Slavery has existed and ever will exist, in all ages, in some form, and some degree

[Slavery] has existed and ever will exist, in all ages, in some form, and some degree. I think slavery as much a correlative of liberty as cold is of heat. History, experience, observation, and reason, have taught me, that the torch of liberty has ever burnt brightest when surrounded by the dark and filthy yet nutritious [influence] of slavery. Nor do I believe in that [fanaticism] about the natural equality of man. I do not believe that all men are by nature equal, or that it is in the power of human art to make them so.
~ W.D. Sims (1832)