"Es ist einfach mich zu hängen, aber die Frage - die Sklavenfrage - die bleibt noch zu lösen."
John Brown, unter dem Galgen, 2. Dezember 1859
Am 17. Oktober 1859 überfiel der US-amerikanische
Abolitionist und Revolutionär John Brown mit 21 Männern (16 Weiße, fünf Schwarze) die in Virginia gelegene Stadt
Harpers Ferry. Sein Plan war es, durch die Eroberung des dort befindlichen Waffenarsenals der US-Armee einen Aufstand der damals über 4 Millionen Sklaven zu entfachen und sie zu bewaffnen, um mit einer immer größer werdenden Revolutionsarmee letztlich den gesamten amerikanischen Süden zu befreien. Im Falle des Scheiterns dieses militärischen Plans wollte er medienwirksam auf den Widerspruch zwischen der amerikanischen Verfassung und dem (südstaatlichen) Beharren auf der Sklaverei aufmerksam machen.
Das Arsenal wurde kurzfristig eingenommen und 100.000 Feuerwaffen erbeutet. Der Plan scheiterte. Nach etwa 36 Stunden wurden die Abolitionisten von einer Kompanie US-Marines unter dem Kommandanten
Robert E. Lee überwältigt. Nicht ein einziger Sklave schloss sich ihnen an, insgesamt starben 17 Männer, darunter zehn von Browns Anhängern und zwei seiner Söhne. Brown selbst wurde allerdings nur verwundet, festgenommen und zwei Monate später am 2. Dezember 1859 wegen Mordes, Anzettelung eines Sklavenaufstandes und Hochverrats gehängt.
Einen Monat vor seiner - als
"erste politische Hinrichtung der USA" angesehene - Hinrichtung hielt er die folgende, weiter unten von
Orson Welles vorgetragene Rede:
"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 slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and 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 do 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, 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.
The 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 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 despied 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. I feel no consciousness of my guilt. I have stated 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 any kind.
Let me say also, a word in regard to the statements made by some to those conncected with me. I hear it has been said 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."
Trotz des Scheiterns seiner militärischen Aktion brachte seine Revolte das Problem der
Sklaverei in den USA in das Bewußtsein der Öffentlichkeit, vertiefte den Konflikt zwischen den Nord und Südstaaten und war damit eines der Ereignisse, die zum Ausbruch des Bürgerkriegs - der 2. amerikanischen Revolution - führte. An deren Ende standen nach zwischen
600.000 und 750.00 Toten das Ende der Sklaverei, mitnichten aber des allgegenwärtigen Rassismus, als deren Ergebnis bis in die heutige Zeit zum Teil heftig über die
Rolle Browns zum Teil heftig
gestritten wird: War er ein
Terrorist oder ein Revolutionsheld?
"Ich, John Brown, bin mir nun ziemlich sicher, dass die Verbrechen dieses schuldigen Landes niemals, wenn nicht mit Blut, gereinigt werden. Ich hatte, wie ich jetzt denke, mir vergebens eingebildet, dass es ohne viel Blutvergießen erledigt werden könne." 2. Dezember 1859
Siehe auch:
- 150 Jahre John Brown
- John Brown's Raid in American Memory
- Civil War Journal - John Brown's War
- John Brown. An address by Frederick Douglass, at the fourteenth anniversary of Storer College, Harper-™s Ferry, West Virginia, May 30, 1881
- Kurzbiografie
- The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown: Who Was Executed at Charlestown, Virginia, Dec. 2, 1859, for an Armed Attack Upon American Slavery; With Notices of Some of His Confederates
- John Brown, 1800-1859; A Biography Fifty Years After
- Memoirs of John Brown: Written for Rev. Samuel Orcutt's History of Torrington, CT
Quellen:
WikiPedia,
Howard Zinn Education Project,
IloveAncestry
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