“House Divided Speech” Given to the Republican Convention of the State of Illinois1858
By: Abraham Lincoln, candidate for the U.S. Senate
What does Lincoln mean when he says "A house divided
Who is Abraham Lincoln at this point in history?
against itself cannot stand.“
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot
endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of
slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind
shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its
advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states,
old as well as new, North as well as South.
How might Southerners feel about the last sentence?
What does Lincoln predict will happen to the
United States?
What about Northerners?
Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
By the President of the United States of America: Abraham Lincoln
Did this happen before, during or after
the Civil War?
What is “Emancipation?”
“...And by virtue of the power, and for the
purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that
all persons held as slaves within said
designated States, and parts of States, are,
and henceforward shall be free; and that the
Executive government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities
thereof, will recognize and maintain the
freedom of said persons…”
Who is the “Executive Government?
What happens to the
Slaves?
Were the slaves in the South actually freed? Why/Why not?
[Consider the date]
Abraham Lincoln’s
Second Inaugural Address Saturday, March 4, 1865
What is the occasion for
the speech?
What is Lincoln saying needs to happen to slavery?
“If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those
offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs
come, but which, having continued through His appointed
time, He now wills to remove,... With malice toward none,
with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives
us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we
are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his
orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
What does Lincoln want to happen between the North & the South after
the war is over?
What does “Malice toward none” mean in this context?
Juneteenth
Galveston, TX
June 19, 1865
What “Proclamation” is the poster
referring to?
How much time had passed since the
Emancipation Proclamation?
What would now happen to all slaves in
Texas?
Why did it take so long Texas to hear about the
Emancipation Proclamation?
Who passed the Proclamation?
The Civil War ended in April 1865. Therefore, were
the slaves in Texas actually freed on Juneteenth?
Why?
Thirteenth Amendment
(Ratified December 1865)
Section 1
Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
What does this Amendment do to
Slavery?
Who are citizens? [According to the amendment]
Fourteenth Amendment
(Ratified July 1868)
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No
State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.
What specific right is being addressed?
Who is now able to vote according to the 15th
Amendment?
Fifteenth Amendment
(Ratified February 1870)
Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
state on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
Did this include women, men, or both?