On the recordJuly 1, 1854
By this rule you are to be slave to the first man you meet with a fairer skin than your own.
Source
gutenberg.orgAbraham Lincoln: “By this rule you are to be slave to the first man you meet with a fairer skin than your own.”
Editor's note · Context
Following a rhetorical question about race as a basis for slavery, Lincoln demonstrates the absurd personal implication of such a rule.
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