 16, 1858. At this time, Lincoln was running to become a US senator for Illinois. He gave the speech in Springfield, at what was then the Illinois State Capitol.

Lincoln had just been chosen by the Illinois Republican Party to run for senator. After a dinner break, he gave his speech to close the convention. Newspapers quickly printed the full speech. It was the start of his campaign against Stephen A. Douglas, who was the senator at the time. Their campaign included the well-known Lincoln–Douglas debates. Later, when Lincoln ran for president in 1860, he included this speech in a collection of his talks.

In his speech, Lincoln warned about the dangers of slavery tearing the country apart. It helped unite Republicans in the North. This speech, along with his Gettysburg Address and second inaugural address, became one of his most famous.

The speech begins with these powerful words:

"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 lawful in all the States, old as well as new – North as well as South.

Lincoln wanted to show how he was different from Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas believed in "popular sovereignty." This meant that people in new territories should vote to decide if they would allow slavery or not. Douglas thought this idea would stop conflicts about slavery.

But Lincoln argued that a Supreme Court decision, the Dred Scott ruling, had changed everything. This ruling said that Congress could not stop slavery in any U.S. territory. Lincoln believed this left the country with only two choices: it would become either entirely slave states or entirely free states. He felt that the North and South had such different views on slavery that the country could not continue to function as it was.

What Lincoln Said

The former Illinois House of Representatives chamber, where Lincoln gave his speech.

Lincoln's speech explained his concerns about the future of the United States. He believed the nation could not survive if it remained divided over slavery.

• "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Lincoln used this famous quote to explain his main point. He said the government could not last forever if it was "half slave and half free." He didn't think the country would break apart, but he did expect it would stop being divided. It would either become all free or all slave.
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott Decision: Lincoln pointed to two important events. The Kansas–Nebraska Act (a law from 1854) allowed people in new territories to decide if they wanted slavery. This was called "popular sovereignty." Lincoln argued that this idea was twisted. It meant that if one person wanted to enslave another, no one else could object.
• Then came the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision in 1857. This ruling said that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens. It also said that Congress could not ban slavery in U.S. territories. Lincoln worried that this decision, combined with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, was pushing the country toward making slavery legal everywhere.
• Lincoln feared that the Supreme Court might even decide that states could not ban slavery within their own borders. He warned that people might "lie down pleasantly dreaming" that a state like Missouri was becoming free, only to "awake to the reality" that even a free state like Illinois had become a slave state.

Where the Phrase "A House Divided" Came From

The idea of "a house divided against itself" was not new. It has appeared in many important texts and speeches throughout history.

• The Bible: This phrase appears three times in the Bible. For example, in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 3:25), Jesus says, "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand."
• Early Writers:
  • Saint Augustine, a famous writer from long ago, used the phrase in his book Confessions to describe his own inner struggles.
  • Thomas Hobbes, an English writer, used a similar idea in his 1651 book Leviathan.
  • Thomas Paine used it in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense to describe the English government.
• In the United States:
  • John Jay, one of America's Founding Fathers, used a similar phrase in Federalist No. 4.
  • During the War of 1812, Abigail Adams wrote in a letter, "... A house divided upon itself – and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of subduing us."
  • Sam Houston famously said in 1850, "A nation divided against itself cannot stand."
• Closer to Lincoln's Time: The phrase was used often in 1858 when people talked about "Bleeding Kansas." This was a violent time when people fought over whether Kansas would be a slave or free state. Newspapers like the Brooklyn Evening Star and New York Daily Herald used the phrase in their articles.

Lincoln himself had used the phrase in a different way in 1843. So, while the phrase was old, Lincoln used it in a powerful new way to warn about the future of the United States and slavery.

See also

• Abraham Lincoln on slavery
• Origins of the American Civil War