"There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

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Query XVIII.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia