Display or distribute to each student a copy of Abraham Lincoln’s notes made for preparing his acceptance speech for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 1858.  As a whole class discuss the following questions:  

• What did Lincoln mean when he said, “ A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  
• Why did Lincoln refer to Kansas and Dred Scott? 
• What historical context or evidence do we have that supports Lincoln’s statement that, given the situation in 1858, slavery was bound to become legal everywhere or nowhere?