I remember the chain, the gag, the bloody whip; the death-like gloom overshadowing the broken spirit of the fettered bondman; the appalling liability of his being torn away from wife and children, and sold like a beast in the market.
From his autobiography, Douglass recounts the specific, brutal instruments and conditions of slavery that he personally remembers and condemns.
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For the moment the northern lamb was transformed into a lion, and his roar was terrible.
But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.