Frederick Douglass: “Hereditary bondmen, know ye not Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?”

We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.

It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.

We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.

But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.