John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was the first white American abolitionist to advocate and practice insurrection as a means to the abolition of slavery.
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Quotes[edit]
- These men are all talk; What is needed is action — action!
- Remarks at the New England Anti-Slavery Convention (May 1859), quoted in William Lloyd Garrison by Wendell and Francis Garrison
- You had better — all you people at the South — prepare yourselves for a settlement of this question, that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me very easily, — I am nearly disposed by now; but this question is still to be settled, — this negro question I mean; the end of that is not yet.
- Interview (19 October 1859) [1]
- In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves... [The Bible] teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them."... I believe that to have interfered as I have done as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done! Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense... Now I have done.
- Speech to the Court at his Trial, after his conviction, 2 November 1859
- I am gaining in health slowly, and am quite cheerful in view of my approaching end, — being fully persuaded that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than any other purpose.
- Letter to his brother Jeremiah (12 November 1859), appearing in Life and Letters of John Brown (1885)
- I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. I had as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done.
- This was writen on a note that he had at his execution (2 December 1859), most sources say it was handed to the guard, but some dispute that and claim it was handed to a reporter accompaning him; as quoted in John Brown and his Men (1894) by Richard Josiah Hinton
- This is a beautiful country.
- Last words, quoted by Hinton
Quotes about Brown[edit]
- While I cannot approve of all your acts, I stand in awe of your position since your capture, and dare not oppose you lest I be found fighting against God; for you speak as one having authority, and seem to be strengthened from on high.
- Letter from "Christian Conservative" in West Newton, Mass., quoted in the Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1861)
- I looked at the traitor and terrorizer with unlimited, undeniable contempt.
- Diary of John Wilkes Booth, quoted in The Secret Six (1997) by Edward Renehan
- One of the most marked characters, and greatest heroes known to American fame.
- Frederick Douglass in Life and Times (1881)
- His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine - it was as the burning sun to my taper light - mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him.
- Frederick Douglass, address at the 14th anniversary of Storer College (30 May 1881) [2]
- That new saint, than whom nothing nothing purer or more brave was ever led by into conflict and death, — the new saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer, will make the gallows glorious like the cross.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Courage", lecture at the Boston Music Hall (8 November 1859)
- It is possible that the execution of John Brown might consolidate slavery in Virginia, but it is certain that it would shatter the whole American democracy. You save your shame, but you destroy your glory.
- Victor Hugo, open letter (2 December 1859) quoted in a biography by his daughter Adèle
John Brown's Body[edit]
- There are many versions of this song, all to the tune later used for Battle Hymn of the Republic
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah,
Glory, glory, hallelujah,
His soul goes marching on.He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
His soul goes marching on.Chorus:
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
His soul goes marching on.Chorus:
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
His soul goes marching on.Chorus:
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
His soul goes marching on.Chorus:
- John Brown by William W. Patton
Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But though he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled through and through;
They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon throughout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.- Some versions, instead of "nineteen men so few" sing "nineteen men so true." Some versions sing "themselves the traitor crew" as "themselves the traitorous crew." Some versions sing "with it's flag red, white, and blue" as "with it's flag o' red, white, and blue" and some read "of" instead of "o'". The word soul is sometimes replaced with truth. [4]
