Disunion Feed

Henry David Thoreau @HDThoreauOct 30, 1859 · Concord, Mass.

I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both would be by me unavoidable. For once the Sharps rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them.

Original passage & context
"I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable. [...] I think that for once the Sharp's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them."

Delivered at Concord Town Hall while Brown stood trial — the first major Northern intellectual defense of the raid as righteous violence. Fragments from the same address joined with [...].

Read it in the original — A Plea for Captain John Brown, Project Gutenberg ↗

Abolitionist Condensed — not verbatim Verified against the source — see the record
Henry David Thoreau, "A Plea for Captain John Brown," delivered at Concord, Oct. 30, 1859 ↗

Next in order

Frederick Douglass @FDouglass · Canada West

Mr. Cook says I promised to join them at Harpers Ferry. I never made a promise so rash and wild. Call it wisdom or call it cowardice — it kept me from Harpers Ferry, and equally from promising to go. My field of labor for abolition has never extended to attacking a U.S. arsenal.

Original passage & context
"I have never made a promise so rash and wild as this [...] my wisdom or my cowardice, has not only kept me from Harper's Ferry, but has equally kept me from making any promise to go there. [...] My field of labor for the abolition of Slavery has not extended to an attack upon the United States' arsenal."

Douglass, implicated by raider John E. Cook's confession, had fled to Canada; he denies promising to join the raid while refusing to condemn Brown. Fragments joined with [...].

Read it in the original — Douglass Papers digital edition ↗

Black voice Condensed — not verbatim Verified against the source — see the record
Frederick Douglass to Samuel P. Allen (Rochester Democrat and American), Oct 31, 1859, from Canada West; pub. New York Times, Nov 3, 1859 ↗

Where this sits

America has argued itself to the edge before. The words come from 1854–1861; the arguments are the ones we are still having.

One passage from the Harpers Ferry weeks, Oct 18, 1859 – Dec 2, 1859 — 22 posts, each linked to its primary source.

Part of 134 verified passages across 5 flashpoints, Jan 6, 1854 – Apr 13, 1861 — read the feed from the start.

Read on, in order← William Lloyd Garrison, Oct 28, 1859Frederick Douglass, Oct 31, 1859 →

Anywhere in the feedA passage at random →

In contextHarpers Ferry, 1859

The other flashpointsKansas-Nebraska, 1854The Sumner caning, 1856Dred Scott, 1857The secession winter, 1860–61

How this was made