The essay argues that the US government's execution of John Brown for his role in the raid on Harpers Ferry was a grave injustice and an attack on individual conscience and moral responsibility. Thoreau sees Brown as a martyr who acted out of a sense of duty to end slavery, and he defends Brown's actions as justified by the immorality of slavery itself.
By Henry David Thoreau · First published 1859 · Genre: Political Essay, Biography, Speech