On the record
The system of slavery had, on this soil and amid these surroundings, no economic justification, and the small number of Negroes here furnished no political arguments against them.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois
Source
gutenberg.orgThe system of slavery had, on this soil and amid these surroundings, no economic justification, and the small number of Negroes here furnished no political arguments against them.
Du Bois argues that slavery lacked economic justification in certain regions, emphasizing its moral implications.
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A million black men started with renewed zeal to vote themselves into the kingdom.
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