Frederick Douglass: “They looked at slavery as a creature of law; we regarded it as a…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1881

They looked at slavery as a creature of law; we regarded it as a creature of public opinion.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

From his autobiography, Douglass contrasts two major abolitionist strategies for understanding and combating slavery.

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.

Jan 1, 1881

The black man (unlike the Indian) loves civilization.

Jan 1, 1881

The day we celebrate is preëminently the colored man’s day.

Jan 1, 1881

I looked into this kitchen with peculiar interest, and remembered that it was there I last saw my mother.

Frederick Douglass: “They looked at slavery as a creature of law; we regarded it as a creature of public opinion.”