John Brown's last speech explained

See also: Virginia v. John Brown. John Brown's last speech, so called by his first biographer, James Redpath, was delivered on November 2, 1859. John Brown was being sentenced in a courtroom packed with whites in Charles Town, Virginia, after his conviction for murder, treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, and inciting a slave insurrection.[1] According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the speech's only equal in American oratory is the Gettysburg Address.[2] [3] [4]

As was his custom, Brown spoke extemporaneously and without notes, although he had evidently thought about what he would say and he knew the opportunity was coming. Transcribed by a phonographer (reporter-stenographer), which newspapers used for important speeches, it was on the next day's front page of countless newspapers nationwide, including the New York Times.

The American Anti-Slavery Society then predicted that his execution would begin his martyrdom, or that potential clemency would remove "so much capital [...] out of the abolition sails".

Content

Virginia court procedure required that defendants found guilty should be asked if there was any reason the sentence should not be imposed. Asked this by the clerk, Brown immediately rose, and in a clear, distinct voice said this:[5]

Courtroom reaction

While Brown was speaking, there was "perfect quiet" in the courtroom. Under Virginia law, one month must elapse between a death sentence and its execution, so the judge, Richard Parker, then sentenced Brown to be hanged one month later, on December 2, and specified that, for the sake of example, the execution would be made more public than usual.[1]

The courtroom continued silence after the reading of the death sentence. "One indecent fellow, behind the Judge's chair, shouted and clapped hands jubilantly; but he was indignantly checked, and in a manner that induced him to believe that he would do best to retire."[1] "This undecorum was promptly suppressed and much regret was expressed by citizens at its occurrence."[6]

Publication of the speech

There were multiple reporters covering Brown's trial. Thanks to the recently invented telegraph, they sent out immediate copy. Brown's speech was distributed by the Associated Press and was the next day, November 3, on the front page of the New York Times,[5] the Richmond Dispatch,[7] the Detroit Free Press, the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, and other newspapers. Over the next few days, the full text appeared in approximately 50 other papers across the country. Wm. Lloyd Garrison printed it broadside as a poster and sold it in the Liberators office in Boston. The American Anti-Slavery Society published it in a pamphlet, with extracts from Brown's letters. A verse on the title page, "He, being dead, yet speaketh", compares Brown with Abel, killed by Cain.[8]

Immediate reactions

Supporting Brown

In the evening of December 1, as many of the papers reported together with Brown's speech, the abolitionist Wendell Phillips gave a speech in Brooklyn, in Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church, an important abolitionist center and Underground Railroad station.[9] Though the talk had been scheduled in advance, on "The Lesson of the Hour", the topic of John Brown had not been announced and was a surprise to those present. According to Phillips, in the lead story on page 1 of the New York Herald:

Frederick Douglass, having escaped to Canada from a Virginia warrant, also referred to "the thing calling itself the Government of Virginia, but which in fact is but an organized conspiracy by one party of the people against the other and weaker".[10]

On November 1, in Boston, the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society resolved to observe "that tragical event" of Brown's forthcoming execution. The yet undefined action of observation would be "the first step towards making Brown a Martyr, but should Governor Wise see fit to reprieve him, so much capital will be taken out of the abolition sails".

Hostile to Brown

Andrew Hunter, the Prosecuting Attorney

The prosecuting attorney, Andrew Hunter, published 30 years later his recollections of the speech:

Rev. Samuel Leech

In his firsthand account written and published 50 years later, Leech stated the following."Brown's statement was not exactly sustained by the facts. Why had he collected the Sharpe's rifles, the pikes, the kegs of powder, many thousands of caps and much war-like material at the Kennedy farm? Why did he and other armed men break into the United States Armory and Arsenal, make portholes in the engine house, shoot and kill citizens, and surround their own imprisoned persons with prominent men as hostages? But everybody in the court house believed the old man when he said that he did everything with a solitary motive, the liberation of the slaves."[11]

Modern commentary

Modern critics have challenged the veracity of John Brown's framing of events; Alfred Kazin called it Brown's "great, lying speech".[12] Brown's biographer David S. Reynolds claims, "The Gettysburg Address similarly glossed over disturbing details in the interest of making a higher point. Lincoln left out the bloody horrors of the Civil War, just as Brown minimized his bloody tactics."[13]

