On the Death of John Brown

God forbid that we should any longer continue the accomplices¹⁰ of thieves and robbers, of men-stealers and women-whippers! We must join together in the name of freedom.

As for the Union--where is it and what is it?

In one-half of it no man can exercise freedom of speech or the press--no man can utter the words of Washington, of Jefferson, of Patrick Henry--except at the peril¹¹ of his life; and Northern men are everywhere hunted and driven from the South if they are supposed to cherish the sentiment of freedom in their bosoms¹².

We are living under an awful despotism--that of a brutal¹³ slave oligarchy¹⁴. And they threaten to leave us if we do not continue to do their evil work, as we have hitherto done it, and go down in the dust before them!

Would to heaven they would go! It would only be the paupers¹⁵ clearing out from the town, would it not? But, no, they do not mean to go; they mean to cling to you, and they mean to subdue¹⁶ you. But will you be subdued¹⁷?

I tell you our work is the dissolution of this slavery-cursed Union, if we would have a fragment of our liberties left to us! Surely between freemen, who believe in exact justice and impartial¹⁸ liberty, and slaveholders, who are for cleaning down all human rights at a blow, it is not possible there should be any Union whatever. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?"

The slaveholder with his hands dripping in blood--will I make a compact with him? The man who plunders¹⁹ cradles--will I say to him, "Brother, let us walk together in unity²⁰?" The man who, to gratify his lust²¹ or his anger, scourges²² woman with the lash²³ till the soil is red with her blood--will I say to him: "Give me your hand; let us form a glorious Union?" No, never--never! There can be no union between us: "What concord²⁴ hath Christ with Belial?" What union has freedom with slavery? Let us tell the inexorable and remorseless tyrants²⁵ of the South that their conditions hitherto imposed upon us, whereby we are morally responsible for the existence of slavery, are horribly inhuman²⁶ and wicked, and we cannot carry them out for the sake of their evil company.

By the dissolution of the Union we shall give the finishing blow to the slave system; and then God will make it possible for us to form a true, vital, enduring, all-embracing Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific--one God to be worshipped, one Saviour²⁷ to be revered²⁸, one policy to be carried out--freedom everywhere to all the people, without regard to complexion²⁹ or race--and the blessing³⁰ of God resting upon us all! I want to see that glorious day!

Now the South is full of tribulation³¹ and terror and despair, going down to irretrievable bankruptcy³², and fearing each bush an officer! Would to God it might all pass away like a hideous³³ dream! And how easily it might be!

What is it that God requires of the South to remove every root of bitterness, to allay³⁴ every fear, to fill her borders with prosperity? But one simple act of justice, without violence and convulsion, without danger and hazard. It is this: "Undo³⁵ the heavy burdens, break every yoke³⁶, and let the oppressed go free!" Then shall thy light break forth³⁷ as the morning, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say: "Here I am."

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach³⁸, the restorer of paths to dwell in."

How simple and how glorious! It is the complete solution of all the difficulties in the case. Oh, that the South may be wise before it is too late, and give heed³⁹ to the word of the Lord! But, whether she will hear or forbear, let us renew our pledges to the cause of bleeding humanity, and spare no effort to make this truly the land of the free and the refuge of the oppressed!

"Onward⁴⁰, then, ye fearless band,
Heart to heart, and hand to hand;
Yours shall be the Christian's stand,
Or the martyr's grave."

William Lloyd Garrison - December 2, 1859