Blog 8- Response to John Brown's Last Speech & The Death of Lincoln

      A similarity that both writings have is I assume that both of these men were from the North and were against slavery. "I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves."  This clearly shows that John Brown was an active abolitionist and didn't care who knew it. He led Harper's Ferry and the Pottawatomie Massacre. I believe that in John Brown's Last Speech he demonstrates the American Dream by trying to free the slaves, and by freeing them he is letting them be treated like normal human beings and not like objects. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is a key phrase used by Americans still today that we live by, how are the slaves supposed to have a life, have liberty, or happiness when they were treated like objects with no knowledge and had everything they loved taken away from them. They didn't even know what life really was. By freeing them he is also allowing them to maybe get the schooling they need to be able to have a normal job and succeed in the United States although they might not have been the dominant white male. Back then the African Americans were treated very poorly and their owners didn't want them to have any knowledge or freedom. Of course how is one to ever achieve the American Dream with no knowledge and when they aren't allowed to do anything outside the plantation that could ever let them achieve the goals that the individual might have or could potentially have.
      In The Death of Lincoln the last two lines really stood out to me and I think that they go along with a lot of John Brown's Last Speech and his mentality throughout his speech. "Among the noble host of those, Who perished in the cause of Right." Looking back in history we all have learned that Lincoln was a part of the abolitionist movement and wanted to free the slaves. Lincoln and John Brown are similar characters because they both believe in freeing the slaves and are abolitionists, yet they go about their beliefs in different ways. John Brown is willing to be violent with his actions and Lincoln does it in a more political manner. Also in The Death of Lincoln it says "Whose proudest monument shall be, The broken fetters of the slaves." This shows another similarity between the two readings because they both praise what they have done to try and free the slaves and give them their right to the "American Dream". The "American Dream" could not be obtained when a person is confined to an area with absurd duties and is given no direction or freedom to achieve something that they can call their own. Although the slaves did work hard back then which is a trait of achieving the American Dream they were not rewarded with anything yet had everything taken away from them and were treated like objects.
      I think that John Brown's Last Speech is more persuasive than the Death of Lincoln because of the fact that John Brown uses a reference to the Bible. Readers of this time would be very persuaded by his reference to the Bible because of the strong Christianity faith that occurred during this time. As we discussed in class although many slave owners were Christian it didn't stop them from doing what was not moral and beating their slaves, but none the less everyone was very Christian at this time.
      Lastly, Northerners would probably be more moved by the two pieces for two reasons. The first reason is because both of these men were abolitionists, Lincoln and John Brown, and majority of the North were against slavery and Lincoln was a very strong, important figure to Northerners. So the Northerners are most likely to side with the views of Lincoln and John Brown's thoughts of freeing the slaves. Second, the reference to the Bible would effect both the Southerners and Northerners. Because both readings are promoting freeing slaves and the American Dream is an underlying message, the use of the Bible as a reference would just have a stronger effect on the Northerners to really want to get the abolitionist movement going. Southerners might be very offended by these two readings because although the Biblical reference may effect them too and make them think a bit they do not believe what they are doing is wrong although they are strong Christians. Like we said in class, it seemed to be the more Christian a southern slave owner was the more brutal they were.