This more than all else told the thoughtful people of the North the kind of civilization to which they were linked, and how plainly it foreshadowed a conflict on a larger scale.
Douglass explains that the public reaction to the Sumner assault revealed to thoughtful Northerners the true nature of Southern civilization and the inevitability of a larger conflict.
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We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.