Summary

Abraham Lincoln begins his “A House Divided” speech by arguing that the US needs to assess what is happening in the country so that people know where they are heading.

He argues that the US is like a house divided between pro- and anti-slavery states. He predicts that while the Union will stand, one of the two sides will end up in control of it.

Arguing for his views, the speaker gives a detailed account of how the Kansas-Nebraska Act had been turned into a pro-slavery document through the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court.

He explains that only four days after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was adopted and while half of the US states had made slavery illegal, a battle to limit the power of Congress to ban slavery started. But pro-slavery advocates needed the support of the people. As a result,...