I. Essential Questions:
1. How does John Brown’s story reflect the causes of the Civil War?
2. How did Americans feel about John Brown? How should history remember him now?
II. NJ Core Curriculum Standards:
Social Studies 6.1 (Social Studies Skills) All students will utilize historical thinking, problem solving, and research skills to maximize their understanding of civics, history, geography, and economics.
6.1;A2. Formulate questions and hypotheses from multiple perspectives, using multiple sources.
6.1;A3. Gather, analyze, and reconcile information from primary and secondary sources to support or reject hypotheses.
6.1;A4. Examine source data within the historical, social, political, geographic, or economic context in which it was created, testing credibility and evaluating bias.
Social Studies 6.4 (United States and New Jersey History) All students will demonstrate knowledge of United States and New Jersey history in order to understand life and events in the past and how they relate to the present and future.
6.4;G1. Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877): Analyze key issues, events, and personalities of the Civil War period, including New Jersey's role in the Abolitionist Movement and the national elections, the development of the Jersey Shore, and the roles of women and children in New Jersey factories.
III. An Introduction to the Document:
John Brown (1800-1859) was an abolitionist. His attempt to end slavery by force greatly increased the tension between North and South prior to the Civil War. On October 16, 1859, with a force of 18 men, he seized the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). The next day, his force was surrounded by the local militia, which was later reinforced by a company of U.S. Marines under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee. Ten of Brown’s men – including two of his sons – were killed in the ensuing battle. He was wounded and forced to surrender.
The greatest effects of Brown’s life come from how he acted after his arrest.
He and his fellow prisoners were transported to Charles Town, where they were arraigned on three charges: treason against Virginia, inciting slaves to rebel, and murder.
After hearing the charges, Brown rose to say, “If you want my blood, you can have it any moment, without this mockery of a trial.”
The trial began October 26, 1859. Brown, injured, lay on a cot, except when forced to rise. To the charges, he pled not guilty. There had been speculation that Brown would plead insanity, but he would have none of that.
Closing arguments began on October 30. Hiram Griswold, speaking for the defense, said Brown could not be charged with treason against Virginia since he was a citizen of New York. He furthered argued there was a distinction between trying to free slaves and inciting them to rebellion. He conceded that there were casualties, but that the deaths were the result of necessary consequences of a military battle and not murders. The prosecution said Brown’s purpose – “shedding the blood of our citizens” – clearly made him guilty.
Just 45 minutes after being sent out to deliberate, the jury returned with a guilty verdict.
Sentencing took place on November 2. The judge asked Brown if he had anything to say before being sentenced. Brown rose and delivered the following speech, which has been called one of the most memorable courtroom speeches ever made by a defendant in a criminal case.
Taken by surprise, Brown rose, and with his hands on the table before him, spoke haltingly in a gentle voice (according to the New York Tribune). “The types can give you no intimation of the soft and tender tones, yet calm and manly, withal, that filled the court-room, and, I think, touched the hearts of many who had come only to rejoice at the heaviest blow their victim was to suffer,” wrote the reporter.
Brown distinguished himself during his trial, by his eloquent defense of his efforts on behalf of his slaves. His final speech to the court, entirely impromptu, attracted much interest and in many eyes sealed Brown’s fame as hero and martyr. It changed the perception of what happened at Harpers Ferry, both in the North and the South.
Convicted of the crimes, Brown was hanged on December 2 at Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia).
The second-order documents include letters to John Brown (either sent directly to him or through a newspaper), speeches made concerning Brown, and letters written by Brown. The third-order documents are newspaper editorials published in late 1859. These documents illustrate the complex debates and feelings that surrounded Brown’s actions and execution.
Sources for introduction: History.com, PBS.org, Famous Trials at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ftrials.htm, and John Brown: The Legend Revisited by Merrill D. Peterson.
