In 1858, Abraham Lincoln delivered the House Divided speech at the Republican State Convention. In this speech, Lincoln addressed the issue of slavery which divided the North and the South. Lincoln hoped to use his speech to rouse the people to recognize the magnitude of the ongoing debates over the legality of slavery. Lincoln uses a metaphor to express his point:
"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 alike lawful in
all the States, old as well as new North as well as South."
In this metaphor, the "house" refers to the unity of the United States of America and that house was divided between the opponents and advocates of slavery. To Lincoln's belief, the ideals of freedom for all and the institution of slavery could not coexist morally, socially, or legally under one nation. Basically, Lincoln was saying that slavery had to be nationally accepted or denied. Although this speech was given prior to the start of the Civil War, Lincoln's "House Divided" speech foreshadowed the Civil War; as southern states started to secede from the United States because of their approval of slavery.
"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 alike lawful in
all the States, old as well as new North as well as South."
In this metaphor, the "house" refers to the unity of the United States of America and that house was divided between the opponents and advocates of slavery. To Lincoln's belief, the ideals of freedom for all and the institution of slavery could not coexist morally, socially, or legally under one nation. Basically, Lincoln was saying that slavery had to be nationally accepted or denied. Although this speech was given prior to the start of the Civil War, Lincoln's "House Divided" speech foreshadowed the Civil War; as southern states started to secede from the United States because of their approval of slavery.