My great and exceeding joy over these stupendous achievements, especially over the abolition of slavery (which had been the deepest desire and the great labor of my life), was slightly tinged with a feeling of sadness.
Reflecting on the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Douglass describes his mixed emotions about the culmination of his life's work.
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We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.
But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.