"Men who live by robbing their fellowmen of their labor and liberty have forfeited their right to know anything of the thoughts, feelings, or purposes of those whom they rob and pluder. They have by the single act of slaveholding, voluntarily placed themselves beyond the laws of justice and honor, and have become only fitted for companionship with thieves and pirates-the common enemies of God and of all mankind. While it shall be considered right to protect oneself against thieves, burglars, robbery, and assassins, and to slay a wild beast in the act of devouring his human prey,it can never be wrong for the imbruted and whip-scarred slaves, or their friends, to hunt, harass, and even strike down the traffickers in human flesh. If any body is disposed to think less of me on account of this sentiment, or because I may have had a knowledge of what was about to occur, and did not assume the base and detestable character of an informer, he is a man whose good or bad opinion of me may be equally requgnant and despicable."
- Fredrick Douglas, taken from a letter to the editor of the Rochester Democrat and American written after having escaped to Canada