The landlord keeps books; the Negro does not; hence, no matter how hard he may work or how hard saving he may be, he is, in most cases, brought in debt at the end of the year, and once in debt he is fastened to the land as by hooks of steel.
Douglass describes the cycle of debt that traps Negro laborers to their landlords, illustrating systemic economic oppression.
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It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.
The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.
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.
A son of toil himself, he was linked in brotherly sympathy with the sons of toil in every loyal part of the republic.