Frederick Douglass: “What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being.”

Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.

True it is that this faith was many times shaken by passing events, but never destroyed.

Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.

He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.