The so-called Secret Six , or the Secret Committee of Six , were a group of men who secretly funded the 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry by abolitionist John Brown . Sometimes described as "wealthy," this was true of only two. The other four were in positions of influence, and could, therefore, encourage others to contribute to "the cause."
154-590: The name "Secret Six" was invented by writers long after Brown's death. The term never appears in the testimony at Brown's trial , in James Redpath's The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (1859), or in the Memoirs of John Brown of Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1878). The men involved helped Brown as individuals and did not work together or correspond with each other. They were never in the same room at
308-542: A "sincere respect" for Brown. His "humane treatment of Brown called forth the most severe criticisms from the Virginians." Brown's last meal, and the last time he saw his wife, was with the jailer's family, in their apartment at the jail. This was the first criminal case in the United States where there was a question of whether federal courts or state courts had jurisdiction. The Secretary of War , after
462-490: A State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation. It stated: I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of
616-599: A boy of 9 in Virginia, remembered the day in early 1865: As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom.... [S]ome man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After
770-449: A fair trial, that I am not now In circumstances that enable me to attend a trial, owing to the state of my health. I have a severe wound in the back, or rather in one kidney, which enfeebles me very much. But I am doing well, and I only ask for a very short delay of my trial, and I think that I may be able to listen to it; and I merely ask this that, as the saying is, "the devil may have his dues," no more. I wish to say further that my hearing
924-504: A fugitive from justice in Ohio. The next question was what legal counsel Brown was to have. The Court assigned two "Virginians and pro-slavery men", John Faulkner and Lawson Botts, as counsel for him and the other accused. Brown did not accept them; he told the judge that he had sent for counsel, "who have not had time to reach here". I did not ask for any quarter at the time I was taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. The Governor of
1078-512: A generation. Michigan, California, and Iowa all went Republican.... Moreover, the Republicans picked up five seats in the Senate." McPherson states, "If the election was in any sense a referendum on emancipation and on Lincoln's conduct of the war, a majority of Northern voters endorsed these policies." The initial Confederate response was outrage. The Proclamation was seen as vindication of
1232-509: A hundred days fair notice of my purpose, to all the States and people, within which time they could have turned it wholly aside, by simply again becoming good citizens of the United States. They chose to disregard it, and I made the peremptory proclamation on what appeared to me to be a military necessity. And being made, it must stand". Lincoln continued, however, that the states included in the proclamation could "adopt systems of apprenticeship for
1386-632: A larger battle could take place, beginning the Civil War in Virginia in 1859: [B]efore the trials were over, both he and I became convinced that the Brown raid was the beginning of a great conflict between the North and the South on the subject of slavery. This furnishes an additional explanation of the reason Gov. Wise assembled so large a military volunteer force at Charlestown and at the neighboring points. It
1540-522: A law signed by Lincoln, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862, and owners were compensated. On June 19, 1862, Congress prohibited slavery in all current and future United States territories (though not in the states), and President Lincoln quickly signed the legislation. This act effectively repudiated the 1857 opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in
1694-541: A lengthy meeting with President Buchanan, telegraphed Lee that the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Robert Ould , was being sent to take charge of the prisoners and bring them to justice. However, Governor Wise quickly appeared in person. President Buchanan was indifferent to where Brown and his men were tried; Ould, in his brief report, did not call for federal prosecutions, as
SECTION 10
#17327660004511848-455: A liberator." Historian Richard Striner argues that "for years" Lincoln's letter has been misread as "Lincoln only wanted to save the Union." However, within the context of Lincoln's entire career and pronouncements on slavery this interpretation is wrong, according to Striner. Rather, Lincoln was softening the strong Northern white supremacist opposition to his imminent emancipation by tying it to
2002-581: A more aggressive attack on the Confederacy and faster emancipation of the slaves: "On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one ... intelligent champion of the Union cause who does not feel ... that the rebellion, if crushed tomorrow, would be renewed if slavery were left in full vigor and that every hour of deference to slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union." Lincoln responded in his open letter to Horace Greeley of August 22, 1862: If there be those who would not save
2156-524: A new state constitution abolishing slavery in the state went into effect on November 1, 1864. The Union-occupied counties of eastern Virginia and parishes of Louisiana, which had been exempted from the Proclamation, both adopted state constitutions that abolished slavery in April 1864. In early 1865, Tennessee adopted an amendment to its constitution prohibiting slavery. The Proclamation was issued in
2310-501: A part of the truth, but not the whole truth. "We expected he would go farther west, into a region less accessible, where his movements might escape notice for weeks, except as the alleged acts of some marauding party." On the night of April 3, 1860, five federal marshals arrived at Frank Sanborn's home in Concord, Massachusetts , handcuffed him, and attempted to wrestle him into a coach and take him to Washington to answer questions before
2464-613: A political crisis (because so many abolitionists would have denounced it). Under Virginia law, fomenting a slave insurrection was clearly and unequivocally a crime. And the defendants could be tried where they were, in Charles Town. The trial, then, took place in the county courthouse in Charles Town , not to be confused with today's capital, Charleston, West Virginia . Charles Town is the county seat of Jefferson County , about 7 miles (11 km) west of Harpers Ferry. The judge
2618-399: A preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which he had determined to issue after the next Union military victory. Therefore, this letter, was in truth, an attempt to position the impending announcement in terms of saving the Union, not freeing slaves as a humanitarian gesture. It was one of Lincoln's most skillful public relations efforts, even if it has cast longstanding doubt on his sincerity as
2772-496: A preliminary version and a final version. The former, issued on September 22, 1862, was a preliminary announcement outlining the intent of the latter, which took effect 100 days later on January 1, 1863, during the second year of the Civil War. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln's declaration that all slaves would be permanently freed in all areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion on January 1, 1863. The ten affected states were individually named in
2926-402: A righteous blow against what he felt to be the greatest sin of the age he was a condemned felon, with only thirty days between his life and the hangman's noose. During most of the trial Brown, unable to stand, lay on a pallet . On October 16, 1859, Brown led (counting himself) 22 armed men, 5 black and 17 white , to Harpers Ferry , an important railroad , river, and canal junction. His goal
3080-535: A split within their party as the war progressed. Lincoln further alienated many in the Union two days after issuing the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation by suspending habeas corpus . His opponents linked these two actions in their claims that he was becoming a despot. In light of this and a lack of military success for the Union armies, many War Democrat voters who had previously supported Lincoln turned against him and joined
