Excerpt from The House of the House Divided In 1923, Henry A. Converse, long a leader of the Sangamon County Bar, pre pared the first and only complete history of the Sangamon County court house which served as the capitol of the State of Illinois from its erection until the pres ent state house was first occupied in 1876. This history, entitled The House of the House Divided, was read at a meeting of the Lincoln Centennial Associa tion, held in the venerable building itself on February 12, 1924. It was printed in the first volume of papers of the Association, a series that made a notable addi tion to the body of material dealing with Lincoln and his times. The volume has long been out of print and its historical importance alone would justify, in fact require, its reissue. To honor Mr. Converse, who died December 27, 1951, the Sangamon County Bar Association now reprints Mr. Converse's scholarly paper. It is a fitting memorial to an illustrious member. Mr. Converse's active professional life was closely bound up with the building. To him the building served as a constant reminder of the part that his forebears, their contemporaries and members of the bar played in the development of this state. On two occasions in the 1940's the voters of Sangamon County rejected a proposition to provide a site for a new county court house to enable restoration of the present structure as a historical monument. Henry A. Converse and John Palmer Snigg, who shortly before his death in 1952 suggested this memorial, led a small but devoted group in urging adoption of the proposition. In reissuing the history of the old capitol the Sangamon County Bar Associa tion is honoring one of its renowned members and also making available the his tory of one of the classic and memorable buildings in downstate Illinois. It is hoped the publication will help and encourage those interested in cherishing and preserving the history of this community and the State of Illinois. In 1957 the City of Springfield appointed a Historical Monuments Commis sion of seven members (frank R. Sullivan, chairman) in the interest of the preservation of its historical monuments. The Commission is undertaking to carry on the work commenced by Mr. Converse. Its first resolution paid its respects to the historical significance of the House Divided speech delivered in the Old Capitol by Abraham Lincoln on June 16, 1858, and recommended that steps be taken to restore the old Capitol to its original condition as it was in Lincoln's Day. Appropriately this history is being published on the centennial anniversary of the House Divided speech. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.