Lincoln ended up losing the seat to Douglas in 1858, but through a series of succinct and moving speeches that he gave during the race, he captured the attention of America. The "house divided" speech is Lincoln's first famous speech. He compared the nation to a house—a simple but powerful metaphor—and said the house "will become all one thing or all the other,” meaning that slavery would either be abolished completely in both the North and South, or would become completely legal. Two years later, in 1860, Lincoln would become president.

When Lincoln said the house "will become all one thing or all the other,” he meant that

A. America would eventually choose between him and Stephen Douglas for president.
B. all citizens either needed to become Democrats or Republicans for the country to be united.
C. slavery would either be abolished throughout America or would become legal everywhere.
D. America should remain divided because the North and South did not want the same things.