It was the plain duty of the colonies to crush the trade and the system in its infancy: they preferred to enrich themselves on its profits.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “It was the plain duty of the colonies to crush the trade and the system in its infancy: they preferred to enrich…”
Editor's note · Context
This quote highlights Du Bois's belief that the colonies had a moral obligation to oppose slavery from its inception.
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To him, so far as he thought and dreamed, slavery was indeed the sum of all villainies, the cause of all sorrow, the root of all prejudice; Emancipation was the key to a promised land of sweeter beauty than ever stretched before the eyes…
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