He is a piece of property—a marketable commodity, in the language of the law, to be bought or sold at the will and caprice of the master who claims him to be his property; he is spoken of, thought of, and treated as property.
Douglass elaborates on the legal and practical reality of a slave as mere property, subject entirely to the master's will.
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A poverty-stricken class will be an ignorant and despised class, and no amount of sentiment can make it otherwise.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.
None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.
It was born in the tempest and whirlwind of war, and has lived in a storm of violence and blood.