Abraham Lincoln, c. 1860, after 1858 original
Fetter’s Picture Gallery, after Christopher S. German
Ambrotype
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”
Politically, Lincoln started as a Whig, the party of economic growth, territorial expansion, and social mobility. But the Whigs foundered on the issue of slavery, which for Lincoln created a social system that favored a small group of aristocrats.
Lincoln presciently stated, “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” and the Republican Party’s formation was both a cause and a consequence of the nation’s split.
