Not only the intelligence of the slave, but the instincts of humanity, must be barred by positive law, hence Breckenridge and his friends erected the flinty walls of the Constitution and the Supreme Court for the protection of slavery at the outset.
Douglass argues that slavery requires the suppression of human intelligence and natural instincts, leading its proponents to seek constitutional and judicial protections.
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He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.
The sentiment that brings us here to-day is one of the noblest that can stir and thrill the human heart.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.