On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
He may, if he pleases, cripple or kill, without fear of consequences; except in so far as it may concern profit or loss.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgHe may, if he pleases, cripple or kill, without fear of consequences; except in so far as it may concern profit or loss.
Douglass exposes the chilling reality that a slaveholder's power over an enslaved person's life and body is limited only by economic considerations, not moral or legal ones.
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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.
It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.
It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.