3234-405: A statute enacted by Congress or a constitutional amendment, because Lincoln or a subsequent president could revoke it. One week after issuing the final Proclamation, Lincoln wrote to Major General John McClernand : "After the commencement of hostilities I struggled nearly a year and a half to get along without touching the 'institution'; and when finally I conditionally determined to touch it, I gave
SECTION 20
#17327660004513388-474: A sufficient cause for delay, as there was no certainty about their coming. ...The brief period remaining before the close of the term of the Court rendered it necessary to proceed as expeditiously as practicable, and to be cautious about granting delays." Brown asked for "a very short delay" so that he could recover his hearing: I do not intend to detain the court, but barely wish to say, as I have been promised
3542-514: A teenage slave in Mississippi , recalled that like many of his fellow slaves, his father escaped to join Union forces. According to Albright, plantation owners tried to keep news of the Proclamation from slaves, but they learned of it through the grapevine. The young slave became a "runner" for an informal group they called the 4Ls ("Lincoln's Legal Loyal League") bringing news of the proclamation to secret slave meetings at plantations throughout
3696-414: A thousand dollars a day (equivalent to $ 33,911 in 2023) on military guards and other items, and after the episode was over the Virginia legislature appropriated $ 100,000 (equivalent to $ 3,391,111 in 2023) to cover these expenditures. Charles Town was described thus by a reporter there at the time: The village, turn where you will, presents every appearance of a besieged town, what with cannon in
3850-455: A two-sided spread that showed the transition from slavery into civilization after President Lincoln signed the Proclamation. Nast believed in equal opportunity and equality for all people, including enslaved Africans or free blacks. A mass rally in Chicago on September 7, 1862, demanded immediate and universal emancipation of slaves. A delegation headed by William W. Patton met the president at
4004-633: A year after the law's passage, the Confederates massacred black U.S. soldiers at Fort Pillow . Confederate President Jefferson Davis reacted to the Emancipation Proclamation with outrage and in an address to the Confederate Congress on January 12 threatened to send any U.S. military officer captured in Confederate territory covered by the proclamation to state authorities to be charged with "exciting servile insurrection", which
4158-551: A year and more after his death, were not destroyed at this time. For the remainder of their lives, Higginson, Sanborn, and Stearns made periodic pilgrimages to Brown's grave in North Elba, New York . Frank Sanborn saw to it that the daughters of John Brown received an education in Concord, and even after the turn of the twentieth century took a measure of responsibility for Brown's children and grandchildren. Higginson expressed
4312-516: Is impaired and rendered indistinct in consequence of wounds I have about my head. I cannot hear distinctly at all; I could not hear what the Court has said this morning. I would be glad to hear what is said on my trial, and I am now doing better than I could expect to be under the circumstances. A very short delay would be all I would ask. I do not presume to ask more than a very short delay, so that I may in some degree recover, and be able at least to listen to my trial, and hear what questions are asked of
4466-468: Is insufficient although improving. There are mitigating circumstances, if a fair trial is to be allowed us, that I would urge in our favor, but if we are to be forced, with the mere form of a trial[,] to execution, you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my fate. I do not ask a trial. I beg for no mockery of a trial – so insult nothing but that which conscience gives or cowardice would drive you to practice. I ask to be excused from
4620-453: Is noticeable upon a close reading of the published testimony, but is generally neglected in more popular accounts. If the rebels under a flag of truce were deliberately fired upon, it does not appear to have been a major issue to the judge and jury. The defense's closing argument was given by Hiram Griswold , a lawyer from Cleveland, Ohio, who arrived on October 31. Griswold was well-known as an abolitionist; he had helped fugitive slaves , and
4774-461: The Dred Scott case that Congress was powerless to regulate slavery in U.S. territories. It also rejected the notion of popular sovereignty that had been advanced by Stephen A. Douglas as a solution to the slavery controversy, while completing the effort first legislatively proposed by Thomas Jefferson in 1784 to confine slavery within the borders of existing states. On August 6, 1861,
Secret Six - Misplaced Pages Continue
4928-512: The American Civil War . The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into
5082-659: The Confiscation Act of 1862 , but he didn't mention any statute in the Final Emancipation Proclamation and, in any event, the source of his authority to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and the Final Emancipation Proclamation was his "joint capacity as President and Commander-in-Chief". Lincoln therefore did not have such authority over the four border slave-holding states that were not in rebellion— Missouri , Kentucky , Maryland and Delaware —so those states were not named in
5236-561: The Dred Scott decision to arrive at an answer, but he finally concluded that they could indeed remain free. Still, a complete end to slavery would require a constitutional amendment. Conflicting advice as to whether to free the slaves was presented to Lincoln in public and private. Thomas Nast , a cartoon artist during the Civil War and the late 1800s considered "Father of the American Cartoon", composed many works, including
5390-825: The First Confiscation Act freed the slaves who were employed "against the Government and lawful authority of the United States." On July 17, 1862, the Second Confiscation Act freed the slaves "within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States." The Second Confiscation Act, unlike the First Confiscation Act, explicitly provided that all slaves covered by it would be permanently freed, stating in section 10 that "all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against
5544-576: The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted a bill applauding him for his various life works, with special mention given to Sanborn's role as "confidential adviser to John Brown of Harper's Ferry, for whose sake he was ostracized, maltreated, and subjected to the indignity of false arrest, having been saved from deportation from Massachusetts only by mob violence." Virginia v. John Brown Virginia v. John Brown
5698-562: The Republican leader in the House , called for total war against the rebellion to include emancipation of slaves, arguing that emancipation, by forcing the loss of enslaved labor, would ruin the rebel economy. On March 13, 1862, Congress approved an Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves , which prohibited "All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States" from returning fugitive slaves to their owners. Pursuant to
5852-482: The Senate in regard to his involvement with John Brown. Approximately 150 townspeople rushed to Sanborn's defense. Judge Ebenezer R. Hoar issued a writ of replevin , formally demanding the surrender of the prisoner. In a letter to a friend, Louisa May Alcott wrote, "Sanborn was nearly kidnapped. Great ferment in town. Annie Whiting immortalized herself by getting into the kidnapper's carriage so that they could not put
6006-458: The Soldier's Home , Lincoln called his cabinet into session and issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. According to Civil War historian James M. McPherson , Lincoln told cabinet members, "I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves." Lincoln had first shown an early draft of
6160-439: The U.S. Constitution providing that any state that abolished slavery before January 1, 1900, would receive compensation from the United States in the form of interest-bearing U.S. bonds. Adoption of this amendment, in theory, could have ended the war without ever permanently ending slavery, because the amendment provided, "Any State having received bonds ... and afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to
