“They show as little Reason as Conscience who put the matter by with saying—"Men, in some cases, are lawfully made Slaves, and why may not these?" So men, in some cases, are lawfully put to death, deprived of their goods, without their consent; may any man, therefore, be treated so, without any conviction of desert? Nor is this plea mended by adding—"They are set forth to us as slaves, and we buy them without farther inquiry, let the sellers see to it." Such men may as well join with a known band of robbers, buy their ill-got goods, and help on the trade; ignorance is no more pleadable in one case than the other; the sellers plainly own how they obtain them. But none can lawfully buy without evidence that they are not concurring with Men-Stealers; and as the true owner has a right to reclaim his goods that were stolen, and sold; so the slave, who is proper owner of his freedom, has a right to reclaim it, however often sold.”
1770s, African Slavery in America (March 1775)
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Thomas Paine 262
English and American political activist 1737–1809Related quotes

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Source: Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787), p. 4
11 How. St. Tr. 1208.
Trial of Sir Edward Hales (1686)

Source: Liberalism (1911), Chapter II, The Elements of Liberalism, p. 17.