ipl-logo

How Did Abraham Lincoln A House Divided

1815 Words8 Pages

Throughout the history of America, the meaning of what it means to be an American has changed. The times have progressed over hundreds of years. For the most part, these changes have been gradual and slow. Some of the biggest changes in history, took place in the civil war era. In Abraham Lincolns A House Divided, he talks about the major discourse over the topic of slavery. This was a time when the current American values and what American is becoming, was up for debate. In the late 1850s, the Americans had been divided on the issue of slavery. It was so deeply divided it threatened to tear apart the American people. Before Lincoln was President, he was an Illinois senator doing the best he could to try to repair the American way of life. …show more content…

The tensions where so high, Lincoln knew it could be the collapse over everything that America has built up. Lincoln knew something had to be done to save America from an impending crisis. The most famous line from this speech that summarizes how Lincoln felt on the situation is, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Lincoln, 732) He knew the South was unwilling to give up their slaves, and the north was unwilling to let them have slaves. At this point in American history, people where very opinionated over this, and Lincoln was trying to stop and impending civil war. Even if it meant the outcome he wanted wasn’t …show more content…

Lincoln was well educated over current case-law problems pertaining too slave and free states. Over one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court, the Dred Scott decision threatened to bring slavery into the North. Lincoln was stressing the fact that if something wasn’t done, slavery would no doubt trickle out of the South, and into the rest of America. While the Supreme Court was fumbling and backtracking, there was another law that brought slavery closer. The Kansas-Nebraska bill overrode previous legislation and allowed white male residents to vote on whether to permit slavery therein. Lincoln was stressing the fact that this is real and

Show More
Related
377 Words | 2 Pages

During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

Read More
219 Words | 1 Pages

He made it very clear that he didn’t want slavery to spread and would work to see that slavery didn’t spread. President Lincoln said if he could save the Union by keeping slavery where it already existed, he would do that. Saving the Union was his top priority. However, the South didn’t trust President Lincoln to keep his word.

Read More
332 Words | 2 Pages

Lincoln tried to convince himself that the South could keep slavery and that eventually slavery would just fade away. However, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 changed the Presidents outlook

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Isidore E. Sharpe Professor Tracy Moore HIS 104: American History 29 November 2017 Summary Paper on House Divided, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Slavery had been the United States economic machine, most would speak of it as their bread and butter. Every President in America history had owned slaves. Now, slavery would soon become a house divider, where some Americans believed that slavery was unconstitutional and should be abolished. As of the 1840s slavery was just in words to some people, but slavery would be at the center of nation’s government, along with the annexation of Texas.

Read More
523 Words | 3 Pages

He says, “If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them.” This persuaded the border states to stay with the North because the only issue they had was keeping slavery. In addition, when to publish the Emancipation Proclamation was an issue, but Lincoln was told not to do so. He waited to publish the Emancipation Proclamation after a victory because if he issued it after a loss, he would have seemed

Read More
301 Words | 2 Pages

With the increasingly polarizing debates and discussions surrounding slavery as the Civil War approached, the North and South were at a breaking point. Abraham Lincoln's election into office, the Dred Scott decision, and Bleeding Kansas brought the country at odds with itself and many people believed that this problem could only be solved through violence and division. When Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the President of the United States, the South was aggravated and not willing to have a president that did not share their opinions on slavery. Because Lincoln was so outspoken against the institution of slavery, the South felt directly attacked. Their way of life since slavery was introduced was threatened.

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

We can state the obvious, that we are not all perfect, and we certainly say things we don’t mean. Was President Lincoln really a racist? There is documented text that could point evidence that leans in either direction. Things said in the heat of long debates and drawn out conversations that ran for hours, does not make such a monumental man a poor or hypocritical person. Looking at the Constitutional right that “All men are created equal” to the thought that things won’t change without action, and to a man with no moral obligation other than to share his personal option that slavery was wrong, we dive into President Lincoln.

Read More
1253 Words | 6 Pages

Before he fought for the Senate seat in Illinois and before he was elected President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln was merely a man from Illinois who cultivated a set of beliefs and morals that would guide him and his country through one of the most difficult times in its history. One of the most revered presidents in American history, Lincoln emancipated southern slaves and lead his country through a civil war. It was his responses to the Dred Scott case and Senator Douglas and his debates throughout the 1850’s that helped shape the type of president, he would become. Lincoln recognized the burgeoning divide in American society just prior to the Lincoln-Douglas debates and addressed this disunion in order to garner the attention

Read More
136 Words | 1 Pages

At the start of the Civil War, Lincoln used the power of the North’s navy. The navy of the North was really strong compared to that of the South’s naval force. The North ended up closing the ports of the Southern states, which prevented the South from getting war supplies from Europe. Lincoln also realized that the Mississippi River was for splitting the South in half. Lincoln also had internal problems of his role as commander-in-chief.

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln also spoke out to the legislatures about outlawing slavery. Both candidates fired back at each other about who was right and who wasn’t, they also seemed to like “calling out” each other's plans and futuristic

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

In this election, Lincoln and Douglas had some series of debates over slavery. Although Lincoln never exactly stated that he wanted to abolish slavery, much of the South believed he was an Abolitionist. At his speech in 1858 in Springfield Illinois, Lincoln wanted the nation to be one thing or another, meaning all free or all slave, because it couldn’t keep going on how it was, else it would fall apart. In his speech, Lincoln said, “...but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other” (Doc G).

Read More
688 Words | 3 Pages

While looking at a map of the electoral college vote (Doc. H), it is clear that the country was geographically divided, and this had the result of increased feelings of separation for the South, from the rest of the country. Lincoln realized that no more compromises could be made, and during a speech in Alton, Illonois, he tried to turn the issues away from the main topic which resulted in all the compromises, slavery (Doc. G). In a way he was making another compromise, but the South did not like it one bit, so they later succeed from the

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is

Read More
657 Words | 3 Pages

It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis The purpose of this speech is detailed in the time period. This speech was written/spoken at the end of the American Civil war. It is President Lincoln’s way of putting a tentative end to the war and a start to the recovery period. He is still oppressing the south in his diction when he states “Both parties deprecated war: but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.

Read More

More about How Did Abraham Lincoln A House Divided

Related Topics

Open Document