Before his historic presidency, and before the debates that made him famous, Lincoln kicked off his senatorial campaign with a rousing speech in the Illinois capital.

In an eloquent and prescient bit of foresight, he proclaimed, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." And, no, he wasn't talking about a home where half of the family members love Game of Thrones and half of the fam says things like, "But I don't like fantasy. Aren't there dragons?"

Abe was talking about the issue of slavery that cleft the nation in two…and he'd soon learn just how right he was.