Quote
By Abraham Lincoln
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.
- Source
- House Divided Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 · Vol. 2, pp. 461-469
- Read at
- Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
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About this quote
Lincoln gave this speech on June 16, 1858, at the close of the Illinois Republican state convention, which had named him its candidate for the U.S. Senate. The sentence just before this passage, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," is quoted from the Gospels.