Disunion Feed

Rev. J. Sella Martin @JSellaMartinDec 2, 1859 · 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 ↗

Next in order

New-York Tribune @NYTribune · New York, N.Y.

If the Cotton States become satisfied they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be revolutionary, but it exists. We hope never to live in a republic whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets.

Original passage & context
"If the Cotton States shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it exists nevertheless [...] whenever a considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a republic, whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets."

Written by editor Horace Greeley; his celebrated post-election editorial on the right of secession. The popular tag 'let the erring sisters depart in peace' is a later paraphrase — the phrase 'erring sisters' does NOT appear in the editorial, which says 'we insist on letting them go in peace.' Verified against Bonner's Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1951) reproduction, which prints the block quote in full and cites the Tribune of Nov 9, 1860; the original Tribune page-scan was not fetchable (LoC 403s; not digitized at the expected LCCN). Fragments joined with [...].

Read it in the original — New-York Tribune, Nov 9, 1860 (Bonner reproduction) ↗

Northern press · Republican Condensed — not verbatim Verified against the source — see the record
New-York Daily Tribune, Nov. 9, 1860, editorial on the right of secession (repr. in Thomas N. Bonner, "Horace Greeley and the Secession Movement, 1860–1861," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 1951) ↗

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← John Brown, Dec 2, 1859New-York Tribune, Nov 9, 1860 →

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