Slaveholders in the United States frequently claimed that Blacks were 'happy' to be slaves and could, in no way, function as free people as they would find freedom 'burdensome' – a claim fully articulated by slavery apologist T. R. Dew's A Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832. The records of the Underground Railroad, as well as other sources, contradict that claim.
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