Disunion Feed

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

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John Brown @JohnBrownDec 2, 1859 · Charles Town, Va. · original ↗

I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood.

Next post: Rev. J. Sella Martin, Dec 2, 1859 →

Original passage & context
"I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood."

Between the posts · the narrator, not the paper

December 2. On his way to the gallows at Charles Town, Brown hands a guard one written line. In Boston that day, close to four thousand people crowd Tremont Temple.

The Dec 2 exception to the date window: his final words, written the morning of his execution. The manuscript carries heavier idiosyncratic punctuation ('this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood'); text as given at the cited page.

Read it in the original — PBS American Experience; original ms. Chicago History Museum ↗

Next post: Rev. J. Sella Martin, Dec 2, 1859 →

Abolitionist Verbatim excerpt Verified against the source — see the record
John Brown's last written note, handed to a guard on the way to the gallows, Dec. 2, 1859 (original ms. Chicago History Museum) ↗

Next in order

Rev. J. Sella Martin @JSellaMartin · Tremont Temple, Boston

Call him traitor, as the South does. Call him madman, as the North does. John Brown is not to be blamed. The system that robs the cradle of its treasure and tramples every God-given right — that system is responsible for every crime committed within its borders.

Original passage & context
"I am ready to say, if he has violated the law, if he has taken an improper course, if he has been the traitor that the South brands him as having been, and the madman that the North says he has been, John Brown is not to be blamed. I say that the system which violates the sacredness of conjugal love, the system that robs the cradle of its innocent treasure -- the system that goes into the temple of manhood, and writes upon the altar its hellish hieroglyphics of slavery -- the system that takes away every God-given right, and tramples religion under foot - I say that that system is responsible for every single crime committed within the borders where it exists."

Martin, the formerly enslaved pastor of Joy Street Baptist Church, addressed ~4,000 at Boston's execution-day meeting. Source is the American Social History Project (CUNY) Lost Museum transcription of the Liberator printing, via Wayback snapshot (live page returned 500s at harvest); issue scan also at fair-use.org (Vol. XXIX No. 49). Dec 2 is inside the extended window.

Read it in the original — Lost Museum (CUNY) transcription of The Liberator, Dec 9, 1859 ↗

Black voice Condensed — not verbatim Source not compared on our last check — see the record
Rev. J. Sella Martin, address at Tremont Temple, Boston, Dec. 2, 1859 (the day of Brown's execution), printed in The Liberator, Dec. 9, 1859 ↗

Where this sits

Post 21 of 22 from the Harpers Ferry weeks, Oct 18, 1859 – Dec 2, 1859 — each post 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← Frances Ellen Watkins, Nov 25, 1859Rev. J. Sella Martin, Dec 2, 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