6314-638: The Union Army . Thanks to the recently invented telegraph , Brown's trial was the first to be reported nationally. In attendance were reporters from the New York Herald and The Daily Exchange , both of whom had been in Harpers Ferry since October 18; reports on the trial, including Brown's remarks, differ in details, showing the work of more than one hand. The coverage was so intense that reporters could dedicate whole paragraphs to
Secret Six - Misplaced Pages Continue
6468-452: The Union Army . The Emancipation Proclamation became a historic document because it "would redefine the Civil War, turning it [for the North] from a struggle [solely] to preserve the Union to one [also] focused on ending slavery, and set a decisive course for how the nation would be reshaped after that historic conflict." The Emancipation Proclamation was never challenged in court. To ensure
6622-545: The White House on September 13. Lincoln had declared in peacetime that he had no constitutional authority to free the slaves. Even used as a war power, emancipation was a risky political act. Public opinion as a whole was against it. There would be strong opposition among Copperhead Democrats and an uncertain reaction from loyal border states. Delaware and Maryland already had a high percentage of free blacks: 91.2% and 49.7%, respectively, in 1860. Lincoln first discussed
6776-408: The border states and Union-occupied areas. Nevertheless, in the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation itself, Lincoln said that he would recommend to Congress that it compensate states that "adopt, immediate, or gradual abolishment of slavery". In addition, during the hundred days between September 22, 1862, when he issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and January 1, 1863, when he issued
6930-483: The "Brown of history" was thus born in his trial. Had Brown died before his trial, he would have been "condemned as a madman and relegated to a footnote of history". Robert McGlone added that "the trial did magnify and exalt his image. But Brown's own efforts to fashion his ultimate public persona began long before the raid and culminated only in the weeks that followed his dramatic speech at his sentencing ." After his arrest, Brown engaged in extensive correspondence. After
7084-438: The "engine of war" for the Confederacy. They produced and prepared food; sewed uniforms; repaired railways; worked on farms and in factories, shipping yards, and mines; built fortifications; and served as hospital workers and common laborers. News of the Proclamation spread rapidly by word of mouth, arousing hopes of freedom, creating general confusion, and encouraging thousands to escape to Union lines. George Washington Albright,
7238-662: The 13th Amendment by the necessary two-thirds vote on April 8, 1864; the House of Representatives did so on January 31, 1865; and the required three-fourths of the states ratified it on December 6, 1865. The amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional, "except as a punishment for a crime ". The United States Constitution of 1787 did not use the word "slavery" but included several provisions about unfree persons. The Three-Fifths Compromise (in Article I, Section 2) allocated congressional representation based "on
7392-569: The 28th: The evidence on Friday. proving that Brown had treated his prisoners kindly, and had exercised great forbearance towards the citizens, forbidding his men to fire upon [illegible] unarmed, or into houses where women and children might be sheltered, had greatly mollified the public resentment. People began to think he was not such a terrible monster after all, and some expressions of pity for his condition were even heard; but when, upon finding that his witnesses were absent, Brown rose and denounced his counsel, declaring he had no confidence in them,
7546-493: The 4 million enslaved people in the country. Around 25,000 to 75,000 were immediately emancipated in those regions of the Confederacy where the US Army was already in place. It could not be enforced in the areas still in rebellion, but, as the Union army took control of Confederate regions, the Proclamation provided the legal framework for the liberation of more than three and a half million enslaved people in those regions by
7700-545: The Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution. As such, in the Emancipation Proclamation he claimed to have the authority to free persons held as slaves in those states that were in rebellion "as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion". In the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln said "attention is hereby called" to two 1862 statutes, namely "An Act to Make an Additional Article of War" and
7854-565: The Confederate states where the proclamation was put into immediate effect by local commanders included Winchester, Virginia , Corinth, Mississippi , the Sea Islands along the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia, Key West , Florida, and Port Royal, South Carolina . On New Year's Eve in 1862, African Americans – enslaved and free – gathered across the United States to hold Watch Night ceremonies for "Freedom's Eve", looking toward
SECTION 50
#17327660004518008-483: The Copperhead position within their party, found themselves in a quandary. While throughout the war they had continued to espouse the racist positions of their party and their disdain of the concerns of slaves, they did see the Proclamation as a viable military tool against the South and worried that opposing it might demoralize troops in the Union army. The question would continue to trouble them and eventually lead to
8162-630: The Copperheads in the off-year elections held in October and November. In the 1862 elections , the Democrats gained 28 seats in the House as well as the governorship of New York. Lincoln's friend Orville Hickman Browning told the president that the Proclamation and the suspension of habeas corpus had been "disastrous" for his party by handing the Democrats so many weapons. Lincoln made no response. Copperhead William Jarvis of Connecticut pronounced
8316-518: The Emancipation Proclamation as a call for slaves to commit extreme acts of violence on all white southerners, saying it was "a proposal for the butchery of women and children, for scenes of lust and rapine, and of arson and murder, which would invoke the interference of civilized Europe". The Copperheads also saw the Proclamation as an unconstitutional abuse of presidential power. Editor Henry A. Reeves wrote in Greenport's Republican Watchman that "In
8470-484: The Fifth Amendment to argue against slavery, it was made part of the legal basis for treating slaves as property by Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). Slavery was also supported in law and in practice by a pervasive culture of white supremacy . Nonetheless, between 1777 and 1804, every Northern state provided for the immediate or gradual abolition of slavery. No Southern state did so, and the slave population of
8624-425: The Final Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln took actions that suggest that he continued to consider the first option he mentioned to Greeley — saving the Union without freeing any slave — a possibility. Historian William W. Freehling wrote, "From mid-October to mid-November 1862, he sent personal envoys to Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas". Each of these envoys carried with him a letter from Lincoln stating that if
8778-675: The Negro. I answer No!" The Copperheads saw the Proclamation as irrefutable proof of their position and the beginning of a political rise for their members; in Connecticut, H. B. Whiting wrote that the truth was now plain even to "those stupid thickheaded persons who persisted in thinking that the President was a conservative man and that the war was for the restoration of the Union under the Constitution." War Democrats , who rejected
8932-535: The Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi , Alabama , Florida , Georgia , South Carolina , North Carolina , and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including
9086-410: The Proclamation (Jefferson County being the only exception), a condition of the state's admittance to the Union was that its constitution provide for the gradual abolition of slavery (an immediate emancipation of all slaves was also adopted there in early 1865). Slaves in the border states of Maryland and Missouri were also emancipated by separate state action before the Civil War ended. In Maryland,
