It probably won't surprise you to know that the "House Divided" speech wasn't received warmly everywhere, especially in the South. Given that Lincoln was straight-up left off the ballots in the next presidential election, this should not be breaking news.

Here's an example, reprinted in a Chicago paper, of how pro-slavery southerners saw the speech as well as others given during the Republican Convention:

Some of the speeches delivered in this Convention are exceedingly rich specimens of Western eloquence, and while they provoke a smile, it is well enough to remember that the sentiments uttered by these speakers show an unalterable hostility to Slavery, and a determination to drive the knife into the lungs of the South. (Source)

Slavery isn't about freeing the black people in bondage…it's about hurting the South. (Of course. Because that makes sense?)

The author describes Lincoln as "an unshorn Sampson of Free-soilism" (that description sounds pretty amazing, tbh), who is trying to "demolish the Democracy" by getting rid of slavery. (Source)

Yes, because keeping thousands of people enslaved is what democracy is all about.