I am inclined, on the whole, to believe it a tolerably good nature, yet instances do occur which oblige me to concede that men can and do act from mere personal and selfish motives.
Douglass shares his considered view on human nature, acknowledging both its general goodness and the reality of selfish actions.
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They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with their enemies against their friends.
In any fair condition of things the men who till the soil will become proprietors of the soil.
Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer’s whip can keep them from voting their convictions.