With a book in my hand so redolent of the principles of liberty, with a perception of my own human nature and the facts of my past and present experience, I was equal to a contest with the religious advocates of slavery, whether white or black, for blindness in this matter was not confined to the white people.
From his autobiography, Douglass describes how his understanding of liberty and his own experience equipped him to challenge religious arguments for slavery.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.
It was perhaps better for the country and for mankind that the good man could not know the end from the beginning.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.