I contracted for it, worked for it, earned it, collected it; it was paid to me, and it was rightfully my own; and yet, upon every returning Saturday night, this money—my own hard earnings, every cent of it—was demanded of me, and taken from me by Master Hugh.
Douglass recounts the systematic theft of his wages by his master, highlighting the economic exploitation inherent in slavery.
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The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
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.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.