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House Divided Speech. Springfield, Illinois June 16, 1858. On June 16, 1858 more than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois, statehouse for the Republican State Convention. At 5:00 p.m. they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas.
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- HISTORY Vault: Abraham Lincoln
At a time when many white politicians wanted to compromise on slavery, Abraham Lincoln said that wasn't possible.
When Abraham Lincoln said “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” he wasn’t talking about the kind of political divisions common today. Americans may differ sharply on issues like immigration and abortion, but there is no single issue that geographically and economically divides the country in the same way that slavery did in the 1850s. Back then, the U.S. was so divided that many feared it would break out in civil war—a fear that Lincoln unwittingly stoked.
Lincoln’s now-famous “house divided” line, which is drawn from the Bible, was actually part of a campaign speech he delivered at the 1858 Illinois Republican State Convention. Lincoln, then a relatively unknown politician, had just won the nomination to run for U.S. Senate against one of the most important politicians in the country, Stephen A. Douglas.
Stephen A. Douglas
In general, Democrats then were the party of the slave-holding south and Republicans were the party of the free north that opposed slavery’s expansion. Yet Republicans weren’t too concerned about Lincoln’s race because they thought Senator Douglas, a Democrat, might be open to working with them against expanding slavery.
“Douglas had been seeking a middle ground between North and South, some way of comprising on the slavery issue,” says Eric Foner, a history professor at Columbia University who has written several books about slavery and the Civil War.
A definitive biography of the 16th U.S. president, the man who led the country during its bloodiest war and greatest crisis.
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- Becky Little
The House Divided Speech was an address given by senatorial candidate and future president of the United States Abraham Lincoln, on June 16, 1858, at what was then the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, after he had accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination as that state's US senator. The nomination of Lincoln was the final item ...
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Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech on the evening of June 16, 1858 at the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. It was, in effect, an acceptance speech.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) delivered the so-called House Divided speech on June 16th, 1858, at the Illinois Republican State Convention to an audience of around 1,000. Lincoln issued these statements in acceptance of his nomination to run as the Republican candidate for a US Senate seat in the 1858 election.
Abraham Lincoln gave his now iconic "House Divided" speech upon receiving the Illinois Republican Party's nomination for a seat in the United States Senate in 1858. In the race that ensued, Lincoln would face off against Democrat Stephen Douglas in a series of highly publicized debates about national issues, most importantly the institution of ...
Jun 10, 2013 · House Divided Speech (June 16, 1858) Download. On This Date. HD Daily Report, June 16, 1858. Image Gallery. Lincoln in 1858. Roger Taney in 1858. Stephen Douglas in 1858. Dred Scott. Kansas territory map. State Capitol, Springfield, IL. Springfield State Capitol (interior) Sectionalism cartoon (1856) Sectionalism cartoon (1860)
