the father and the child must be thus at the sole disposal of their
common master, it is evident, that the _authority_ of the one, as a
_parent_, and the _duty_ of the other, as a _child_, must
be instantly annihilated; rights and obligations, which, as they are
sounded in nature, are implanted in our feelings, and are established by
the voice of God, must contain in their annihilation a solid argument to
prove, that there cannot be any _property_ whatever in the _human
species_.

We may consider also, as a farther confirmation, that it is impossible,
in the nature of things, that _liberty_ can be _bought_ or
_sold_! It is neither _saleable_, nor _purchasable_. For
if any one man can have an absolute property in the liberty of another,
or, in other words, if he, who is called a _master_, can have a
_just_ right to command the actions of him, who is called a
_slave_, it is evident that the latter cannot be accountable for
those crimes, which the former may order him to commit. Now as every
reasonable being is accountable for his actions, it is evident, that
such a right cannot _justly_ exist, and that human liberty, of
course, is beyond the possibility either of _sale_ or _purchase_.
Add to this, that, whenever you sell the liberty of a man,
you have the power only of alluding to the _body_: the _mind_
cannot be confined or bound: it will be free, though its
mansion be beset with chains. But if, in every sale of the _human
species_, you are under the necessity of considering your slave in
this abstracted light; of alluding only to the body, and of making no
allusion to the mind; you are under the necessity also of treating him,
in the same moment, as a _brute_, and of abusing therefore that
nature, which cannot otherwise be considered, than in the double
capacity of _soul_ and _body_.