“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” So said Abraham Lincoln in his “House Divided” speech, given 165 years. Many describe contemporary America in the same terms. We’re a house divided against itself and in danger of collapse. We see dire prognostics about America’s future due to an array of differences — religious, racial and economic, to name a few. Assessing the accuracy of these dark prophesies requires understanding Lincoln’s words and the state of America’s division today.
When Lincoln used the phrase “a house divided,” he did not intend to equate it with all distinction and disagreement. Our political principles and structures presuppose that we won’t all hold the exact same principles or draw the exact same conclusions. While defending the Constitution, Publius, the pen name for Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, in Federalist No. 10 argues that people’s different circumstances, fallible reason and selfish passions always birth disagreement. A polity could achieve full conformity only through tyrannical means that infringe on liberty and equality.
As free beings, we can and must live with some level of divergent views. That’s one reason to have elections, using them as an orderly and peaceful way to work out our disagreements.