IV. First Order Document:
John Brown's Speech to the Court at his Trial, by John Brown, November 2, 1859
http://www.nationalcenter.org/JohnBrown'sSpeech.html
An audio version of the speech, spoken by Orson Welles:
http://www.albany.edu/talkinghistory/archivalaudio/nara-rg306voa-enk-t7538-the-spoken-word-orson-welles-john-brown-1-18-1963.mp3
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. It teaches me, further, to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." 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 it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated that from the first 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.
V. Letters & Speeches (Second Order Documents)
1. Frederick Douglass’ letter to editor in defense of accusations he supported Brown.
“The taking of Harpers Ferry was a measure never encouraged by my word or my vote, at any time or place...My field of labor for the abolition of slavery has not extended to an attack upon the United States arsenal...I am ever ready to write, speak, publish, organize, combine and even to conspire against Slavery, when there is a reasonable hope for success...It can never be wrong for the imbruted and whip-scarred slaves, or their friends, to hunt, harass and even strike down the traffickers in human flesh...Entertaining this sentiment, I may be asked, why I did not join John Brown-- the noble old hero whose one right hand has shaken the foundation of the American Union, and whose ghost will haunt the bed-chambers of all the born and unborn slaveholders of Virginia through all their generations, filling them with alarm and consternation! My answer to this has already been given, at least, impliedly given: ‘The tools to those that can use them.’ Let every man work for the abolition of Slavery in his own way. I would help all, and hinder none. My position in regard to the Harper’s Ferry insurrection may be easily inferred from these remarks.”
“Letter from Frederick Douglass,” The Liberator, November 11, 1859, 29, 45.
2. From Colored Citizens of Chicago to John Brown
“We certainly have great reasons, as well as intense desires, to assure you that we deeply sympathize with you and your beloved family. Not only do we sympathize in tears and prayers with you and them, but we will do so in a more tangible form by contributing material aid...How could we be so ungrateful as to do less for one who has suffered, bled
and now ready to die for the cause?”
“H.O.W & others, Chicago, November 17, [1859]” James Redpath, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry (Boston, 1860), 391
3. “From a Woman of the Race He Died For” to John Brown
“Although the hands of Slavery throw a barrier between you and me...Virginia has no bolts or bars through which I dread to send you my sympathy...You have rocked the bloody Bastile [sic]; and I hope that from your sad fate great good may arise to the cause of freedom...”
“Kendalville, Indiana, November 17, [1859]” James Redpath, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry (Boston, 1860), 418.
4. “From the Colored Women of Brooklyn” to John Brown
“We truly appreciate your most noble and humane effort and recognize in you a Saviour commissioned to redeem us, the American people, from the great National Sin of
Slavery.”
James Redpath, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry (Boston, 1860).
5. Transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau’s plea for Captain John Brown
“I wish I could say that Brown was the representative of the North. He was a superior man. He did not value his bodily life in comparison with ideal things. He did not recognize unjust human laws, but resisted them as he was bid. For once we are lifted out of the trivialness and dust of politics into the region of truth and manhood. No man in America has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for a man, and the equal of any and all governments. In that sense he was the most American of us all. He needed no babbling lawyer, making false issues, to defend him. He was more than a match for all the judges that American voters, or office-holders of whatever grade, can create. He could not have been tried by a jury of his peers, because his peers did not exist. When a man stands up serenely against the condemnation and vengeance of mankind, rising above them literally by a whole body...the spectacle is a sublime one...and we become criminal in comparison. Do yourselves the honor to recognize him.”
Henry David Thoreau “A Plea for Captain John Brown,” read to the citizens of Concord, Mass., Sunday Evening, October 30, 1859. Full text available at http://www.transcendentalists.com/thoreau_plea_john_brown.htm
6. Speech of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise in Richmond, Va.
“His [Brown’s] expectation was to be joined immediately by hundreds and thousands of whites and blacks; and his purpose was to turn the arms of the United States, which he had captured, on the slaveholders of Maryland and Virginia. In this consisted his disappointment and failure. No negroes rose up to seize the arms he had captured. The negroes he had captured...ran back with trepidation to their masters... the faithful slaves refused to take up arms against their masters.”