9240-402: The Proclamation will not free them where we don't go." Ten days later, he wrote her again, "Don't imagine, from what I said in my last that I thought Mr. Lincoln's 'Emancipation Proclamation' not right ... but still, as a war-measure , I don't see the immediate benefit of it, ... as the slaves are sure of being free at any rate, with or without an Emancipation Act." Booker T. Washington , as
9394-586: The Proclamation, the lower Shenandoah Valley and the area around Alexandria were covered. Emancipation was immediately enforced as Union soldiers advanced into the Confederacy. Slaves fled their masters and were often assisted by Union soldiers. On the other hand, Robert Gould Shaw wrote to his mother on September 25, 1862, "So the 'Proclamation of Emancipation' has come at last, or rather, its forerunner. I suppose you all are very much excited about it. For my part, I can't see what practical good it can do now. Wherever our army has been, there remain no slaves, and
SECTION 60
#17327660004519548-577: The Proclamation. The fifth border jurisdiction, West Virginia , where slavery remained legal but was in the process of being abolished, was, in January 1863, still part of the legally recognized "reorganized" state of Virginia , based in Alexandria , which was in the Union (as opposed to the Confederate state of Virginia, based in Richmond ). The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in
9702-661: The Reconstruction of the captured Confederate State of Louisiana. Only 10 percent of the state's electorate had to take the loyalty oath. The state was also required to accept the Emancipation Proclamation and abolish slavery in its new constitution. By December 1864, the Lincoln plan abolishing slavery had been enacted not only in Louisiana, but also in Arkansas and Tennessee. In Kentucky, Union Army commanders relied on
9856-674: The Sea Islands of South Carolina also had a substantial population. Those 20,000 slaves were freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation." This Union-occupied zone where freedom began at once included parts of eastern North Carolina , the Mississippi Valley , northern Alabama , the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a large part of Arkansas , and the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina. Although some counties of Union-occupied Virginia were exempted from
10010-527: The South continued to grow, peaking at almost four million people at the beginning of the Civil War, when most slave states sought to break away from the United States. Lincoln understood that the federal government's power to end slavery in peacetime was limited by the Constitution, which, before 1865, committed the issue to individual states. During the Civil War, however, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation under his authority as " Commander in Chief of
10164-471: The South to stay in the Union. The promises of many Republican politicians that the war was to restore the Union and not about black rights or ending slavery were declared lies by their opponents, who cited the Proclamation. In Columbiana, Ohio, Copperhead David Allen told a crowd, "Now fellow Democrats I ask you if you are going to be forced into a war against your Britheren of the Southern States for
10318-513: The State of Virginia tendered me his assurance that I should have a fair trial, but under no circumstances whatever will I be able to attend to a trial. If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment without the mockery of a trial. I have had no counsel. I have not been able to advise with any one. I know nothing about the feelings of my fellow-prisoners, and am utterly unable to attend in any way to my own defence. My memory don't serve me. My health
10472-458: The U.S., contrary to a common misconception; it applied in the ten states that were still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, but it did not cover the nearly 500,000 slaves in the slaveholding border states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware) or in parts of Virginia and Louisiana that were no longer in rebellion. Those slaves were freed by later separate state and federal actions. The areas covered were " Arkansas , Texas , Louisiana (except
10626-488: The Union Address , but then typically given in writing and not referred to as such). In it he praised the free labor system for respecting human rights over property rights; he endorsed legislation to address the status of contraband slaves and slaves in loyal states, possibly through buying their freedom with federal money; and he endorsed federal funding of voluntary colonization. In January 1862, Thaddeus Stevens ,
10780-612: The Union Army as "contraband of war" under the Confiscation Acts . The Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia had been occupied by the Union Navy earlier in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed. An early program of Reconstruction was set up for the former slaves, including schools and training. Naval officers read the proclamation and told them they were free. Slaves had been part of
10934-405: The Union to ending slavery in addition to preserving the Union. Although the Emancipation Proclamation resulted in the gradual freeing of most slaves, it did not make slavery illegal. Of the states that were exempted from the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia prohibited slavery before the war ended. In 1863, President Lincoln proposed a moderate plan for
11088-434: The Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all
11242-419: The United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon". In his 2014 book, Lincoln's Gamble , journalist and historian Todd Brewster asserted that Lincoln's desire to reassert the saving of the Union as his sole war goal was, in fact, crucial to his claim of legal authority for emancipation. Since slavery was protected by the Constitution, the only way that he could free
11396-602: The United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do ... order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion, against the United States, the following, to wit: Lincoln then listed the ten states still in rebellion, excluding parts of states under Union control, and continued: I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free. ... [S]uch persons of suitable condition, will be received into
11550-545: The abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln also insisted that Reconstruction plans for Southern states require them to enact laws abolishing slavery (which occurred during the war in Tennessee , Arkansas , and Louisiana ); Lincoln encouraged border states to adopt abolition (which occurred during the war in Maryland , Missouri , and West Virginia ) and pushed for passage of the 13th Amendment . The Senate passed
11704-427: The armed service of the United States". The Emancipation Proclamation played a significant part in the end of slavery in the United States . On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Its third paragraph begins: That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of
11858-560: The armed service of the United States. ... And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. The proclamation provided that the executive branch, including the Army and Navy, "will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons". Even though it excluded states not in rebellion, as well as parts of Louisiana and Virginia under Union control, it still applied to more than 3.5 million of
12012-531: The armory. Brown was brought into court "accompanied by a body of armed men. Cannon were stationed in front of the court house [see illustration], and an armed guard were [ sic ] patrolling round the jail." The grand jury was also considering the other prisoners to be tried with Brown: Aaron Stephens , Edwin Coppie , Shields Green , and John Copeland . The courtroom was so crowded with spectators, all white since Blacks were not admitted, that there
12166-413: The basis of his temporary residence there during the days of the insurrection. Three other substantive defense tactics failed. One claimed that since the insurrection was aimed at the U.S. government it could not be proved treason against Virginia. Since Brown and his men had fired upon Virginia troops and police, this point was mooted. His lawyers also said that since no slaves had joined the insurrection,
