[Intro Spoken] "A house divided against itself cannot stand." [Build] 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 [Pre Drop] It will become All one thing Or all the other Either the opponents of slavery Will arrest its further spread Or its advocates Will push it forward Till it becomes lawful In every State [Riser] [DROP] A house divided Cannot stand A house divided Cannot stand One nation One future One choice at hand A house divided Cannot stand [Verse Spoken] Have we no tendency To the latter condition? Consider the machinery The Nebraska doctrine The Dred Scott decision Study its construction Trace the evidence If you can [Build] The people were promised Perfectly free Subject only To the Constitution Yet freedom Became no freedom at all [Riser] [DROP] A house divided Cannot stand A house divided Cannot stand History remembers Those who take a stand A house divided Cannot stand [Bridge Spoken] When we see A lot of framed timbers Joined together Every tenon Every mortise Exactly fitting We find it impossible Not to believe They all understood one another From the beginning [Atmospheric Breakdown] Welcome Or unwelcome Such a decision Is probably coming Unless The power Is met And overthrown [Final Build] That is what We have to do Did we brave all then To falter now? [Final Drop] We shall not fail If we stand firm We shall not fail Wise counsels May accelerate Mistakes delay But sooner or later The victory Is sure to come [Outro] "A house divided against itself... ...cannot stand."
