Abolition Quotes

• So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.

  William Wilberforce

  Mind, Wickedness, Determined

  256 Copy quote

• Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Life, Strong, Freedom

  Speech to 140th Indiana regiment, 17 Mar. 1865

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• I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  War, Struggle, Mean

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1862). “Democracy in America”, p.486

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• You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.

  William Wilberforce

  Inspirational, Peace, Abolition Of Slavery

  334 Copy quote

• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Inspiring, Women, 4th Of July

  Declaration of Sentiments, First Woman's Rights

  139 Copy quote

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• I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice... I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.

  William Lloyd Garrison

  Justice, Retreat, Excuse

  The Liberator, 1 Jan. 1831 (first issue)

  127 Copy quote

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• What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustices and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

  Frederick Douglass

  July, Years, Justice

  Speech, Rochester, N.Y., 5 July 1852

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• My views and feelings (are) in favor of the abolition of war-and I hope it is practicable, by improving the mind and morals of society, to lessen the disposition to war; but of its abolition I despair.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Military, War, Views

  7 Copy quote

• I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood.

  John Mason Brown

  Blood, Land, Civil War

  8 Copy quote

• Your national greatness, swelling vanity; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

  Frederick Douglass

  Religious, Prayer, Greatness

  What to the Slave is the 4th of July?, delivered 4 July 1852

  53 Copy quote

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• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  Letter to Henry L. Pierce and Others, 6 Apr. 1859

  283 Copy quote

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• The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

  Karl Marx

  Atheist, Philosophical, People

  149 Copy quote

• Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Abolition Of Slavery, Evil, Care

  Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks (1840). “The Works of Benjamin Franklin: Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private, Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author”, p.515

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• It is over one hundred years since the abolition of slavery. The Negro people in the United States have taken plenty and they have reached a stage where they have decided that they are not going to take any more.

  C. L. R. James

  Taken, Years, Abolition Of Slavery

  17 Copy quote

• The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Change, Heart, Democracy

  Mahatma Gandhi (2012). “The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas”, p.192, Vintage

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• Abolition of a woman's right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the State.

  Edward Abbey

  Pro Life, Abortion, Want

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.44, RosettaBooks

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• I should not regret a fair and full trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment.

  James Madison

  Regret, Punishment, Trials

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.342

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• I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a method of settling international disputes.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Military, War, Men

  16 Copy quote

• The Anarchists answer that the abolition of the State will leave in existence a defensive association, resting no longer on a compulsory but on a voluntary basis, which will restrain invaders by any means that may prove necessary.

  Benjamin Tucker

  Mean, Answers, May

  Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (1893). “Instead of a Book”, Ayer Company Pub

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• I believe that in the end the abolition of war, the maintenance of world peace, the adjustment of international questions by pacific means will come through the force of public opinion, which controls nations and peoples.

  Frank B. Kellogg

  War, Believe, Mean

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• I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.

  George Washington

  4th Of July, Men, Abolition Of Slavery

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1835). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private”, p.159

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• I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.

  Roger Nash Baldwin

  Class, Goal, Wealth

  19 Copy quote

• 'Til the infallibility of human judgements shall have been proved to me, I shall demand the abolition of the penalty of death.

  Marquis de Sade

  Judgement, Demand, Penalties

  10 Copy quote

• Human beings are not property. On the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, let us reaffirm the inherent dignity of all men, women and children. And let us redouble our efforts so that the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - 'no one shall be held in slavery or servitude' - ring true.

  Kofi Annan

  Children, Men, Rights

  23 Copy quote

• During practically all of my public life, I have been a sincere advocate of an agreement between the leading nations of the world to set up all the necessary international machinery that would bring about a practical abolition of war between civilized nations.

  George W. Norris

  War, Agreement, Civilized Nations

  8 Copy quote