Of all things that have been said of slavery to which exception has been taken by slaveholders, this, the charge of cruelty, stands foremost, and yet there is no charge capable of clearer demonstration, than that of the most barbarous inhumanity on the part of the slaveholders toward their slaves.
Douglass argues that among all criticisms of slavery, the charge of cruelty is the most vehemently denied by slaveholders, yet it is also the most easily proven.
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More from Frederick Douglass
Put us in Kansas or in Africa, and until we learn to save more than we spend, we are sure to sink and perish.
Taking all the circumstances into consideration, the colored people have no reason to despair.
Let us then, wherever we are, whether at the North or at the South, resolutely struggle on in the belief that there is a better day coming, and that we by patience, industry, uprightness, and economy may hasten that better day.