Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: True as a means of destroying slavery, it was like an attempt to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon, but the thought…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1881
True as a means of destroying slavery, it was like an attempt to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon, but the thought that there was one less slave, and one more freeman,--having myself been a slave, and a fugitive slave--brought to my heart unspeakable joy.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

Douglass reflects on the Underground Railroad, acknowledging its limited scope in ending slavery but expressing profound personal joy in each individual's freedom, having been a fugitive slave himself.

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