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John Brown to Franklin Sanborn
Peterboro, New York, February 24, 1858
Courtesy of
Questroyal Fine Art, LLC
903 Park Avenue (at 79th Street),
Suites 3A & B
New York, NY 10075
www.questroyalfineart.com
“Certain the cause
is enough to live for if not to [blank] for . . . God
has honored but comparatively a very small part of mankind
with any possible chance for such mighty & soul satisfying
rewards . . .”
Brown,
John (1800–1859). American
abolitionist.
Exhibited: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Long Road to Freedom,
December 8, 2006 – April 29, 2007.
Autograph
Letter Signed (John Brown), 5 1/4 x 8 inches, 2pp, Peterboro,
New York, February 24, 1858. Addressed
to Franklin Sanborn. Penned two days after revealing
his plan to raid a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry
and spark a major slave rebellion. Brown eloquently
asks Franklin Sanborn—a member of the Secret Six,
who financed the abolitionist’s raids—to “make
a common cause with [him]” and join in his plan to
seize Harper’s Ferry. Brown also foreshadows
the ultimate price he would pay for this deed; intentionally
omitting the word “die,” Brown adds, “I
expect nothing but to ‘endure hardness’s: but
I expect to effect a mighty conquest even though it be
like the last victory of Samson.”
Click here for the complete transcript.
Complete Transcript:
Peterboro, N. Y. 24.th Feby, 1858.
F B Sanborn Esq
My Dear Friend
Mr. Morton has taken the liberty of saying to me that
you felt 1/2 inclined to make a common cause with me. I greatly
rejoice at this; for I believe when you come to look
at the ample field I labour in; & the rich harvest
which (not only this entire country, but) the whole world
during the present & future generation may reap from
its successful cultivation; you will feel that you are
out of your element until you find you are in it; an entire
Unit. What an inconceivable amount of good you might so
effect; by your counsel, your example, your encouragement,
your natural & acquired ability; for active service.
And then how very little we can possibly loose?
Certainly the cause is enough to live for; if not
to for. I have only had this one opportunity in
a life of nearly Sixty years, & could I be continued
ten times as long again I might not again have another
equal opportunity. God has honored but comparatively a
very small part of mankind with any possible chance
for such mighty & soul satisfying rewards. But my
dear friend if you should make up your mind to do so I
trust it will be wholly from the prompting of your own
spirit; after having thoroughly counted the cost.
I would flatter no man into such a measure if I
could do it ever so easily. I expect nothing but
to “endure hardness”: but I expect to effect
a mighty conquest even though it be like the last victory
of Samson. I felt for a number of years in earlier life;
a steady strong desire to die: but since I saw any
prospect of becoming a 'reaper' in the great harvest
I have not only felt quite willing to live: but
have enjoyed life much; I am now rather anxious to live
for a few years more.
Your sincere friend
John Brown
Provenance
Oliver Barrett Collection
Henry Luhrs Collection.
Literature
Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Collector: The Story of Oliver
R. Barrett’s Great
Private Collection (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1950), p. 308
(illustrated). |