Question

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the House to fall—but I do expect it to cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of the ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South..
—Abraham Lincoln
1858

What is the main idea behind Lincoln's speech?
A.
The entire country has to be united as one.
B.
The North has to accept the South's opinions.
C.
The country should divide between North and South.
D.
Slavery is wrong and has to be eliminated.

Answer 1

D. Slavery is wrong and has to be eliminated.

Lincoln argues the nation cannot permanently remain half slave and half free and predicts it will become all one way or the other—favoring stopping slavery's spread and its eventual extinction.