I believe it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.
In a debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln reiterated his belief that the nation could not long survive as both slave and free, quoting scripture to emphasize the impending crisis.
Share
More from Abraham Lincoln
He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget: "When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no…
The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?
Unlike a case of war between independent nations, there is no organized organ for us to treat with,--no one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man.
Other voices in this conversation
