Now, sir, neither the principle nor the subordinate objects here declared, can be at all gained by the slave power, and for this reason: It involves the proposition to padlock the lips of the whites, in order to secure the fetters on the limbs of the blacks.
Douglass argues that suppressing anti-slavery discussion among white people is impossible because it is inherently linked to the enslavement of Black people.
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His iron sentences, cold and harsh, sunk like heavy weights deep into my heart, and stirred up within me a rebellion not soon to be allayed.
It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.
Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.