Possible Clues:

• Biblical phrase in Lincoln's historic 6/16/1858 speech, and what each set of circled letters contains
• One cannot stand Bill going round hideous dive drunk (with 10 members of 9 to be found in the grid)
• Start of a Lincoln line, and a hint to the circled letters
• It 'cannot stand' per 1-Down ... or a hint to 20-, 25- and 47-Across
• Lincoln said it 'cannot stand'
• Lincoln's description of pre-Civil War America … or a hint to the circled letters
• Pearl S. Buck book