If you allow one single germ, one single seed of slavery to remain in the soil of America... that germ will spring up, that noxious weed will thrive, and again stifle the growth, wither the leaves, blast the flowers and poison the fair fruits of freedom.

Mistress of herself: speeches and letters of Ernestine L. Rose, early women's rights leader (ed. The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2008)