Political Quotes

On the record
The first objection, founded on alleged danger to the master, most generally takes the extravagant form, that the slave, if released from his present condition, would “cut his master’s throat.” Here is a blatant paradox, which can pass for reason only among those who have lost their reason.
Said by
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Sumner critiques the irrational fear that freed slaves would harm their former masters, labeling it a paradox.

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