On the recordJanuary 1, 1845
There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgThere is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation.
From his autobiography, Douglass explains how public opinion and social norms in cities somewhat restrained slaveholders' cruelty.
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This was a new and special revelation, dispelling a painful mystery against which my youthful understanding had struggled, and struggled in vain, to wit, the white man’s power to perpetuate the enslavement of the black man.
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The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.