You well know that slaveholders, in answer to the abolitionists, are wont to boast of the fidelity and attachment of their slaves; and you also well know, that among themselves they freely avow their dread of these same faithful and attached slaves, and are fertile in expedients to guard against their vengeance.
Lewis Tappan: “You well know that slaveholders, in answer to the abolitionists, are wont to boast of the fidelity and attachment of…”
Editor's note · Context
Tappan points out the contradiction in slaveholders' claims of loyalty from slaves while fearing their potential for revolt.
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Statesmen may differ about policy, or the means to be employed in the promotion of the public good, but surely they ought to be agreed as to what prosperity means.
No other cause can be assigned than slavery, which drives from your borders many of the virtuous and enterprising, and at the same time deters emigrants from other States and from foreign countries from settling among you.
They are the nobility of the south, and they find it expedient to forget that there are any commoners.
The very advertisements in your newspapers show that, for a vast proportion of the comforts and conveniences of life, you are dependent on Northern manufacturers and mechanics.