The government, I fear, was still clinging to the idea that positions of honor in the service should be occupied by white men, and that it would not do to inaugurate just then the policy of perfect equality.
Douglass expresses his concern that the government was hesitant to implement full racial equality in military leadership roles during the Civil War.
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It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.
A son of toil himself, he was linked in brotherly sympathy with the sons of toil in every loyal part of the republic.
My grandmother was all the world to me, and the thought of being separated from her was a most unwelcome suggestion to my affections and hopes.