Abraham Lincoln

On June 16, 1858, the Republican Party of Illinois convened at Springfield to nominate its candidate for the U.S. Senate. Taking a first step toward the popular election of U.S. senators, the convention bypassed the state legislature and unanimously nominated Abraham Lincoln as its candidate. Anticipating his nomination, Lincoln had been preparing his acceptance speech a month before the convention, writing out parts on scraps of paper and depositing them in his stovepipe hat. It would be known to history as the “House Divided” Speech.

The speech is divided into three parts. The opening section discusses the crisis of a nation torn apart by slavery. The second part details the involvement of northern Democrats in a scheme to nationalize slavery. The closing section opposes Stephen Douglas, Lincoln’s opponent in the election, as leader of the antislavery forces.

While Lincoln ended up losing the election to Douglas, the “House Divided” Speech and the ensuing Lincoln-Douglas debates catapulted him to national prominence. By spring 1860 the debates had been published in book form. Selling for fifty cents a copy, the first run of thirty thousand copies quickly sold out, and subsequent printings also sold quickly. While it is too much to attribute Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency to the debates, the speech and the subsequent debates advertised Lincoln throughout the North and made his name a household word.

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See essential quotes from the speech

For immediate download: Expert analysis of the speech by Robert R. Montgomery