James McDowell was one of these, he says:
"You may place the slave where you please,-
You may dry up to the utmost the foundations of his feelings, the spring of his thought-
You may close upon his mind the avenue of knowledge and cloud it over with artificial might-
You may yoke him to your labor as an ox which liveth only to work and worketh only to live-
You may put him under any process, which, without destroying his value as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being-
You may do this and the idea that he was born to be free will survive all.
It is allied to his hope of immortality-
It is the ethical part of his nature which oppression cannot reach-
It is the torch lit up in his soul by the hand of Deity and never meant to be extinguished by the hand of man."
Ambler, C. (1933). A history of West Virginia, (pp. 230-231). New York: Prentice-Hall.