12320-399: The battle, though the Union suffered heavier losses than the Confederates and General McClellan allowed the escape of Robert E. Lee 's retreating troops, Union forces turned back a Confederate invasion of Maryland, eliminating more than a quarter of Lee's army in the process. This marked a turning point in the Civil War. On September 22, 1862, five days after Antietam, and while residing at
12474-405: The cause of the Union. This opposition would fight for the Union but not to end slavery, so Lincoln gave them the means and motivation to do both, at the same time. In effect, then, Lincoln may have already chosen the third option he mentioned to Greeley: "freeing some and leaving others alone"; that is, freeing slaves in the states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, but leaving enslaved those in
12628-513: The charge of leading a slave insurrection should be thrown out. The jury apparently did not favor this claim, either. Extenuating circumstances were claimed by the defense when they stressed that Colonel Washington and the other hostages were not harmed and were in fact protected by Brown during the siege. This claim was not persuasive as Colonel Washington testified that he had seen men die of gunshot wounds and had been confined for days. A dissenting news story reported Washington having testified on
12782-636: The cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth)." The state of Tennessee had already mostly returned to Union control, under a recognized Union government, so it was not named and was exempted. Virginia was named, but exemptions were specified for the 48 counties then in the process of forming the new state of West Virginia , and seven additional counties and two cities in the Union-controlled Tidewater region of Virginia . Also specifically exempted were New Orleans and 13 named parishes of Louisiana , which were mostly under federal control at
12936-475: The citizens, and what their answers are. If that could be allowed me, I should be very much obliged. Prosecuting attorney Hunter said that delay would be dangerous; there was "exceeding pressure on the resources of the community". He asked that Brown's body be examined by a doctor, who did not find that Brown's health required delay. The judge's refusal to postpone the trial even one day to allow Brown's counsel to arrive, or when it did arrive, to allow it to read
13090-495: The city away, was Andrew Hunter, personal attorney of Governor Wise, and the most distinguished attorney in Jefferson County. The main goal was to prevent an armed rescue of Brown, despite the fact that Brown said repeatedly that he did not want to be rescued. According to Hunter in his memoirs, another reason for the heavy military presence, for which Wise was criticized, is that both Wise and Hunter were concerned that
13244-854: The colored people, conforming substantially to the most approved plans of gradual emancipation; and ... they may be nearly as well off, in this respect, as if the present trouble had not occurred". He concluded by asking McClernand not to "make this letter public". Initially, the Emancipation Proclamation effectively freed only a small percentage of the slaves, namely those who were behind Union lines in areas not exempted. Most slaves were still behind Confederate lines or in exempted Union-occupied areas. Secretary of State William H. Seward commented, "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free." Had any slave state ended its secession attempt before January 1, 1863, it could have kept slavery, at least temporarily. The Proclamation freed
13398-511: The conviction and sentencing, the judge permitted him to have visitors, and in his final month alive – Virginia law required that a month elapse between sentencing and execution – he gave interviews to reporters or anyone else who wanted to talk to him. All of this was facilitated by the "just and humane" jailor of Jefferson County, Captain John Avis, who "does all for his prisoners that his duty allows him to", and had
13552-484: The correspondence relating to the contributions passed through my hands in 1858–9. ...[W]e all raised money to aid Brown in carrying this plan forward." Brown was planning to capture weapons from a federal armory at Harpers Ferry , Virginia (now West Virginia ), and lead a slave rebellion in the South . While it is unclear whether these men knew of Brown's ultimate plan, it is known that some were ambivalent regarding
13706-822: The court with his account of the Marines' raid. The manuscript evidence was of particular interest to the judge and jury. Many documents were found on the Maryland farm rented by John Brown under the alias Isaac Smith. These included hundreds of undistributed copies of a previously unknown Provisional Constitution for an anti-slavery government. These documents clinched the treason and pre-meditated murder charges against Brown. The prosecution concluded its examination of witnesses. The defense called witnesses, but they did not appear as subpoenas had not been served on them. Mr. Hoyt said that other counsel for Brown would arrive that evening. Both court-appointed attorneys then resigned, and
13860-449: The day it took effect; eyewitness accounts at places such as Hilton Head Island, South Carolina , and Port Royal, South Carolina record celebrations on January 1 as thousands of blacks were informed of their new legal status of freedom. "Estimates of the number of slaves freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation are uncertain. One contemporary estimate put the 'contraband' population of Union-occupied North Carolina at 10,000, and
14014-410: The election the "beginning of the end of the utter downfall of Abolitionism ". Historians James M. McPherson and Allan Nevins state that though the results looked very troubling, they could be seen favorably by Lincoln; his opponents did well only in their historic strongholds and "at the national level their gains in the House were the smallest of any minority party's in an off-year election in nearly
14168-432: The end of the war . The Emancipation Proclamation outraged white Southerners and their sympathizers, who saw it as the beginning of a race war . It energized abolitionists , and undermined those Europeans who wanted to intervene to help the Confederacy. The Proclamation lifted the spirits of African Americans , both free and enslaved. It encouraged many to escape from slavery and flee toward Union lines, where many joined
14322-418: The enrollment of freed slaves into the United States military. During the war nearly 200,000 black men, most of them ex-slaves, joined the Union Army. Their contributions were significant in winning the war. The Confederacy did not allow slaves in their army as soldiers until the last month before its defeat. Though the counties of Virginia that were soon to form West Virginia were specifically exempted from
14476-488: The federal armory, the appearance of Virginia militia groups, and shootings on the railroad bridge. Other evidence described the U.S. Marines' raid on the fire engine house where Brown and his men were barricaded. U.S. Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and cavalry officer J. E. B. Stuart led the Marine raid, and it freed the hostages and ended the standoff. Lee did not appear at the trial to testify, but instead filed an affidavit to
14630-790: The final Emancipation Proclamation (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina). Not included were the Union slave states of Maryland , Delaware , Missouri and Kentucky . Also not named was the state of Tennessee , in which a Union-controlled military government had already been set up, based in the capital, Nashville. Specific exemptions were stated for areas also under Union control on January 1, 1863, namely 48 counties that would soon become West Virginia , seven other named counties of Virginia including Berkeley and Hampshire counties, which were soon added to West Virginia, New Orleans and 13 named parishes nearby. Union-occupied areas of
14784-475: The floors covered with straw for bedding, knapsacks, baggage, &c., of the soldiers. The outer office of Andrew Hunter, Esq., adjoining the courthouse, is used as a kitchen for certain companies. A huge cooking stove, rounds of beef resting against well-filled shelves of law books, cooks actively engaged &c., imparted to his office entrance quite a singular appearance. Brown faced a grand jury on Tuesday, October 25, 1859, just eight days after his capture in
14938-409: The forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves." However, Lincoln's position continued to be that, although Congress lacked the power to free the slaves in rebel-held states, he, as commander in chief, could do so if he deemed it a proper military measure. By this time, in the summer of 1862, Lincoln had drafted
