"The First Effectual Blow": Douglass on Brown
"[John Brown] believes the Declaration of Independence to be true, and the Bible to be a guide to human conduct, and acting upon the doctrines of both, he threw himself against the serried ranks of American oppression, and translated into heroic deeds the love of liberty and hatred of tyrants with which he was inspired from both these forces acting upon his philanthropic and heroic soul. This age is too gross and sensual to appreciate his deeds, and so calls him mad; but the future will write his epitaph upon the hearts of a people freed from slavery because he struck the first effectual blow.”
Source: “Undisguised, Outspoken Abolitionism,” New York Herald (21 Nov. 1859), p. 2, relayed from “The Reign of Terror in the South,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper (11 Nov. 1859).
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