National Era Nov. 3, 1859; Vol. XIII, No 670.
7. Letter of Mrs. L. Maria Child to Capt. Brown
“Believing in peace principles, I cannot sympathize with the method you chose to advance the cause of freedom. But I honor your generous intentions— I admire your courage, moral and physical...Thousands of hearts are throbbing with sympathy as warm as mine...May you be strengthened by the conviction that no honest man ever sheds blood for freedom in vain, however much he may be mistaken in his efforts.”
The Liberator; Nov. 11, 1859; 29; 45
8. John Brown’s Last Prophecy from jail
“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.”
John Brown's last letter, written on the day he was hanged, Charles Town, Va, 2nd, December, 1859. From Oswald Garrison Villard, John Brown: a Biography.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/filmmore/reference/primary/index.html
9. John Brown Writes From Jail
Charlestown, Jefferson County, VA, Nov. 1, 1859
My Dear Friend E. B. of R. I. :
You know that Christ once armed Peter. So also in my case, I think he put a sword into my hand, and there continued it, so long as he saw best, and then kindly took it from me. I mean when I first went to Kansas. I wish you could know with what cheerfulness I am now wielding the "Sword of the Spirit" on the right hand and on the left. I bless God that it proves "mighty to the pulling down of strongholds." I always loved my Quaker friends, and I commend to their kind regard my poor, bereaved widowed wife, and my daughters and daughters-in-law, whose husbands fell at my side. One is a mother and the other likely to become so soon. They, as well as my own sorrow-stricken daughter[s], are left very poor, and have much greater need of sympathy than I, who, through Infinite Grace and the kindness of strangers, am "joyful in all my tribulations."
Your friend,
John Brown
10. Letter from Mahala Doyle
Altho' vengeance is not mine, I confess that I do feel gratified to hear that you were stopped in your fiendish career at Harper's Ferry, with the loss of your two sons, you can now appreciate my distress in Kansas, when you then and there entered my house at midnight and arrested my husband and two boys, and took them out of the yard and in cold blood shot them dead in my hearing. You can't say you done it to free slaves. We had none and never expected to own one...My son John Doyle whose life I beged of you is now grown up and is very desirous to be at Charlestown on the day of your execution.
A letter sent to John Brown while in jail. From "To Purge This Land with Blood" by Stephen Oates.
Sources:
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/forteachers/upload/Resources.pdf
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/filmmore/reference/primary/index.html
A Collection of John Brown’s letters are also found at http://www.familytales.org/results.php?tla=job
VI. Newspaper Editorials (Third Order Documents):
The following address leads to the main menu for editorials on John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry at the Succession Era Editorials Project at Furman University.
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?menu=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry%20
Some of the most relevant editorials include:
Raleigh, North Carolina, Register (Opposition) of Dec. 3:
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?sequence=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry&ecode=ncrrjb591203a
Cincinnati, Ohio, Enquirer (Democratic) of Dec. 3:
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?sequence=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry&ecode=ohcejb591203a
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gazette (Republican) of Dec. 3:
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?sequence=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry&ecode=papgjb591203a
Concord, New Hamphire, New Hampshire Patriot (Democratic) of Dec. 7:
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?sequence=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry&ecode=nhpajb591207a
Frankfurt, Kentucky, Commonwealth (Opposition) of Dec. 17:
http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py?sequence=jbmenu&location=%20John%20Brown%27s%20Raid%20on%20Harper%27s%20Ferry&ecode=kyfcjb591217a
VII. Primary Source Lesson
A. Eliciting prior knowledge
1. Using the painting “The Last Moment’s of John Brown,” find out what students already know about Brown. Judging from the painting, what expectations do they have? How is Brown portrayed here? What are the people in the image doing?
