Moderate
I know that many say that they are willing, perhaps the majority of the people, that we should enjoy our rights and privileges as they do. If so, I would ask why are not we protected in our persons and property throughout the Union? Is it not because there reigns in the breast of many who are leaders, a most unrighteous, unbecoming and impure black principle, and as corrupt and unholy as it can be-while these very same unfeeling, self-esteemed characters pretend to take the skin as a pretext to keep us from our unalienable and lawful rights? I would ask you if you would like to be disfranchised from all your rights, merely because your skin is white, and for no other crime? I'll venture to say, these very characters who hold the skin to be such a barrier in the way, would be the first to cry out, injustice! Awful injustice! ?
Correct answer: D. William Apess
- A. Fredrick Douglass
- B. John Winthrop
- C. Benjamin Franklin
- D. William Apess
Explanation
The passage comes from William Apess, a Pequot writer and activist, who condemned racial discrimination and defended Native American rights. The references to skin colour, disfranchisement, and equal rights are characteristic of his protest writing.
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Practise American Literature
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