See this, my brethren!! Do you believe that this assertion is
swallowed by millions of the whites? Do you know that Mr. Jefferson
was one of as great characters as ever lived among the whites? See his
writings for the world, and public labors for the United States of
America. Do you believe that the assertions of such a man, will pass
away into oblivion unobserved by this people and the world? If you do
you are much mistaken--See how the American people treat us--have we
souls in our bodies? are we men who have any spirits at all? I know
that there are many _swell-bellied_ fellows among us whose greatest
object is to fill their stomachs. Such I do not mean--I am after those
who know and feel, that we are MEN as well as other people; to them, I
say, that unless we try to refute Mr. Jefferson's arguments respecting
us, we will only establish them.

But the slaves among the Romans. Every body who has read history,
knows, that as soon as a slave among the Romans obtained his freedom,
he could rise to the greatest eminence in the State, and there was no
law instituted to hinder a slave from buying his freedom. Have not the
Americans instituted laws to hinder us from obtaining our freedom. Do
any deny this charge? Read the laws of Virginia, North Carolina, &c.
Further: have not the Americans instituted laws to prohibit a man of
colour from obtaining and holding any office whatever, under the
government of the United States of America? Now, Mr. Jefferson tells
us that our condition is not so hard, as the slaves were under the
Romans!!!!

It is time for me to bring this article to a close. But before I close
it, I must observe to my brethren that at the close of the first
Revolution in this country with Great Britain, there were but thirteen