This was the cause of deep consternation.
The people of the north, and free people generally, I think, have less attachment to the places where they are born and brought up, than have the slaves.

Their freedom to go and come,{138} to be here and there, as they list, prevents any extravagant attachment to any one particular place, in their case.

On the other hand, the slave is a fixture; he has no choice, no goal, no destination; but is pegged down to a single spot, and must take root here, or nowhere.

The idea of removal elsewhere, comes, generally, in the shape of a threat, and in punishment of crime.
It is, therefore, attended with fear and dread.

A slave seldom thinks of bettering his condition by being sold, and hence he looks upon separation from his native place, with none of the enthusiasm which animates the bosoms of young freemen, when they contemplate a life in the far west, or in some distant country where they intend to rise to wealth and distinction.