The impression was cunningly made that slavery was the only power that could prevent the laboring white man from falling to the level of the slave’s poverty and degradation.
Douglass describes the deceptive narrative promoted by slaveholders to convince poor white laborers that slavery protected their social standing.
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We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.
But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.