Analysis
In Chapters XIX–XXI, Bass’ great abolitionist ideal, “These niggers are human beings,” comes to joyful fruition in Solomon Northup’s life. Chapter XXII, though, is a reminder that this ideal is still yet unrealized in its fullness, even in the life of the newly freed Solomon Northup. The charade of Burch’s trial is a clear example of that. Even after showing unequivocal proof of his status as a free man and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the white slave trader, Burch, did indeed hold him captive and sell him into slavery into the South, the black man is unable to secure justice. The court, treating the free, honest black citizen as less credible than the lying, white criminal, actively prevents Northup from testifying on his own behalf. Instead, the white man is given the privilege of putting absurd words in the black man’s mouth, stating in effect that Northup wanted Burch to sell him into slavery in the South. And the court believes the lies, providing one last example of the moral cost that slavery has exacted on both the black and white races.
In the end, Northup gives one final, forceful argument against the evils of the slave industry, pointing not to rhetoric or debates, but lifting up his own life story as a vivid commentary for readers to consider. He writes in closing, “I have no comments to make upon the subject of Slavery. Those who read this book may form their own opinions of the ‘peculiar institution.’”
