A privileged former slave won freedom through exceptionalist claims, not universal rights

Evidence

His very marginality within American culture meant that he was a useful vessel for his white allies. Impressing his patrons by writing in Arabic, he could rely on his education to demonstrate the differences between him and most other slaves. Invoking a royal heritage, he set himself apart from other black people. His campaign for liberty was based not on the republican idea that all people deserved to be free, but rather on exceptionalist claims that he was robbed of rightful place in society. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 372