Literature Study GuidesHouse Divided Speech

House Divided Speech | Study Guide

Abraham Lincoln

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Study Guide

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Course Hero. "House Divided Speech Study Guide." Course Hero. 24 June 2019. Web. 25 June 2022. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/House-Divided-Speech/>.

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APA

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Course Hero. (2019, June 24). House Divided Speech Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved June 25, 2022, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/House-Divided-Speech/

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Course Hero. "House Divided Speech Study Guide." June 24, 2019. Accessed June 25, 2022. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/House-Divided-Speech/.

Footnote

Course Hero, "House Divided Speech Study Guide," June 24, 2019, accessed June 25, 2022, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/House-Divided-Speech/.

Overview

Author

Abraham Lincoln

Year Delivered

1858

Type

Primary Source

Genre

History, Speech

At a Glance

In 1858, the Illinois Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) as its candidate for the U.S. Senate in a race against the incumbent, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas (1813–61).
In accepting the nomination, Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" Speech, named for a phrase he uses at the beginning to describe a country split over the issue of slavery.
Lincoln predicts that the country will eventually become all slave or all free.
In the speech, Lincoln charges Douglas and other Democrats with being part of a conspiracy to install slavery in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska as well as in the free states of the North.
Lincoln cites the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which was authored by Douglas, and the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision (1857) as key parts of this conspiracy.
Douglas won the election, but this speech and Lincoln's performance in a subsequent series of debates with Douglas helped propel him to national prominence. He became the Republican candidate for president in 1860—an election he won.

Summary

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Summary & Analysis

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