The experiences of the millions of black Americans who lived in slavery in the United States were extraordinarily varied. Historians have found generalizations difficult. Yet one generalization can be offered. In their millions they disliked being slaves. Abundant evidence exists to show that slaves of all ages, of both sexes, from all parts of the Old South, whether they had attempted flight, insurrection or neither, were united in one sentiment: they wanted to be free. Writing from Liberia in 1857, former slave Daniel Williams reported that in the country which he had made his new home he was able to “enjoy some of that untrammeled liberty, which (as you may well know) my soul has so long and so ardently panted for”. Ten years earlier, Jonathan Thomas, an ex-slave, had been asked about his experiences in Kentucky. He acknowledged that he had been well treated. “‘Nevertheless’, Thomas said, ‘I had from childhood a great wish to be free’.” This was also the wish of John Anderson who had run away from Missouri to Canada “determined”, according to the interviewer, “to obtain his freedom, which from his youth he seems to have considered his inherent birthright. – He had formed the resolve to sacrifice his liberty only with his life”. It is clear that, for these slaves, good treatment did not reconcile them to their condition.