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 fallbut 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 -Abraham Lincoln , June 16, 1858 , at the Illinois Republican convention Use the quote above and your knowledge from the lesson for this short answer question . Answer in at least 2 sentences How do you think this relates to the arguments about statesrights and slavery before the Civil War? Can you explain why some states wanted more rights, and how this connected to the issue of slavery?
This quote by Abraham Lincoln highlights the underlying tensions between states' rights and the issue of slavery before the Civil War. Some states, particularly in the South, argued for the right to maintain slavery as a form of economic and social institution, while others, particularly in the North, believed in the abolition of slavery. This disagreement on the issue of slavery ultimately led to a division between the states and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.
