It was quite natural for Master Thomas to presume I was feigning sickness to escape work, for he probably thought that were he in the place of a slave, with no wages for his work, no praise for well-doing, no motive for toil but the lash, he would try every possible scheme by which to escape labor.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on the natural human desire to avoid unrewarded labor, even for slaveholders.
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More from Frederick Douglass
Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.
It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.