2004-12-8
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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In the autumn of eighteen-fifty-nine, a group of anti-slavery
extremists attacked the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The group
seized a gun factory and a federal arsenal where military equipment
was kept. It planned to use the guns and equipment for a rebel army
of Negro slaves.
The leader of the extremists was an Abolitionist named John
Brown.
I'm Kay Gallant. Today, Harry Monroe and I tell what happened to
John Brown after he seized Harpers Ferry.
VOICE TWO:
The President of the United States
in eighteen-fifty-nine was James Buchanan. When Buchanan learned of
the attack, he wanted immediate action. He sent a force of Marines
to Harpers Ferry, under the command of Army Colonel Robert E. Lee.
John Brown had attacked with about twenty men. Several, including
two of his sons, had been killed by local militia. He and his
remaining men withdrew to a small brick building. The attack had
failed. Not one slave had come to Harpers Ferry to help Brown. The
few whom his men had freed had refused to fight when the shooting
started. Brown could not understand the fear that kept the slaves
from fighting for their freedom.
VOICE ONE:
Brown and his men were trapped inside the brick building. They
held a few hostages whom they hoped to exchange for their freedom.
Colonel Lee wrote a message to John Brown demanding his
surrender. He did not think Brown would surrender peaceably. So, he
planned to attack as soon as Brown rejected the message. He felt
this was the surest way to save the lives of the hostages.
As expected, Brown refused to surrender. He said he and his men
had the right to go free. As soon as Brown spoke, the signal was
given. The Marines attacked.
They broke open a small hole in the door of the brick building.
One by one, the Marines moved through the hole. They fought
hand-to-hand against the men inside. After a brief fight, they won.
John Brown's rebellion was crushed.
VOICE TWO:
A few hours after Brown was
captured, the Governor of Virginia and three Congressmen arrived in
Harpers Ferry. They wanted to question Brown. Brown had been wounded
in the final attack. He was weak from the loss of blood. But he
welcomed the chance to explain his actions.
The officials first asked where Brown got the money to organize
his raid. Brown said he raised most of it himself. He refused to
give the names of any of his supporters. Then the officials asked
why Brown had come to Harpers Ferry. "We came to free the slaves,"
Brown said, "and only that."
He continued: "I think that you are guilty of a great wrong
against God and humanity. I believe anyone would be perfectly right
to interfere with you, so far as to free those you wickedly hold in
slavery. I think I did right. You had better -- all you people of
the south -- prepare yourselves for a settlement sooner than you are
prepared for it.
"You may get rid of me very easily. I am nearly gone now. But
this question is still to be settled...this Negro question, I mean.
That is not yet ended."
VOICE ONE:
The raid on Harpers Ferry increased the bitterness of the
national dispute over slavery. Members of the Democratic Party
called the raid a plot by the Republican Party. Republican leaders
denied the charge. They said the raid was the work of one man -- one
madman -- John Brown. Still, they said, he had acted for good
reason: to end slavery in America.
Southern newspapers condemned Brown. Some said his raid was an
act of war. Some demanded that he be executed as a thief and
murderer. Many southerners said all of the north was responsible for
the raid. They believed all northerners wanted a slave rebellion in
the south. And it was such a rebellion that southerners feared more
than anything else.
New measures were approved throughout the south to prevent this.
Military law was declared in some areas. Slave owners threatened to
beat or hang any Negro who even looked rebellious.
VOICE TWO:
The fear of a slave rebellion united the people of the south. For
years, rich slave owners had talked of taking the southern states
out of the Union to save their way of life. But those who had no
slaves opposed the idea of disunion.
John Brown's raid changed that. After his attack on Harpers
Ferry, the south spoke with one voice. All southerners declared that
they would fight to protect their homes from a Negro rebellion or
from another attack by men like Brown. Feelings were especially high
in Virginia, the state in which the raid took place. Virginians
wanted Brown punished quickly to show what would happen to anyone
who tried to lead a Negro rebellion.
There was some question whether Brown should be tried in a
federal court or a state court. Brown's raid took place within the
borders of a state. But the property he seized belonged to the
federal government.
The Governor of Virginia decided to try Brown in a state court.
He believed a federal court trial would take too long. If Brown were
not brought to trial quickly, he said, people might attack the jail
and kill him.
VOICE ONE:
Brown was being held in Charles Town, a few kilometers from
Harpers Ferry. The court there named two lawyers to defend him. A
doctor examined Brown. He reported that Brown's wounds were not
serious enough to prevent the trial from starting. Brown lay in a
bed in the courtroom throughout the trial.
John Brown's lawyers tried to show that his family had a history
of madness. They tried to prove that Brown, too, was mad. They asked
the court to declare him innocent because of insanity. Brown
protested. He said the lawyers were just trying to save his life. He
did not want such a defense. The matter of insanity was dropped.
VOICE TWO:
Brown's lawyers then argued that he was not guilty of the three
crimes with which he was charged.
First, they said, he could not be guilty of treason against
Virginia, because he was not a citizen of Virginia. Second, he could
not be guilty of plotting a slave rebellion, because he had never
incited slaves against their owners. And third, he could not be
guilty of murder, because he had killed only in self-defense.
The trial lasted five days. The jury found John Brown guilty of
all three charges.
VOICE ONE:
The judge asked Brown if he wanted to make a statement before
being sentenced. Brown did. He declared that he had not planned to
start a slave rebellion. He said he only wanted to free some slaves
and take them to Canada.
Brown's statement was strong. But it was not true. He had, in
fact, planned to organize an army of slaves to fight for their
freedom. He acted in the belief that slaves throughout the south
would rise up against their owners and join him.
Brown's words did not move the judge. He said he could find no
reason to question the jury's decision that Brown was guilty. He
sentenced brown to be hanged.
VOICE TWO:
One of Brown's supporters attempted to find a way to free Brown
from jail. Several plans were proposed. None were tried.
Brown himself did not want to escape. He said he could do more to
destroy slavery by hanging than by staying alive.
John Brown was executed on December second, eighteen-fifty-nine.
His death created a wave of public emotion throughout the country.
In the north, people mourned. One man wrote: "The events of the last
month or two have done more to build northern opposition to slavery
than anything which has ever happened before...than all the
anti-slavery pamphlets and books that have ever been written."
In the south, people cheered. But their happiness at Brown's
punishment was mixed with anger at those who honored him. As the
nation prepared for a presidential election year, the south renewed
its promise to defend slavery...or leave the Union.
That will be our story next week.
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VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry
Monroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.