acceptance speech, Lincoln summarized his position on the expansion of slavery by quoting the words of Jesus: "A house divided against itself cannot stand" (Matthew 12:25). "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free," Lincoln declared.
Lincoln was morally opposed to slavery and politically opposed to any expansion of it. At issue was extension into the western territories. On October 16, 1854, in his "Peoria Speech", Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery, which he repeated in his route to presidency.
Answer: The American Revolution was a costly war and left the colonies in an economic depression. The debt and remaining tensions—perhaps best summarized by a conflict in Massachusetts known as Shays' Rebellion—led some founding political members in the U.S. to desire for more concentrated federal power.