Economic changes made new mexico a difficult place to make a living
Giving workers more pay or less hours, or worst of all, letting them unionize, would severely impact your profit margins and production output (speaking as a factory owner of course)
Probably wanted to sleep in... I know I would
Douglass portrays the slave traders and agents for slave traders as men auctioning for cattle instead of human beings. The slave traders and agents for slave traders at no point stop to think what they are doing is wrong, instead, it is business as usual and they are eager to acquire misbehaved slaves at steep discounts, much the same as farmers will bid pennies on the dollar for underweight farm animals.