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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: "No sir; I never carry my free papers to sea with me."
"But you have something to show that you are a freeman, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir," I answered; "I have a paper with the American Eagle on it,
and that will carry me around the world."
With this I drew from my deep sailor's pocket my seaman's protection,
as before described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him,
and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment
of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced.
Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, he could not
have failed to discover that it called for a very different-looking
person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty
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