15092-414: The government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such person found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by
15246-424: The honor of our families from pollution [and] our social system from destruction, let every effort be made, every means be employed, to fill and maintain the ranks of our armies, until God in his mercy shall bless us with the establishment of our independence." The Emancipation Proclamation marked a significant turning point in the war as it made the goal of the North not only preserving the Union, but also freeing
15400-460: The indictment and the testimony given so far (see below), and that Brown was being tried when he was too wounded to stand, much less "attend to his own defense", or follow what was being said, contributed to Brown's transformation into a martyr. The remainder of October 26 was used to choose jurors. Also on the 26th, abolitionist Lydia Maria Child sent Wise a letter to deliver to Brown, and asked to be permitted to nurse him. Wise responded that she
15554-471: The indictment. The central prosecution witness in the trial was Colonel Lewis Washington , great-grandnephew of George Washington , who had been kidnapped out of his home, Beall-Air , and held hostage near the Federal Armory. His slaves were militarily " impressed " ( conscripted ) by Brown, but they took no active part in the insurrection, he said. Other local witnesses testified to the seizure of
15708-465: The indignation of the citizens scarcely knew bounds. The final plea by the defense team for mercy concerned the circumstances surrounding the death of two of John Brown's men, who were apparently fired upon and killed by the Virginia militia while under a flag of truce. The armed community surrounding the Federal Arsenal did not hold their fire when Brown's men emerged to parley. This incident
15862-467: The legs of this gentleman, which were then hidden from view by his trousers. A second artist from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper was also in attendance, and Harper's Weekly employed a local artist and nephew of Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Hunter , Porte Crayon (David Hunter Strother); one of his drawings is in the Gallery, below . Leslie informed his readers that "one of our imitators"
16016-584: The long legged martyr in." Parker, dying of tuberculosis, remained in Italy until his death in 1860. Higginson was the sole member of the Six to stay in the United States and to publicly proclaim his support for Brown. He even developed a plan to have Brown rescued from his jail cell, but Brown did not want to be rescued. Higginson asked Sanborn upon the latter's absconding to Canada, "Can your clear moral sense justify our holding our tongues in order to save ourselves from
16170-458: The mockery of a trial. I do not know what the design of this examination is[.] I do not know what is to be the benefit of it to the Commonwealth? I have now little to ask other than that I be not foolishly insulted[,] as the cowardly barbarous insult, those who fall into their power. Brown asked for "a delay of two or three days" for his counsel to arrive. The judge turned down Brown's request: "the expectation of other counsel...did not constitute
16324-418: The name of freedom for Negroes, [the proclamation] imperils the liberty of white men; to test an utopian theory of equality of races which Nature, History and Experience alike condemn as monstrous, it overturns the Constitution and Civil Laws and sets up Military Usurpation in their stead." Racism remained pervasive on both sides of the conflict and many in the North supported the war only as an effort to force
16478-587: The names of the Six with Brown's. On November 7, Smith had himself confined to an insane asylum , denying that he had been involved in supporting Brown. Howe, Sanborn, and Stearns fled to Canada temporarily to avoid arrest. Parker was already in Italy , a guest of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning , as it was believed that a warm climate was helpful to those suffering from tuberculosis . "We did not know that Brown meant to begin there, in Virginia, at Harper's Ferry," Sanborn insisted. Like Gerrit Smith, Sanborn felt justified in making public statements which told
16632-526: The negro, is the heavyest [ sic ] blow yet given the Confederacy. The South rave a greatdeel [ sic ] about it and profess to be very angry." In May 1863, a few months after the Proclamation took effect, the Confederacy passed a law demanding "full and ample retaliation" against the U.S. for such measures. The Confederacy stated that black U.S. soldiers captured while fighting against the Confederacy would be tried as slave insurrectionists in civil courts—a capital offense with an automatic sentence of death. Less than
16786-532: The only relevant crimes were those few that took place within the Armory. "Virginia Governor Henry Wise , on the other hand, was 'adamant' that the insurgents pay for their crimes through his state's local judicial system," "claiming" the prisoners "to be dealt with according to the laws of Virginia". As he put it, after claiming that he remained at Harper's Ferry to prevent the suspects from being lynched , he "had made up his mind fully, and after determining that
16940-501: The people of their state desired "to avoid the unsatisfactory" terms of the Final Emancipation Proclamation "and to have peace again upon the old terms" ( i.e. , with slavery intact), they should rally "the largest number of the people possible" to vote in "elections of members to the Congress of the United States ... friendly to their object". Later, in his Annual Message to Congress of December 1, 1862, Lincoln proposed an amendment to
17094-423: The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which he issued on September 22, 1862. It declared that, on January 1, 1863, he would free the slaves in states still in rebellion. Abolitionists had long been urging Lincoln to free all slaves. In the summer of 1862, Republican editor Horace Greeley of the highly influential New-York Tribune wrote a famous editorial entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" demanding
17248-485: The prisoners should be tried in Virginia, he would not have obeyed an order to the contrary from the President of the United States." In short, Brown and his men did not face federal charges. There were no federal court facilities nearby, and transporting the accused to a federal courthouse in the state capital of Richmond or Washington D.C. – the nearest federal courthouse was in Staunton, Virginia , which
17402-426: The proclamation "reads not like an entrepreneur's bill for past services but like a warrior's brandishing of a new weapon". The Emancipation Proclamation resulted in the emancipation of a substantial percentage of the slaves in the Confederate states as the Union armies advanced through the South and slaves escaped to Union lines, or slave owners fled, leaving slaves behind. The Emancipation Proclamation also committed
17556-473: The proclamation after a major Union victory, or else it would appear as if the Union was giving "its last shriek of retreat". Walter Stahr, however, writes, "There are contemporary sources, however, that suggest others were involved in the decision to delay", and Stahr quotes them. In September 1862, the Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. In
17710-409: The proclamation to Vice President Hannibal Hamlin , an ardent abolitionist, who was more often kept in the dark on presidential decisions. The final proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863. Although implicitly granted authority by Congress, Lincoln used his powers as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy to issue the proclamation "as a necessary war measure." Therefore, it was not the equivalent of
17864-760: The proclamation with his cabinet in July 1862. He drafted his preliminary proclamation and read it to Secretary of State William Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles , on July 13. Seward and Welles were at first speechless, then Seward referred to possible anarchy throughout the South and resulting foreign intervention; Welles apparently said nothing. On July 22, Lincoln presented it to his entire cabinet as something he had determined to do and he asked their opinion on wording. Although Secretary of War Edwin Stanton supported it, Seward advised Lincoln to issue
