House divided speech 1858 a an address given by

20. House Divided Speech, 1858
a. An address given by Abraham Lincoln (who would later become President of the United States) on June
16, 1858, at what was then the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, upon accepting the Illinois Republican
Party's nomination as that state's United States senator .
b. The speech became the launching point for his unsuccessful campaign for the Senate seat held by Stephen
.
22. Harper’s Ferry, 1859
a. An effort by white abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a
United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown's raid, accompanied by 20 men in his party, was
defeated by a platoon of U.S. Marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee.
b. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his
formative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts, to join him in his raid, but Tubman was
prevented by illness, and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown's plan would fail.
c. John Brown was found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia and was hanged on
December 2. (This execution was witnessed by the actor John Wilkes Booth , who would later assassinate
President Abraham Lincoln .)
23. Abraham Lincoln’s Backgroung (1809-1865)
a. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky , Lincoln grew up on the western frontier in Kentucky and Indiana. Largely
self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, and a member of the Illinois House of
Representatives, where he served from 1834 to 1846. Elected to the United States House of