Question

Read the quotes below.
Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The things itself is the essence of all abuse.

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness.

- Frederick Douglass

Convince me that one man may rightfully make another man his slave, and I will no longer subscribe to the Declaration of Independence. Convince me that liberty is not the inalienable birthright of every human being, of whatever complexion or clime, and I will give that instrument to the consuming fire. I do not know how to espouse freedom and slavery together.

- William Lloyd Garrison

I must insist upon it that every friend of slavery is an enemy to my American liberty, for American Liberty is founded on the rights of man, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence - "That all men are by nature equally free."

- Elihu Embree

Analyze what these quotes all have in common.

These quotes were made by anti-abolitionists.

These quotes were made by abolitionists.

These quotes were made to oppose the institution of slavery.

These quotes were made in favor of keeping the institution of slavery.

Answer 1

Correct answer(s): These quotes were made by abolitionists — and they were made to oppose the institution of slavery.

All four speakers (Stowe, Douglass, Garrison, Embree) were prominent abolitionists, and each quote explicitly attacks slavery: Stowe calls it “the essence of all abuse,” Douglass rejects the idea that slave songs mean contentment, Garrison rejects any reconciliation of slavery with the Declaration of Independence, and Embree links support for slavery to opposition to American liberty.