There are seventy-two crimes in the state of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment.
Douglass highlights the extreme racial disparity in Virginia's legal code, where black men faced the death penalty for far more crimes than white men.
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For the moment the northern lamb was transformed into a lion, and his roar was terrible.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
True it is that this faith was many times shaken by passing events, but never destroyed.