Civil society takes away something from a man’s rights, but it adds immensely to his powers; it makes him stronger than any individual oppressor, and, on the whole, it protects its members far better than they could protect themselves.
Editor's note · Context
Mann asserts that while civil society limits some individual rights, it enhances collective power and protection.
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Of all the states in this Union, not one has on the whole such various and abundant resources for manufacturing as our own Virginia, both East and West.
It is only in the land of slaves that they are blotted out and annihilated.
This is the reciprocity of slave law.--to be forever liable to be proved guilty, but never able to prove himself innocent; to be subject to all punishments, but, through his own oath, to no protection.
They cannot do otherwise with laborers who work by compulsion, for the benefit only of their masters, and whose sole interest in the matter is to do as little and to consume as much as possible.





