You may hurl a man so low, beneath the level of his kind, that he loses all just ideas of his natural position; but elevate him a little, and the clear conception of rights arises to life and power, and leads him onward.
Douglass describes how extreme oppression can suppress a person's sense of self-worth, but even a small elevation in condition can awaken a powerful awareness of inherent rights.
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Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.