2. Background information on Brown. Who was he? What events shaped his life? What happened at Harpers Ferry?
B. First Order Document
1. As a class, read John Brown’s speech to the court at his trial on Nov. 2, 1859. It may be necessary first to discuss vocabulary words that will be encountered in the speech.
2. After the initial reading, the class can also listen to the audio clip of Orson Welles reading the speech.
3. Questions for discussion:
a. Identifying the document
1. Author
2. Title
3. Date
4. Type of document
b. Analyzing the document
1. Main idea
2. Relationship to the other documents to be studied
3. Preceding conditions that motivated the author
4. Intended audience and purpose
5. Biases of the author
6. Question the author
c. Historical context
1. Important people/events/ideas of the time
2. Growing tensions on eve of Civil War
C. Second Order Documents
1. Arrange students in groups. Assign one or two documents per group. Have the students decide how the documents they are given relate to the first order document. Have students recognize different points of view.
a. Identifying the document
1. Author
2. Title
3. Date
4. Type of document
b. Analyzing the document
1. Main idea
2. Relationship to the other documents to be studied
3. Preceding conditions that motivated the author
4. Intended audience and purpose
5. Biases of the author
6. Question the author
c. Sharing
1. Have each group either present their documents to the class or using the jigsaw methods, have students discuss their documents with other groups.
D. Third Order Documents
1. Have students find newspaper editorials written immediately before or after Brown’s execution. A list of potential editorials is attached above. Have students recognize the way the same event is interpreted differently.
a. Identifying the document
1. Author
2. Title
3. Date
4. Type of document
b. Analyzing the document
1. Main idea
2. Relationship to the other documents to be studied
3. Preceding conditions that motivated the author
4. Intended audience and purpose
5. Biases of the author
6. Question the author
c. Sharing
1. Have each group either present their documents to the class or using the jigsaw methods, have students discuss their documents with other groups.
E. Closure
1. Revisit the essential questions
a. How does John Brown’s story reflect the causes of the Civil War?
b. How did Americans feel about John Brown? How should history remember him now? Is he a hero, martyr, fanatic, terrorist?
c. Habits of Mind (see below for reference list)
1. What can we learn from this document?
2. How should Brown be remembered?
VIII. Habits of Mind
The following is taken from Frederick Dean Drake’s web site at http://lilt.ilstu.edu/fddrake/main%20pages/habits_of_mind.html.
The perspectives and modes of thoughtful judgment derived from the study of history are many, and they ought to be its principal aim. Courses in history, geography, and government should be designed to take students well beyond formal skills of critical thinking, to help them through their own learning to:
• understand the significance of the past to their own lives, both private and public, and to their society.
• distinguish between the important and the inconsequential, to develop the “discriminating memory” needed for a discerning judgment in public and personal life.
• perceive past events and issues as they were experienced by people at the time, to develop historical empathy as opposed to present-mindedness.
• acquire at one and the same time a comprehension of diverse cultures and of shared humanity.
• understand how things happen and how things change, how human intentions matter, but also how their consequences are shaped by the means of carrying them out, in a tangle of purpose and process.
• comprehend the interplay of change and continuity, and avoid assuming that either is somehow more natural, or more to be expected, than the other.
• prepare to live with uncertainties and exasperating, even perilous, unfinished business, realizing that not all problems have solutions.
• grasp the complexity of historical causation, respect particularity, and avoid excessively abstract generalizations.
• appreciate the often tentative nature of judgments about the past, and thereby avoid the temptation to seize upon particular "lessons" or history as cures for present ills.
• recognize the importance of individuals who have made a difference in history, and the significance of personal character for both good and ill.
• appreciate the force of the nonrational, the irrational, the accidental, in history and human affairs.
• understand the relationship between geography and history as a matrix of time and place, and as context for events.
• read widely and critically in order to recognize the difference between fact and conjecture, between evidence and assertion, and thereby to frame useful questions.
