I believe you are talking about the time in which Frederick Douglass was alive, if not I apologize because this answer will be incorrect. If it is about Frederick Douglass then I believe this is the answer:
A white person in that time may use force or violence against others (specially African American slaves) because they are not working or doing labor as they had wanted it to be done. This would cause them to resort to violence to punish the slave.
I hope this helped!