„Es ist einfach mich zu hängen, aber die Frage - die Sklavenfrage - die bleibt noch zu lösen.“
Letzte Worte, mündlich, 2. Dezember 1859
Original engl.: "It is easy to hang me, but this question - this slave question - that remains to be settled."
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John Brown
Geburtstag: 9. Mai 1800
Todesdatum: 2. Dezember 1859
John Brown war ein US-amerikanischer Abolitionist, der sich gegen die Sklaverei in den USA auflehnte. Nach einem erfolglosen gewaltsamen Versuch, Sklaven zum Aufstand zu bewegen, wurde er hingerichtet.
Zitate John Brown
„Ich, John Brown, bin mir nun ziemlich sicher, dass die Verbrechen dieses schuldigen Landes niemals, wenn nicht mit Blut, gereinigt werden. Ich hatte, wie ich jetzt denke, mir vergebens eingebildet, dass es ohne viel Blutvergießen erledigt werden könne.“
Letzte Worte, schriftlich, 2. Dezember 1859
Original engl.: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will 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."
„The marriage relation shall be at all times respected“
Article XLII.
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858)
Kontext: The marriage relation shall be at all times respected, and families kept together, as far as possible; and broken families encouraged to reunite, and intelligence offices established for that purpose. Schools and churches established, as soon as may be, for the purpose of religious and other instructions; for the first day of the week, regarded as a day of rest, and appropriated to moral and religious instruction and improvement, relief of the suffering, instruction of the young and ignorant, and the encouragement of personal cleanliness; nor shall any persons be required on that day to perform ordinary manual labor, unless in extremely urgent cases.
„In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves.… I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.“
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858), Speech to the Court (1859)
„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 written 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 https://books.google.com/books?id=uiaYWp66b-cC&pg=PR1&dq=John+Brown+and+his+Men+%281894%29+by+Richard+Josiah+Hinton&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uub_VN3CN5HbggTdxIK4Cw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=John%20Brown%20and%20his%20Men%20(1894)%20by%20Richard%20Josiah%20Hinton&f=false (1894) by Richard Josiah Hinton, p. 398.
„This is a beautiful country.“
Last words (2 December 1859), as quoted in John Brown and his Men https://books.google.com/books?id=uiaYWp66b-cC&pg=PR1&dq=John+Brown+and+his+Men+%281894%29+by+Richard+Josiah+Hinton&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uub_VN3CN5HbggTdxIK4Cw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=John%20Brown%20and%20his%20Men%20(1894)%20by%20Richard%20Josiah%20Hinton&f=false (1894) by Richard Josiah Hinton, p. 397.
„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 nigger question I mean; the end of that is not yet.“
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858), Prison interview (1859)
„Whereas slavery, throughout its entire existence in the United States, is none other than the most barbarous, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of one portion of its citizens against another portion, the only conditions of which are perpetual imprisonment and hopeless servitude, or absolute extermination, in utter disregard and violation of those eternal and self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration of Independence.“
Therefore, we, citizens of the United States, and the oppressed people who, by a recent decision of the Supreme' Court, are declared to have no rights which the white man is bound to respect, together with all other people degraded by the laws thereof, do, for the time being, ordain and establish for ourselves the following Provisional Constitution and Ordinances, the better to protect our persons, property, lives, and liberties, and to govern our actions.
Preamble.
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858)
„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.
„I bring you one of the best and bravest persons on this continent — General Tubman as we call her.“
Introducing Harriet Tubman to Wendell Phillips, as quoted in The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom (1898) by Wilbur Henry Siebert, p. 185 also in "The Underground Railway" (27 May 1902) by W. H. Withrow, as published in Proceedings
„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 https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof00sanbrich/lifeandlettersof00sanbrich_djvu.txt (12 November 1859).
„All persons known to be of good character and of sound mind and suitable age, who are connected with this organization, whether male or female, shall be encouraged to carry arms openly.“
Article XLIII.
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858)
„I acknowledge no master in human form.“
As quoted in The life and letters of John Brown, liberator of Kansas, and martyr of Virginia https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof00sanbrich/lifeandlettersof00sanbrich_djvu.txt (1885), by Franklin B. Sanborn, p. 563.
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858), Prison interview (1859)
„Persons convicted of the forcible violation of any female prisoner shall be put to death.“
Article XLI.
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858)
