On the record
The obvious intention of the law prevailed, but now the plain intention of the law has been strangled by the letter of the law.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “The obvious intention of the law prevailed, but now the plain intention of the law has been strangled by the letter of…”
Editor's note · Context
Douglass critiques the legal system for prioritizing the letter of the law over its intended purpose, suggesting a failure to uphold justice.
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Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer’s whip can keep them from voting their convictions.
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No power beneath the sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle people prosperous, or a licentious people happy.
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None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.
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