18018-606: The proclamation's offer of freedom to slaves who enrolled in the Army and provided freedom for an enrollee's entire family; for this and other reasons, the number of slaves in the state fell by more than 70 percent during the war. However, in Delaware and Kentucky, slavery continued to be legal until December 18, 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment went into effect. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required individuals to return runaway slaves to their owners. During
18172-426: The reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see. Runaway slaves who had escaped to Union lines had previously been held by
18326-438: The rebellion and proof that Lincoln would have abolished slavery even if the states had remained in the Union. It intensified the fear of slaves revolting and undermined morale, especially spurring fear among slave owners who saw it as a threat to their business. In an August 1863 letter to President Lincoln, U.S. Army general Ulysses S. Grant observed that the proclamation's "arming the negro", together with "the emancipation of
18480-512: The region. Confederate general Robert E. Lee saw the Emancipation Proclamation as a way for the Union to increase the number of soldiers it could place on the field, making it imperative for the Confederacy to increase its own numbers. Writing on the matter after the sack of Fredericksburg , Lee wrote, "In view of the vast increase of the forces of the enemy, of the savage and brutal policy he has proclaimed, which leaves us no alternative but success or degradation worse than death, if we would save
18634-553: The reprobation of society, even as that nobler man whom we did provoke to enter into danger becomes the scapegoat of that reprobation, going for us even to the gallows?" In January 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, a celebration, also called a "John Brown party", was held at the home of George Stearns , attended by Sam and Julia Ward Howe , Frank Sanborn , Ralph Waldo Emerson , Wendell Phillips , and John Murray Forbes . Higginson, who
18788-418: The same time, and in some cases barely knew each other. The Secret Six were Thomas Wentworth Higginson , Samuel Gridley Howe , Theodore Parker , Franklin Benjamin Sanborn , Gerrit Smith , and George Luther Stearns . All six had been involved in the abolitionist cause prior to their meeting John Brown , and had gradually become convinced that violence was necessary in order to end American slavery . Of
18942-471: The six, only Smith and Stearns could be called wealthy. The others consisted of two Unitarian ministers (Parker and Higginson), a doctor (Howe) at a time when physicians were not well-to-do, and a teacher (Sanborn). Smith was one of the guarantors of a bail bond for Jefferson Davis after the Civil War . To the extent the group had a leader, it was Brown biographer Sanborn. "Some of the money and nearly all
19096-613: The slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.... I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer wrote about Lincoln's letter: "Unknown to Greeley, Lincoln composed this after he had already drafted
19250-412: The slaves only in areas of the South that were still in rebellion on January 1, 1863. But as the Union army advanced into the South, slaves fled to behind its lines, and "[s]hortly after issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, the Lincoln administration lifted the ban on enticing slaves into Union lines." These events contributed to the destruction of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation also allowed for
19404-408: The slaves was as a tactic of war—not as the mission itself. But that carried the risk that when the war ended, so would the justification for freeing the slaves. Late in 1862, Lincoln asked his Attorney General, Edward Bates , for an opinion as to whether slaves freed through a war-related proclamation of emancipation could be re-enslaved once the war was over. Bates had to work through the language of
19558-433: The slaves. The Proclamation also rallied support from abolitionists and Europeans, while encouraging enslaved individuals to escape to the North. This weakened the South's labor force while bolstering the North's ranks. The Proclamation was immediately denounced by Copperhead Democrats , who opposed the war and advocated restoring the union by allowing slavery. Horatio Seymour , while running for governor of New York, cast
19712-466: The spot" of "Governor Wise's shoes", "John Brown's watch", and the like. Considering its aftermath, it was arguably the most important criminal trial in the history of the country, for it was closely related to the war that quickly followed . According to historian Karen Whitman, "The conduct of John Brown during his incarceration and trial was so strong and unwavering that slavery went on trial rather than slavery's captive." According to Brian McGinty,
19866-533: The streets outside the perimeter of the Federal facility, this carried little weight with the jury. John Brown's lack of official citizenship in Virginia was presented as a defense against treason against the State. Judge Parker dispatched this claim by reference to "rights and responsibilities" and the overlapping citizenship requirements between the Federal union and the various states. John Brown, an American citizen, could be found guilty of treason against Virginia on
20020-410: The streets, troops marching and parading, sentries pacing to and fro, orderlies hurrying hither and thither, public buildings, offices, churches, and private houses turned into barracks, and around them all the cooking, cleaning of accoutrements, and the thousand other accessories of soldiers' quarters. Coordinating local security activities, including keeping non-residents without legitimate business in
20174-401: The stroke of midnight and the promised fulfillment of the Proclamation. It has been inaccurately claimed that the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave; historian Lerone Bennett Jr. alleged that the proclamation was a hoax deliberately designed not to free any slaves. However, as a result of the Proclamation, most slaves became free during the course of the war, beginning on
20328-468: The time of the Emancipation Proclamation. These exemptions left unemancipated an additional 300,000 slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation has been ridiculed, notably by Richard Hofstadter , who wrote that it "had all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading " and "declared free all slaves ... precisely where its effect could not reach". Disagreeing with Hofstadter, William W. Freehling wrote that Lincoln's asserting his power as Commander-in-Chief to issue
20482-499: The trial was adjourned until the next day. The trial resumed on Saturday, October 29. A lawyer, Samuel Chilton , arrived from Washington, and asked for a few hours to read the indictment and the testimony so far given; this was denied. The defense called six witnesses. The defense claimed that the Harpers Ferry Federal Armory was not on Virginia property, but since the murdered townspeople had died in
20636-544: The use of violence as a way to bring about the destruction of slavery. Brown met with members of the Six several times during 1858 and 1859 to discuss how he would attack the slave system. In October 1859, Brown's plan failed. The question immediately arose of who was backing Brown, as his declarations that the raid was his own idea were not believed. Speculation and then testimony, reported in The New York Times , New-York Herald , and other papers, began to link
20790-611: The war, in May 1861, Union general Benjamin Butler declared that three slaves who escaped to Union lines were contraband of war , and accordingly he refused to return them, saying to a man who sought their return, "I am under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims to be". On May 30, after a cabinet meeting called by President Lincoln, "Simon Cameron, the secretary of war, telegraphed Butler to inform him that his contraband policy 'is approved.'" This decision
20944-672: The weather, and the visit of Brown's wife, the night before his execution, was the subject of lengthy articles. The stories in the New York Daily Tribune were published unsigned, as the reporter, Edward Howard House , was in Charles Town in disguise, under a false name, with credentials from a Boston pro-slavery paper. He begged a visitor who knew him, Edward A. Brackett , a sketch artist from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper , not to say his real name aloud. Some of his reports, which could not be mailed safely from Charles Town, were transmitted by wrapping them around
