"[There] was one idea, rule or principle, call it what you will, which entirely took possession of me, even in childhood, and which stood out strongly, invincible against every argument drawn from nature and scripture in favor of slavery. What was the idea, rule, or principle? This it was: Every man is the original, rightful, and absolute owner of his own body; or in other words, every man is himself, is his self, if you please, and belongs to himself, and can only part from his self ownership, by the commission of a crime."
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Civil rights activistsEditors from the United StatesAbolitionistsPublishers from the United StatesJournalists from Maryland
Original Language: English
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“A Friendly Word to Maryland,” address delivered in Baltimore, Maryland on November 17, 1864, in Blassingame, Frederick Douglass Papers 4: 42
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass
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Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (c. February 1818 – 20 February 1895) was an American abolitionist, orator, author, editor, reformer, women's rights advocate, and statesman during the American Civil War. He was born a slave in Maryland, as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey.
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