Also according to Reynolds, with this speech, both North and South stopped seeing Brown as only an irritating extremist. It was clear that he was a Christian and an American. The South scrambled to denounce him as simply a villain. The North began to regard him as a hero.[13]

The cross † indicates that the speech appears on page 1.
The asterisk * indicates that the speech is accompanied by discussion or other related news.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Redpath , James . The Public Life of Captain John Brown. 1860. Thayer and Eldridge. Boston.
  2. Book: Emerson , Ralph Waldo . Ralph Waldo Emerson

    . Ralph Waldo Emerson. Remarks at the funeral services [for Abraham Lincoln] held in Concord, April 19, 1865. 1909. Houghton Mifflin. 334. Boston and New York. Centenary Edition. The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 11.

  3. Book: Nudelman , Franny . John Brown's body: slavery, violence & the culture of war . 36. . University of North Carolina Press. 2004 . 0807828831.
  4. Book: Sanborn , F. B. . Franklin Benjamin Sanborn

    . Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Recollections of Seventy Years. 1. 252. 1909. Boston. Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press.

  5. News: Virginia rebellion. November 3, 1859. New York Times. 1. newspapers.com. August 10, 2020. December 3, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201203050122/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57062971/john-browns-last-speech/. live.
  6. News: Sentence of Capt. Brown. Athens Southern Banner (Athens, Georgia). November 10, 1859. newspaperarchive.com. 4. December 11, 2020. July 4, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210704164430/https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-southern-banner-nov-10-1859-p-4/. live.
  7. News: The Trial at Charlestown. Richmond Dispatch. 1. November 4, 1859. newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Brown , John . John Brown (abolitionist)

    . Testimonies of Capt. John Brown, at Harper's Ferry, with his address to the court ... 1860. American Anti-Slavery Society. John Brown (abolitionist). Anti-Slavery Tracts. No. 7. New Series.