21098-718: The whole Number of free Persons" and "three-fifths of all other Persons". Under the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2), "No person held to Service or Labour in one State" would become legally free by escaping to another. Article I, Section 9 allowed Congress to pass legislation to outlaw the "Importation of Persons", but not until 1808. However, for purposes of the Fifth Amendment —which states that, "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"—slaves were understood to be property. Although abolitionists used
21252-673: The wish that disunion could have been achieved "without the sacrifice of Brown" and believed a counter-proposal to the Harper's Ferry scheme should have been made—one that protected Brown from himself, believing the Six should have perceived "the madness that dwelled within him—the insanity that sat stealthily beside his great, selfless nobility." In 1905, Higginson co-founded the Intercollegiate Socialist Society , along with attorney Clarence Darrow , Jack London , and Upton Sinclair . After Sanborn's death in 1917,
21406-415: Was Richard Parker , of Winchester. Between Brown's arrest and his execution, Charles Town was filled with armed forces, both federal and state (militia). "The Governor [kept] the state troops constantly on guard. so that from the time Brown and his men were put in jail until after his execution, Charlestown [ sic ] had much the appearance of a military camp." The state was spending almost
21560-584: Was a criminal trial held in Charles Town, Virginia , in October 1859. The abolitionist John Brown was quickly prosecuted for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia , murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, all part of his raid on the United States federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia . (Since 1863, both Charles Town and Harpers Ferry are located in West Virginia.) He
21714-447: Was briefly mentioned in this regard – and maintaining them there would have been difficult and expensive. Because of Senator Mason 's resolution setting up a "select committee" to investigate the events at Harpers Ferry, there was no need of a federal venue in order to summon witnesses from other states. Murder was not a federal crime, and a federal indictment for treason or fomenting slave insurrection would have caused
21868-736: Was busy commanding a regiment of black Union soldiers, sent his regrets. Gerrit Smith did not respond to Stearns' invitation. A marble bust of John Brown, created by sculptor Edwin Brackett, was unveiled at this time. In 1867, Gerrit Smith helped post bail to release the imprisoned former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis . Smith's wife wrote to Sanborn in 1874, confirming that her husband had destroyed every one of his letters having anything to do with John Brown. Sanborn likewise combed through his own papers and letters, weeding out anything implicating himself or his partners in Brown's raid. Only some letters to Theodore Parker, which came back to Sanborn
22022-489: Was controversial because it could have been taken to imply recognition of the Confederacy as a separate, independent sovereign state under international law, a notion that Lincoln steadfastly denied. In addition, as contraband, these people were legally designated as "property" when they crossed Union lines and their ultimate status was uncertain. In December 1861, Lincoln sent his first annual message to Congress (the State of
22176-449: Was found guilty of all charges, sentenced to death, and was executed by hanging on December 2. He was the first person executed for treason in the United States. It was in many respects a most remarkable trial. Capital cases have been exceedingly few in the history of our country where trial and conviction have followed so quickly upon the commission of the offense. Within a fortnight from the time when Brown had struck what he believed to be
22330-508: Was free to go to Charles Town, that he had forwarded her letter there, but only the court could allow her access. Child's letter did reach Brown, who replied that he was recovering and did not need nursing. (In fact he didn't want nursing; it felt unmanly and made him uncomfortable. ) He suggested instead that she raise funds for the support of his wife and the wives and children of his dead sons. Child sold her piano to raise funds for Brown's family. After publishing it in newspapers, where it
22484-416: Was hired to defend Brown by John W. Le Barnes , one of the abolitionists who had given money to Brown in the past. On that day Brown was described as "walking feebly" from the jail to the courthouse, where he lay down on the cot. The prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County was Charles R. Harding, "whose daily occupations [drinking] are not of the nature to fit for the management of an important case". He
22638-403: Was not alone for the protection of the jail and the repelling of parties who were known to be organizing with the view of rescuing Brown and the prisoners, but it was for the purpose of preparing for coming events. Even Hunter's office was put to military use: It is a novel sight, however, to observe the lawyers' offices, as well as the public buildings, turned into barracks and guard-rooms, and
22792-483: Was not even standing room. At 5 PM the grand jury reported they had not yet finished questioning of witnesses, and the hearing was adjourned until the next day. On October 26 the grand jury returned a true bill of indictment against Brown and the other defendants, charging them with: Also on the 26th, M. Johnson, the United States Marshall from Cleveland, Ohio , arrived and identified Copeland as
22946-513: Was not on the same level as the defense attorneys. He agreed, unhappily, to be replaced for these cases, as Wise wanted, by Wise's personal attorney, Andrew Hunter . A Northern newspaper described Hunter as a "furious advocate of slavery". The prosecuting attorney, then, was Hunter, whose office was in Charles Town, despite the fact that in writing he referred to himself as the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. He wrote
23100-426: Was publishing bogus pictures. He described how his paper had engravers and artists standing by in a New York hotel, and once a sketch had arrived from Charles Town, 16 artists worked simultaneously at transforming it (split into 16 segments) into an illustration ready to be printed. The illustrations were so widely distributed that Yale Literary Magazine made fun of them, publishing the drawings of "our own artist on
23254-423: Was relevant. Brown, having received by telegraph news from a lawyer in Ohio, asked for a delay of one day; this was denied. The state attorney said that Brown's real motive was "to give to his friends the time and opportunity to organize a rescue." On Friday, October 28, George Henry Hoyt , a young but prominent Boston lawyer, arrived as counsel. One report says that Hoyt was a volunteer, but another that Hoyt
23408-448: Was representing Brown pro bono . In contrast, Chilton was no abolitionist, and only became involved after supporters of Brown promised to pay a very high fee, $ 1,000 (equivalent to $ 33,911 in 2023). Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation , officially Proclamation 95 , was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during
23562-455: Was to seize the federal arsenal there and then, using the captured arms, lead a slave insurrection across the South. Brown and his men engaged in a two-day standoff with local militia and federal troops, in which ten of his men were shot or killed, five were captured, and five escaped. Of Brown's three sons participating, Oliver and Watson were killed during the fight, Watson surviving in agony for another day. Owen escaped and later fought in
23716-543: Was widely read, she also published in book form, to raise money, her correspondence with and relating to Brown. It sold over 300,000 copies, and contributed to the sanctification of Brown. On Thursday, October 27, the trial proper began. Brown stated that he did not wish to use an insanity defense, as had been proposed by relatives and friends. A court-appointed lawyer said that a Virginia court could only try Brown for acts committed in Virginia, not in Maryland or on federal property (the arsenal). State counsel denied this
#450549