On June 16 , 1858 , a beardlessAbraham Lincolntook the stage at theIllinois State Capitolin Springfield to officially live with his nominating address for U.S. senator on behalf of the land ’s fresh formed Republican Party .
In a short speech whose renown might match that of theGettysburg Address , the futurepresidentwarned the “ man of the Convention ” that the country ’s divided posture on thrall could only lead to civil war .
“ ‘ A mansion divided against itself can not resist , ’ ” Lincolndeclared . “ I believe this governing can not go , for good half hard worker and half free . ”
These prophetic words issue forth from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament , in which Jesus inform the Pharisees that “ Every realm divide against itself is impart to forlornness , and every city or house divided against itself will not stand . ” They now rank among the most iconic in the history of Americanpolitics .
But while the idiomatic expression has since been quote by countless politicians in and outside the U.S. , and blend in on to invigorate popular telecasting appearance like HBO’sHouse of the Dragon(which also revolves around a civil war ) , its original signification is not as obvious as one might think .
What “A House Divided” Really Means
A vulgar misconception about the House Divided actor’s line is that Lincoln believed the Union would put down itself as a result of its unfitness to regulate the spread of slavery . This is not the case , however . “ I do not expect the Union to be dissolved , ” Lincoln emphasize . “ I do not wait the house to fall — but I do bear it will cease to be divided . ”
surcease would add up through civil warfare : a declaration by Northern and Southern leaders to settle through fighting what they could not tally on in conversation . A succession of ineffective and heatedly contested laws — let in the 1820Missouri Compromise , which criminalize slavery in component of the recently acquiredLouisiana Territory , among other action — bespeak to Lincoln that the pro - slavery elements of U.S. society could not coexist under the same roof as emancipationist element .
If the house — the Union — was to remain integral , one side had to subjugate the other .
In 1858 , three years before Confederate troopsopened fireon Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston , South Carolina , Lincoln did not yet know which side would at long last issue triumphant . Still , he knew there could only be one successor .
“ Either the opponents of thralldom , will arrest the further spread of it , ” the future president proclaim , “ and place it where the public mind shall perch in the notion that it is in line of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will tug forward , till it shall become likewise rule-governed in all the States , old as well as raw — North as well as South . ”
In addition to word a vision of the future , Lincoln ’s House Divided oral communication have heading at his senatorial rival , the incumbent Democrat Stephen Douglas . Whereas Lincoln advocated for federal control over the spread of bondage , thus maintaining the balance of exponent outlined by the Missouri Compromise , Douglas championed popular sovereignty , the estimate that new territories should be able to decide for themselves whether thraldom would be legal within their perimeter .
Lincoln ’s thoughts on popular sovereignty — a organization which , it should be noted , only took into explanation the suffrage of white , landowning serviceman — were greatly influenced by theDred Scottdecision , the outcome of a grammatical case play to the U.S. Supreme Court a yr prior . Scott and his wife Harriet , an enslaved Black couple , litigate for exemption when their enslavers pick out them from Missouri , a state where slavery was effectual , to Illinois , a lieu where it was not .
When the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Scott ’s enslavers , it essentiallyopened the doorfor southerly slaveholders to take people they enslaved into liberal territories . This move convinced Lincoln that the balance of powers could not be maintain , and that the full U.S. would soon end up either permitting thralldom or outlawing it completely .
“ We shall lie down cheerily daydream that the people of Missouri are on the sceptre of make their state free , ” he declare , referencing both Scott and Douglas , “ and we shall awake to the reality , instead , that the Supreme Court has made Illinois a striver State . ”
Lincoln’s Legacy
Although Lincoln lost the senatorial race to Douglas , his House Divided lecture , and the equally advertise Lincoln - Douglas debates that observe pave the direction for Lincoln ’s successful presidential campaign in 1860 . Running against Unionist John Bell and Southern Democrat John C. Breckenridge , the more magnetic and well - poetize Lincoln advance the White House with 180 electoral votes — overshadow the 12 pimp by Douglas , who alsoran for officeon the northerly popular ticket .
Lincoln ’s oratorial eloquence was equal only by his ESP . As foretold , the U.S. readily fall into polite war after his inauguration , result in the abolition ofchattel slaveryfollowing the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 .
As a democracy with only two consequential political party , the U.S. has repeatedly totter on the edge of civil agitation . Whentensions flare , commentators and candidatesregularly echoLincoln ’s famous words . Now , all they need to do is take heed to them .
