Photo by Bob Sofaly
Though the message of civility seems to have been lost throughout the country, this billboard off Highway 21 near Dale challenges all to find that civility within. Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech was made June 16, 1858 at the Illinois Statehouse during the Republican Party’s Illinois state convention. Lincoln was running for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln argued that the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1857 meant the U.S. Constitution did not apply to Black men or women and opened the doors to legal slavery even in the North. He argued that the division between North and South regarding slavery would not allow for the Union to continue as a free country. Lincoln’s argument was considered too radical at the time. Lincoln lost the Senate race but eventually won the Presidency. The billboard was funded by www.passiton.com which according to its website, creates the “public service campaign from The Foundation for a Better Life.”
