A Plea for Captain John Brown
Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine
"A Plea for Captain John Brown" by Henry David Thoreau is an essay first delivered as a speech on October 30, 1859, two weeks after abolitionist John Brown's failed raid on Harpers Ferry. Speaking against widespread public condemnation, Thoreau defends Brown as a moral hero rather than a madman, comparing his impending execution to Christ's crucifixion. The essay challenges Americans who dismiss Brown's actions, arguing that his commitment to justice represents true sanity and courage in the face of state-sponsored injustice.
Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.
- Language
- English
- On Project Gutenberg since
- 1 March 2001
- Read in the last 30 days
- 852 times at Project Gutenberg
More by Henry David Thoreau
See all: More by Henry David Thoreau
Journal 01, 1837-1846
Journal 02, 1850-September 15, 1851
The Maine Woods
Familiar Letters
Excursions, and Poems
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Henry David Thoreau
Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Walking
Excursions
Cape Cod
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Canoeing in the wilderness
Poems of Nature
A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-slavery and reform papers.
Wild Apples
The Service