  9. News: Henry Ward Beecher. . Boston, Massachusetts. August 23, 1850. 2. newspapers.com. June 25, 2021. June 25, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625113133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80219277/henry-ward-beecher-offers-his-church/. live.
  10. News: Frederick. Douglass. Frederick Douglass. Letter from Frederick Douglass. The Liberator. Boston, Massachusetts. November 11, 1859. 1. October 31, 1859. newspapers.com. March 17, 2021. April 13, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210413201032/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73678456/letter-from-frederick-douglass/. live.
  11. Book: Leech, D.D. , Rev. Samuel Vanderlip . The Raid of John Brown at Harper's Ferry as I Saw it. The author. Washington, D.C.. 1909. March 14, 2021. June 14, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614164205/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Raid_of_John_Brown_at_Harper_s_Ferry/GZAyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1. live.
  12. A[fred]. Kazin. Alfred Kazin. God's Own Terrorist. New York Review of Books. April 9, 1998.
  13. Book: Reynolds , David S. . David S. Reynolds. 2005. John Brown, Abolitionist. The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. 353–357. Vintage Books. 0375726152. October 16, 2020. October 20, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201020220641/http://historymaking.org/textbook/items/show/230#_ftn2. live.
  14. News: East Haddam Journal . East Haddam Journal . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123816/https://newspaperarchive.com/east-haddam-journal-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration.
  15. News: Views of an Ultra Abolitionist on the Harper's Ferry Insurrection . November 3, 1859 . . . registration . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073024/http://www.newspapers.com/image/466321388/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  16. News: Old Brown Addresses the Court, and is Sentenced to Death . November 8, 1859 . The Belvidere Standard . . . registration . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073026/http://www.newspapers.com/image/69544038/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  17. News: Brown Convicted and Sentenced . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123734/https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live . November 5, 1859 . Dawson's Fort Wayne Weekly Times . . registration.
  18. News: Evansville Daily Evening Inquirer . September 3, 2023 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123731/https://newspaperarchive.com/evansville-daily-evening-enquirer-nov-03-1859-p-2/ . live . . November 3, 1859 . 2 . Evansville Daily Evening Inquirer.
  19. News: The Evansville Daily Journal . 3 . November 3, 1859 . Evansville Daily Journal . . registration . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073114/http://www.newspapers.com/image/321517829/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  20. News: Indiana Daily State Sentinel . 2 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123826/https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live . . November 5, 1859 . . registration.
  21. News: Seymour Times . Seymour Times . November 5, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123725/https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration.
  22. News: Sullivan Democrat . Sullivan Democrat . November 5, 1859 . . registration . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123725/https://newspaperarchive.com/erie-observer-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live .
  23. News: Terre Haute Wabash Express . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123834/https://newspaperarchive.com/browse/us/in/terre-haute/terre-haute-wabash-express/ . Terre Haute Wabash Express . November 9, 1859 . live . . registration.
  24. News: Weekly Vincennes Western Sun . . November 4, 1859 . August 12, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123738/https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=THEWEEKLYVINCENNESWESTERNSUN.WS18591105A5.00105 . live .
  25. News: Muscatine Evening Journal . . registration . November 4, 1859 . Muscatine Evening Journal . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073112/http://www.newspapers.com/image/541921482/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  26. News: The Elwood Free Press . Elwood Free Press. Newspapers.com. registration. November 5, 1859. March 18, 2022. March 18, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073025/http://www.newspapers.com/image/427225501/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1. live.
  27. News: Kansas Herald of Freedom . Kansas Herald of Freedom . November 12, 1859 . August 15, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123855/http://www.newspapers.com/image/143958197/ . live . . registration.
  28. News: Fall River Daily Evening News . 3 . Newspapers.com. registration. November 3, 1859. Fall River Daily Evening News. March 18, 2022. March 18, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073025/http://www.newspapers.com/image/589879461/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1. live.
  29. News: The Liberator . 3 . November 4, 1859 . . Boston, Massachusetts . . registration . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073121/http://www.newspapers.com/image/34578262/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  30. News: Cass County Republican . Cass County Republican . . registration . November 10, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123742/https://newspaperarchive.com/the-cass-county-republican-nov-10-1859-p-2/ . live .
  31. News: Detroit Free Press . 1 . Newspapers.com. registration. November 3, 1859. Detroit Free Press. March 18, 2022. March 18, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073024/http://www.newspapers.com/image/118133470/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1. live.
  32. News: Douglass' Monthly . November 1859 . . . August 12, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123837/https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=DOUGLASSMONTHLY.FD1859110018.00018 . live .
  33. News: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper . . November 12, 1859 . August 12, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123802/https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=THENATIONALERA.FR1859111028.82510 . live .
  34. News: John Brown's last speech. The New York Times. November 3, 1859. 1. August 10, 2020. December 3, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201203050122/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57062971/john-browns-last-speech/. live.
  35. News: Rensselaer Gazette . Rensselaer Gazette . November 9, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123726/https://newspaperarchive.com/rensselaer-gazette-nov-09-1859-p-2/ . live .
  36. News: Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph . Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph . November 5, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123807/https://www.newspapers.com/image/145314042/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  37. News: Pomeroy Weekly Telegraph. Newspapers.com. registration. March 18, 2022. March 18, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073113/http://www.newspapers.com/image/171442846/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1. live.
  38. News: Summit County Beacon . November 9, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123830/https://www.newspapers.com/image/228697437/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live . . registration.
  39. News: Western Reserve Chronicle . . December 21, 2020 . July 4, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210704164431/https://www.newspapers.com/image/186733308/ . live . . registration.
  40. News: Bradford Reporter . November 10, 1859 . 2 . Conviction and Sentence of Brown . . registration . March 23, 2022 . March 23, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220323120751/https://www.newspapers.com/image/339056884/ . live .
  41. News: Carlisle Weekly Herald . Carlisle Weekly Herald . November 8, 1859 . . registration . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220318073120/http://www.newspapers.com/image/270335685/?terms=%22John+brown%22+%22now+i+have+done%22&match=1 . live .
  42. News: Erie Observer . Erie Observer . November 10, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123745/https://newspaperarchive.com/erie-observer-nov-05-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration.
  43. News: Lancaster Examiner and Herald . November 9, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123831/https://newspaperarchive.com/lancaster-examiner-and-herald-nov-09-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration.
  44. News: Montrose Independent Republican . November 7, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123807/https://newspaperarchive.com/montrose-independent-republican-nov-10-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration.
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  47. News: Towanda Bradford Reporter . Towanda Bradford Reporter . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123812/https://newspaperarchive.com/towanda-bradford-reporter-nov-10-1859-p-2/ . live . . registration .
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  59. Web site: Athens Southern Banner . 5 . November 7, 1859 . August 10, 2020 . August 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825123751/https://newspaperarchive.com/fayetteville-observer-nov-07-1859-p-5/ . live .
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