Freeland—irreligious though he was—it must be stated, that he was the best master I ever had, until I became my own master, and assumed for myself, as I had a right to do, the responsibility of my own existence and the exercise of my own powers.
Douglass reflects on a relatively less harsh period of his enslavement, contrasting it with his ultimate declaration of self-mastery.
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More from Frederick Douglass
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
The good to be sought and the evil to be shunned were flung in the balance and weighed against each other.
It was perhaps better for the country and for mankind that the good man could not know the end from the beginning.