<P> During the War of 1812 a line appeared in a letter from Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren: "...A house divided upon itself - and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of subduing us ." </P> <P> The "house divided" phrase had been used by Lincoln himself in another context in 1843 . </P> <P> Famously, eight years before Lincoln's speech, during the Senate debate on the Compromise of 1850, Sam Houston had proclaimed: "A nation divided against itself cannot stand ." </P>

Who said a house devided against itself cannot stand