John Brown's last speech

What his first biographer [1]:340 called John Brown's last speech was delivered on November 2, 1859, at his sentencing, after his conviction for murder, treason against the state of Virginia, and fomenting a slave insurrection. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, this speech's only equal in American oratory is the Gettysburg Address.[2]

John Brown in the Charles Town courtroom. Because of his wounds, he was unable to stand, unless assisted.
See also: Virginia v. John Brown

Brown was asked by the clerk if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him. He immediately rose, and in a clear, distinct voice said:[3]

I have, may it please the court, a few words to say.

In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.

I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that "all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them" [Matthew 7:12]. It teaches me, further, to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them" [Hebrews 13:3]. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. 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 one word further.

I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances and animosity toward me, it has been fair and more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first [day] what was my intention and what was not. I never had any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind.

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. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated.

Now I have done.[1]:340–342

Reactions to Brown's speech
Broadside of John Brown's last speech, published by Wm. Lloyd Garrison

Thanks to the recently invented telegraph, reporters at the trial sent out immediate copy. Brown's sentencing and speech, presumably recorded by a stenographer such as newspapers used for important stories, were the next day, November 3, on the front page of the New York Times,[3] the Richmond Dispatch,[4] the Detroit Free Press,[5] and the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel,[6]. Over the next few days it appeared in full in some 50 other papers across the country (see below). Wm. Lloyd Garrison printed it as a broadside and had it for sale in The Liberator's office.

That evening, as many of the papers reported together with Brown's speech, Wendell Phillips gave a speech in Brooklyn, in Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church, an important abolitionist center and Underground Railroad station. While the talk had been scheduled in advance, 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:

It is a mistake to call him an insurrectionist. He opposed the authority of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Commonwealth of Virginia!—there is no such thing. There is no civil society, no government; nor can such exist except on the basis of impartial equal submission of its citizens—by a performance of the duty of rendering justice between God and man. The government that refuses this is none but a pirate ship. Virginia herself is to-day only a chronic insurrection. I mean exactly what I say—I consider well my words—and she is a pirate ship. John Brown sails with letters of marque from God and Justice against every pirate he meets. He has twice as much right to hang Governor Wise as Governor Wise has to hang him.[7]

Newspapers which printed Brown's speech in full

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

  • Free states
    • Connecticut
      • East Haddam Journal, November 5[8]
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
      • Muscatine Evening Journal, November 4,[19]
    • Kansas
      • *Elwood Free Press, November 5[20]
      • †*Kansas Herald of Freedom, November 12[21]
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • New York
    • Ohio
    • Pennsylvania
      • *Carlisle Weekly Herald, November 8[32]
      • *Erie Observer, November 10[33]
      • *Lancaster Examiner and Herald, November 9[34]
      • *Montrose Independent Republican, November 7[35]
      • *National Anti-Slavery Stsndard,, November 6[36]
      • *Raftsman's Journal, November 9[37]
      • *Towanda Bradford Reporter, November 10[38]
    • Rhode Island
      • *Bristol Phenix, November 5[39]
    • Vermont
      • *Montpelier Green Mountain Freeman, November 10[40]
    • Wisconsin
  • Slave states
  • Foreign
    • England
      • *Illustrated Times (London), November 26[53]

References
  1. Redpath, James (1860). The Public Life of Captain John Brown. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge.
  2. Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1909). "Remarks at the funeral services [for Abraham Lincoln] held in Concord, April 19, 1865". Centenary Edition. The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 11. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. p. 334.
  3. "Virginia rebellion". New York Times. November 3, 1859. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
  4. "The Trial at Charlestown". Richmond Dispatch. November 4, 1859. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
  5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/118133470/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  6. https://newspaperarchive.com/milwaukee-daily-sentinel-nov-03-1859-p-1/
  7. "Extraordinary address of Wendell Phillips on the insurrection". New York Daily Herald. November 2, 1859. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
  8. https://newspaperarchive.com/east-haddam-journal-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/466321388/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  10. https://www.newspapers.com/image/69544038/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  11. https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  12. https://newspaperarchive.com/evansville-daily-evening-enquirer-nov-03-1859-p-2/
  13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/321517829/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  14. https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  15. https://newspaperarchive.com/dawsons-fort-wayne-weekly-times-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  16. https://newspaperarchive.com/erie-observer-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  17. https://newspaperarchive.com/terre-haute-wabash-express-nov-09-1859-p-1/
  18. https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=THEWEEKLYVINCENNESWESTERNSUN.WS18591105A5.00105
  19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/541921482/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  20. https://www.newspapers.com/image/427225501/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/143958197
  22. https://www.newspapers.com/image/589879461/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  23. https://www.newspapers.com/image/34578262/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  24. https://newspaperarchive.com/the-cass-county-republican-nov-10-1859-p-2/
  25. https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=DOUGLASSMONTHLY.FD1859110018.00018
  26. https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=THENATIONALERA.FR1859111028.82510
  27. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57062971/john-browns-last-speech/
  28. https://newspaperarchive.com/rensselaer-gazette-nov-09-1859-p-2/
  29. https://www.newspapers.com/image/145314042/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  30. https://www.newspapers.com/image/171442846/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  31. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228697437/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  32. https://www.newspapers.com/image/270335685/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  33. https://newspaperarchive.com/erie-observer-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  34. https://newspaperarchive.com/lancaster-examiner-and-herald-nov-09-1859-p-2/
  35. https://newspaperarchive.com/montrose-independent-republican-nov-10-1859-p-2/
  36. https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=NATIONALANTISLAVERYSTANDARD.AS1859110603.00003
  37. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79123630/?terms=%22John%2Bbrown%22%2Bdeath%2B%22now%2Bi%2Bhave%2Bdone%22
  38. https://newspaperarchive.com/towanda-bradford-reporter-nov-10-1859-p-2/
  39. https://newspaperarchive.com/bristol-phenix-nov-05-1859-p-2/
  40. https://newspaperarchive.com/montpelier-green-mountain-freeman-nov-10-1859-p-2/
  41. https://newspaperarchive.com/grant-county-witness-nov-10-1859-p-2/
  42. https://www.newspapers.com/image/11932543/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  43. https://newspaperarchive.com/wausau-central-wisconsin-nov-10-1859-p-1/
  44. https://newspaperarchive.com/weekly-gazette-and-free-press-nov-11-1859-p-2/
  45. https://accessible.com/accessible/emailedURL?AADoc=THENATIONALERA.FR1859111028.82510
  46. https://newspaperarchive.com/fayetteville-observer-nov-07-1859-p-5/
  47. https://newspaperarchive.com/fayetteville-observer-nov-07-1859-p-5/
  48. https://www.newspapers.com/image/64718165/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  49. https://www.newspapers.com/image/56152235/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  50. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51577046/john-browns-trial-and-last-speech/
  51. https://www.newspapers.com/image/624696235/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  52. https://www.newspapers.com/image/174306713/?terms=%22John%20brown%22%20%22now%20i%20have%20done%22&match=1
  53. https://newspaperarchive.com/illustrated-times-nov-26-1859-p-5/
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