Abraham Lincoln's House Divided

Lincoln used his background as an outlet when making most of his decisions. During two occasions, he addressed his respect for Kentucky and its citizens, but needed them to stand behind his vision. In Sept of 1859, he addressed how he believed slavery was wrong and wish for it not to spread . In 1860, Lincoln wanted to succeed Pennsylvania. In Feb of 1861, he had the same speech. Many people were concerned about what Lincoln could actually do. They did not forget that Lincoln had little to no experience with law. He only had up to eighteen months of formal schooling. Despite these facts, Lincoln was regarded as “Candidate of pride, wealth and aristocratic family distinction”. Better than most union leaders he appreciated conditions in the south… and the advantages of being able to call on the old southern leaders. He was very generous and considerate. Lincoln was for the North but he was also connected to the South fundamentally and emotionally. In 1864, a northern delegation conferred with him concerning escaped slaves coming within union lines. Lincoln was once again facing issues he did not see coming his way. From left to right, people were expecting him to back up his word. He had to prove to them he could get the job done, regardless of the obstacles he may

The Lincoln Douglas debates were a series of several debates that took place all over the state of Illinois. In these debates, two men argued in order to express their beliefs and standpoints on certain issues, primarily slavery, in an attempt to be elected into a seat in the U.S. Senate. The two men that participated in these debates were

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were one of the most significant events in American political history. It led to high tensions between the North and the South and it ended up being one of the main causes of the civil war. The Lincoln–Douglas Debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Lincoln first challenged Douglas to the debates in 1858. It consisted of seven, three hour public debates in total. Both republican and democratic citizens from all over the country came to watch the fascinating discussion between the two. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas engaged in the prominent Lincoln-Douglas Debates during the election of 1860, for the public debates led to high controversy between Northerners and Southerners.

The Democratic Party split in 1860 over the slavery issue. The Democrats from the Northern states were against slavery or at least the expansion of slavery in the new territories while the Democrats from the Southern states wanted to preserve slavery in their states and were for extending it in the new territories. On April 23, 1860, the Democrats met in Charleston, South Carolina with the goals of finalizing their platform and nominating a presidential candidate. In the North the Democratic candidate was the moderate Stephen Douglas. Voters in the South chose John Breckenridge, a defender of "Southern rights". The Southern Democrats hated Douglas, although he was not completely opposed to slavery in the West, he wanted to limit the institution 's use in the territories, by initiating popular sovereignty. A key play by Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 1858 helped the Southerners realize this. Because the Democrats were split between different candidates and the Republican Party was united behind Abraham Lincoln, they won more electoral votes. Therefore, Lincoln became president.

The coexistence of a slave owning south with an increasingly anti-slavery north made conflict likely. It was formidable to decide whether such states like the ones gained from the Mexican War should be slavery or anti-slavery, which either way would disrupt the balance between the slave and antislavery states. This divided the Union and Confederacy even further. Later on, President Lincoln sought not to propose federal laws against slavery where it already existed, but he had in his 1858 House Divided speech, expressed a desire to “arrest the further spread of it “(Doc. G). Much of the political battle in the 1850s focused on the expansion of slavery into the newly created territories. All of the organized territories were likely to become free soil states which increased the southern movement toward secession. Both north and south assumed that if slavery could not expand it would become nonexistent. Southern fears of losing control of the federal government to anti-slavery forces, and northern feared that the slave power already controlled the government; these thoughts brought the sectional disagreements. The morality of slavery, the scope of democracy, and the economic merits of free labor versus slave plantations caused the Whig and know nothing parties to collapse and the free soil party to arrive, ruining the resolve of compromise.

During 1860, there was an election for a new president of the United States. One of the candidates was Abraham Lincoln. He was from a largely known anti-slavery Republican Party. The south part of the United States was worried about Lincoln probability to win the election as their economy mostly depended on the labour slaves. At the end of 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the election and was elected as the new President of the United States. Lincoln later looked against slavery as contradict to the South where the internal slave trade in the southern states were strongly continued. Lincoln later banned slavery in all the U.S. territories.

