The highways were happy to him because the poet was happy when he traveled them (option 2). He is recalling the place, his past and the memories he had in that place. Even thought, now he is an adult and he is not able to come back. it seems that the "returning" to it is not literal but he is not able to go back to his childhood.
I believe that that answer would be C.
The new Republican Party was vehemently against extending slavery into the territories.
