It is my opinion, that thousands would escape from slavery who now remain there, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their families, relatives and friends.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on the emotional bonds that kept many enslaved people from attempting escape.
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More from Frederick Douglass
We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.
Father he might be, and not be husband, and could sell his own child without incurring reproach, if in its veins coursed one drop of African blood.
Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.
It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.