Absolute and arbitrary power can never be maintained by one man over the body and soul of another man, without brutal chastisement and enormous cruelty.
 Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). copy citation

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Author Frederick Douglass
Source My Bondage and My Freedom
Topic cruelty power
Date 1855
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/202/202-h/202-h.htm

Context

“Remove the dreadful scourge—the plaited thong—the galling fetter—the accursed chain—and let the slaveholder rely solely upon moral and religious power, by which to secure obedience to his orders, and how long do you suppose a slave would remain on his plantation? The case only needs to be stated; it carries its own refutation with it. Absolute and arbitrary power can never be maintained by one man over the body and soul of another man, without brutal chastisement and enormous cruelty. To talk of kindness entering into a relation in which one party is robbed of wife, of children, of his hard earnings, of home, of friends, of society, of knowledge, and of all that makes this life desirable, is most absurd, wicked, and preposterous.” source