Frederick Douglass

He could create the offense whenever it pleased him.

Then I found, too, that there were puzzling exceptions to this theory of slavery, in the fact that all black people were not slaves, and all white people were not masters.

Besides, I could not tell how anybody could know that God made black people to be slaves.

Why are some people slaves and others masters?

Yet despite of this destitution there were many men and women among the slaves who were true and faithful to each other through life.

Slavery provided no means for the honorable perpetuation of the race.

The fear of God and the hope of heaven were sufficient to sustain many slave women amidst the snares and dangers of their strange lot; but they were ever at the mercy of the power, passion, and caprice of their owners.

It was one of the damning characteristics of slavery, that it robbed its victims of every earthly incentive to a holy life.

They could cripple or kill without fear of consequences.

They wielded the lash without any sense of responsibility.

This treatment was a part of the system, rather than a part of the man.

He was evidently a wretched man, at war with his own soul and all the world around him.