We owe something to the slaves, south of Mason and Dixon’s line, as well as to those north of it; and, in discharging the duty of aiding the latter, on their way to freedom, we should be careful to do nothing which would be likely to hinder the former, in making their escape from slavery.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on the moral obligations of abolitionists to both escaping slaves and those still enslaved.
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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.
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