Question

STEP 1: Study these excerpts from speeches given by Lincoln and Douglas:

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 fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

~Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858

I believe that the Union can only be preserved by maintaining inviolate the Constitution of the United States as our fathers have made it. That Constitution guarantees to the people of every State the right to have slavery or not have it…each State being left free to decide for itself. The framers of that Constitution…well understood that each one of the thirteen States had distinct and separate interests, and required distinct and separate local laws and local institutions.

~Stephen A. Douglas, Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858



STEP 2:
Analyze the excerpt from Lincoln's speech by answering the following questions in one paragraph:
What is Lincoln's point of view regarding the future of the country?
Which statement from the excerpt shows his point of view?
Explain how the selected quote shows Lincoln's point of view.
What is an historical idea or event that supports Lincoln's point of view?
Analyze the excerpt from Douglas's speech by answering the following questions in one paragraph:
What is Douglas's point of view regarding the Constitution?
Which statement from the excerpt shows his point of view?
Explain how the selected quote shows Douglas's point of view.
What is an historical idea or event that supports Douglas's point of view?

Answer 1

Lincoln's point of view regarding the future of the country is that it cannot endure permanently if it is divided over slavery.

His statement that supports this is, “I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free.”

This quote makes it clear that despite Lincoln’s expectation that the Union would not be dissolved, he was well-aware of the danger that was posed by the issue of slavery, and the possibility of the nation becoming divided. He hoped that his speech would convince listeners to preserve the union by ending slavery.

The American Civil War began April 12,1861, about 3 years after Lincoln gave this speech, when the Confederate States broke away from the Union and fought for their right to continue the practice of slavery. Lincoln was correct that the nation could not endure half-slave and half-free. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation September 22, 1862 to free the slaves in the Confederate States. The Civil War ended May 9, 1865. The Us Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which was ratified in December, 1865 to end Slavery in all of the United States.

Douglas believed that the Constitution gave individual states the right to make their own laws and practices, even of slavery.

Douglas said, “That Constitution guarantees to the people of every State the right to have slavery or not have it…each State being left free to decide for itself.”

On March 11, 1861, The Confederate States approved their Constitution, with its preamble: “We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character.” Article 7, Section 9, however, contains provisions regarding slavery including "(4) No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed. In effect, this prohibited individual states from abolishing slavery."

Explanation: Some references from the History of the American Civil War, and the Constitution of the Confederate States of America are included to support the answers given.