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Quotes about slavery

52 quotes from 23 people

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Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one human being to hate another by reason of his race or color.
Booker T. Washington1856–1915An Address on Abraham Lincoln before the Republican Club of New York City (12 February 1909)
- Race
Negro Slavery is an evil of Colossal Magnitude.
John Adams1735–1826Letter to William Tudor, Jr., 20 November 1819. Partially quoted in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2000) by Joseph J. Ellis, p. 240
The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom.
John Quincy Adams1767–1848Journal of John Quincy Adams (11 December 1838)
- Liberty
The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Second Inaugural Address (1873)
- Race
As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.”
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Letter to Joshua F. Speed (24 August 1855)
- America
- Race
The thought of being under absolute compulsion, the plaything of another, is unendurable for a human being.
Simone Weil1909–1943Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 142 (1972 edition)
- Freedom
We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Conversation with Otto von Bismarck, Berlin (June 1878), as recorded in John Russell Young, Around the World with General Grant (1879), vol. 1, p. 416
I shudder when I think of the calamities which slavery is likely to produce in this country.
John Adams1735–1826Letter to Louisa Catherine Adams (13 January 1820)
- America
I have, through my whole life, held the practice of slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never owned a negro or any other slave.
John Adams1735–1826Letter to Robert J. Evans (8 June 1819)
When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Statement to an Indiana Regiment passing through Washington (17 March 1865)
- Clever Jabs
In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress (1862)
- America
- Freedom
I believe that to have interfered as I have done⁠—as I have always freely admitted I have done⁠—in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right.
John Brown1800–1859John Brown’s Last Speech (1859)
- Justice
Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments,⁠—I submit; so let it be done!
John Brown1800–1859John Brown’s Last Speech (1859)
- Justice
- Life & Death
Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume II, Chapter XXIn context
The number of those men who know how to use wholly irresponsible power humanely and generously is small. Everybody knows this, and the slave knows it best of all
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume II, Chapter XXIXIn context
- Power