The Columbian Orator Quotes

“Wikipedia: The Columbian Orator”

“The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights.”

“To scatter the clouds of ignorance and error from the atmosphere of reason; to remove the film of prejudice from the mental eye; and thus to irradiate the benighted mind with the cheering beams of truth, is at once the business and the glory of eloquence.”

“Slave: What have you done, what can you do for me, that will compensate for the liberty which you have taken away?
Master: I did not take it away. You were a slave when I fairly purchased you.
Slave: Did I give my consent to the purchase?
Master: You had no consent to give. You had already lost the right of disposing of yourself.
Slave: I had lost the power, but how the right?”

“Master: It is in the order of Providence that one man should become subservient to another. It ever has been so, and ever will be. I found the custom, and did not make it.
Slave: You cannot but be sensible, that the robber who puts a pistol to your breast may make just the same plea. Providence gives him a power over your life and property; it gave my enemies a power over my liberty. But it has also given me legs to escape with; and what should prevent me from using them?”