Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: You have got the devil in you,” say they, “and we will whip him out of you.” I have often been put thus to the torture…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
You have got the devil in you,” say they, “and we will whip him out of you.” I have often been put thus to the torture, on bare suspicion.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

In his autobiography, Douglass recounts the brutal and arbitrary methods slaveholders used to punish enslaved people, often based on mere suspicion.

Share

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

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.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

Father he might be, and not be husband, and could sell his own child without incurring reproach, if in its veins coursed one drop of African blood.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

Guilty or not guilty, to be accused was to be sure of a flogging.

gutenberg.org