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. Their debates are admittedly the most famous political debates in American history. The biggest topic of debate during this time was slavery, therefore Lincoln and Douglas not only differed in their views on slavery, but also attempted to discredit the other candidate’s views by bringing up past speeches. Slavery was not the only topic during these debates, there were also debates on equality and state power over slavery.

In 1858 the Republican party of Illinois nominated Abraham Lincoln to be their candidate for the United States Senate. Lincoln accepted the nomination by giving what would become arguably the most famous acceptance speech for any office in this nation's history, the House Divided Speech. Between August 21 and October 15 the two candidates, Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, engaged in a series of seven debates outlining their positions on slavery, equal rights, and the role of national government.

"Douglas basically explained in the Freeport Doctrine his belief that the people in a new territory be able to decide whether or not they would allow slavery."(What Were the Results of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates?) The Freeport Doctrine was the subject Douglas spoke about. It made people uneasy."Lincoln argued that while he wanted to end the extension of slavery into US territories"(What Were the Results of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates?) It was important, and a historical debate time. As Lincoln spoke his famous quotes a nation cannot stand as a divided nation, and everyone had rights through the Declaration Of Independence.The problem also was extension to the different territories for slavery. The Debates were not to fix slavery, but to talk about what would make it better. What laws could change it, or stopping slavery from happening in many other

The causes of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was in the year of 1846, Stephen A. Douglas was first elected to the United States Senate. Douglas was looking for reelection for a third term. During the time that he was in the Senate, the issue of slavery was raised several times, mainly with the respect of the Compromise of 1850. When Douglas was a chairman of the committee on territories, Douglas did not agree for an approach to slavery called popular sovereignty, giving the local territories to choose slavery. In 1854, Stephen A. Douglas was successful with the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Abraham Lincoln was just like Douglas, he was also elected to Congress in 1846. Lincoln served one two-year term in the House of Representatives.

With the Illinois senator seat available, in 1858 Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln both ran for the seat addressing the issue of slavery in the form of debates known as the Lincoln Douglas Debates.

Lincoln supported the Whig Party, was frequently asked to speak at various events and was often sought out for advice. He had definite opinions and people that knew him knew well where he stood on political topics. The scope of the country was changing and the opinions of slavery and sectional tensions were growing. The passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 allowed residents to decide if they wanted their state to be free or accept slavery. Even the Supreme Court was getting involved and ruling that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did not apply to African Americans. Our nation was dividing right before Lincoln’s eyes. Lincoln was not in favor of slavery, but he also did not favor abolitionists. He is quoted as saying “In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.” “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In 1850 he delivered a speech about the issue of slavery and his personal opinion. “We must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the Constitution, and the peace of the country both forbid us – We must not withhold an

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 was a very influential event that occurred in American history and has much significance, even till this day. The debates were in contest for the United States Senate seat in Illinois. The main topic involved in the debates was based around slavery and the separation of the union because of it. Both Lincoln and Douglas refer to the U.S. Constitution in their remarks and state different opinions surrounding what they interpret the meaning of certain parts regarding slavery to be.

Two years before the Civil War officially began, people were already wary of the problems that slavery could cause in the nation. In his “House Divided” Speech at the Republican Convention in 1858, Abraham Lincoln warned that slavery would cause a war, saying that the two opinions on the matter were too different to

The House Divided Speech was addressed by Abraham Lincoln on June 1958. He delivered the speech upon his acceptance of Illinois Republican Party’s nomination as the senator of the state. Thus the speech became a very important launching campaign for his success in politics thus giving him a national limelight that saw him in the elections to the presidency in 1860.The speech primarily addressed on the issue of slavery in America. Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech aimed at establishing his strong beliefs towards the acts of slavery. The speech was also meant to point out a differentiating factor of beliefs from Stephen Douglas and the rest of the top governmental