House Divided Speech Themes

Well, obviously slavery is a major theme in this speech—it's basically the entire point of the speech. Slavery is, after all, why the "house" is "divided." The way Lincoln talks about it, though,...

In the antebellum period, politics and the legal system became super intertwined over the issue of the expansion of slavery. The way slavery was regulated was the ultimate talking point—or rather...

We all love a nice walk down memory lane, but Lincoln's focus on the past is less nostalgic than practical. Much of the "House Divided" speech recounts the past few years to show how the U.S. has a...

It's pretty clear that Lincoln doesn't like the divided house. He's not standing up in front of the Republicans saying "guys, this is awesome, let's keep it up." A lot of his dissatisfaction with t...

A politician playing on his audience's fears? No, that can't be right, they would never do such a thing. Except all the time, always. In this case, Lincoln shares the fear of his audience: that the...