"House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln
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The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the states by state constitutions and from most of the national territory by congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that congressional prohibition. This opened all the national territory to slavery and was the first point gained.
Slavery and the Constitution
I do not understand his declaration that he caresnot whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by himother than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon thepublic mind,--the principle for which he declares he has suffered somuch, and is ready to suffer to the end. Thatstruggle was made on a point--the right of the people to make their ownconstitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton constitution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up.
Dred Scott and Disunion
This shows exactly where we now are; and partially, also, whither we are tending. That struggle was made on a point – the right of a people to make their own constitution – upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, also, whither we are tending. He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and as such, how can he oppose the foreign slave trade -- how can he refuse that trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free" -- unless he does it as a protection to the home production? Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, to not care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. 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.
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Under the Dred Scott decision, "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding -- like the mould at the foundry served through one blast and fell back into loose sand -- helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. While the Nebraska Bill was passing through congress, a law case involving the question of a negroe's freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free state and then a territory covered by the congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave, for a long time in each, was passing through the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska bill and law suit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negroe's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision finally made in the case.
They remind us that he is a very great man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. But “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Judge Douglas, if not a dead lion for this work, is at least a caged and toothless one. His avowed mission is impressing the “public heart” to care nothing about it…. The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the national territory by Congressional prohibition.
Questions for Discussion
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. Welcome, or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political dynasty shall be met and overthrown. Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in all the States. Four days later, commenced the struggle, which ended in repealing that congressional prohibition. [64] A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas’ superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave trade.
After 100 years, Lincoln Memorial still beckons a nation divided - The Washington Post
After 100 years, Lincoln Memorial still beckons a nation divided.
Posted: Sun, 29 May 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
At length a squabble springs up between the president and the author of the Nebraska bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton Constitution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not understand his declaration that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the public mind—the principle for which he declares he has suffered so much, and is ready to suffer to the end. Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech on the evening of June 16, 1858 at the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. Earlier that day, Illinois Republicans had adopted an unprecedented endorsement for the local attorney and former congressman as their “first and only choice” in the forthcoming campaign to unseat incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The reason why such an endorsement was unusual was because in those days there was no tradition of public campaigning for US senate seats.
[2] We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. 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. Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by, its ownundoubted friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in thework, who do care for the result.
But so far, Congress only had acted; and an indorsement by the people,real or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained andgive chance for more. “Now all the sudden, Matt Gress is the savior for women’s rights? ” Fernandez asked, referring to the Republican who pushed last week for a vote to repeal. Now all three state lawmakers say that — if presented with the opportunity — they would be likely to vote to repeal a Civil War-era law that would soon ban abortion across the state. The British government earlier this week approved a law allowing the deportation of some migrants who enter the country illegally to Rwanda. Macron, an avid advocate of a united and assertive Europe, also rallied support for his centrist Renaissance party before the June 6-9 vote as far-right parties lead the moderate coalitions in the polls.
(2) That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," neither Congress nor a territorial legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the future. 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. [55] And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of “care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up,” shall gain upon the public mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained when made.
[66] He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and as such, how can he oppose the foreign slave trade – how can he refuse that trade in that “property” shall be “perfectly free” – unless he does it as a protection to the home production? [43] Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it, would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision. 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. He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and as such, how can he oppose the foreign slave trade—how can he refuse that trade in that “property” shall be “perfectly free”—unless he does it as a protection to the home production?
Republicans, including Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, on Wednesday blocked an effort to bring the repeal measure to the floor for a vote. Several Republicans who said they were likely to vote to repeal the law, including Dunn, voted against suspending House rules to allow the effort to move forward. Some considered it to be less politically risky to block the vote than to vote against the repeal.
[27] The reputed author of theNebraskabill finds an early occasion to make a speech at this capitol indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. Some Republicans maintain that a vote to repeal the 1864 law would not be at odds with their antiabortion beliefs because they are trying to be strategic about choosing a path forward that would prevent the most abortions. Some Republican resistance to the state Supreme Court ruling emerged almost immediately.
The people were to be left “perfectly free” “subject only to the Constitution.” What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche, for the Dred Scott decision to afterwards come in, and declare the perfect freedom of the people, to be just no freedom at all. [40] Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, to not care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. [9] 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 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. Auxiliary to all this, and working hand-in-hand with it, the Nebraskadoctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinionnot to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up.
[54] In what cases the power of the states is so restrained by the U.S. Constitution, is left an open question, precisely as the same question, as to the restraint on the power of the territories was left open in the Nebraska act. Put that and that together, and we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the United States does not permit a state to exclude slavery from its limits. [48] We can not absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the result of preconcert.
They wish us to infer all this from the fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the dynasty; and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point upon which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to care nothing about it. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is approaching?
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