page_title: United we stand, divided we fall
section_title: Use in U.S. history
hierarchical_section_title: United we stand, divided we fall / Use in U.S. history
caption_attribution_description: English: 'United We Stand' license plate designed by Troy Wingard for the South Carolina Department of Public Safety in 2002
context_page_description: "United we stand, divided we fall" is a phrase used in many different kinds of mottos, most often to inspire unity and collaboration. Its core concept lies in the collectivist notion that if individual members of a certain group with binding ideals – such as a union, coalition, confederation or alliance – work on their own instead of as a team, they are each doomed to fail and will all be defeated. The phrase is also often referred to with only the words "United we stand".
context_section_description: The first attributed use in modern times is to Founding Father John Dickinson in his pre-Revolutionary War song "The Liberty Song", first published on July 7, 1768 in both the Pennsylvania Journal and Pennsylvania Gazette newspapers. In the song Dickinson wrote:  "Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!".
  Kentucky entered the Union on June 1, 1792. A little over six months later, on December 20, 1792, the first Kentucky General Assembly adopted the official seal of the Commonwealth, including the state motto — United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
  Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, "Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs." At the end of his oration, Henry fell into the arms of bystanders and was carried, almost lifeless, into a nearby tavern. Two months afterward, he died.
  During his unsuccessful campaign against Stephen Douglas in 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech centered on the House divided analogy to illustrate the need for a universal decision on slavery across all states.
  Since 1942, this phrase has been the official non-Latin state motto of Kentucky. The U.S. state of Kentucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby, was particularly fond of the stanza from "The Liberty Song".
  On the Missouri flag, the phrase is also written around the center circle.
caption: 'United We Stand' license plate designed by Troy Wingard for the South Carolina Department of Public Safety in 2002
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