A Declaration of Liberty by the Representatives of the Slave Population of the United States of America, July 4, 1859
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for an Oppressed People to Rise, and assert their Natural Rights, as Human Beings, as Native & mutual Citizens of a free Republic, and break that odious Yoke of oppression, which is so unjustly laid upon them by their fellow Countrymen, "and to assume among the powers of Earth the same equal privileges to which the Laws of Nature, & nature’s God entitle them; A moderate respect for the opinions of Mankind, requires that they should declare the causes which incite them to this just & worthy action.
We hold these truths to be Self Evident; That All Men are Created Equal; That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are Life, Liberty; & the pursuit of happiness. That Nature hath freely given to all Men, a full Supply of Air. Water, & Land; for their sustenance, & mutual happiness, That No Man has any right to deprive his fellow Man, of these Inherent rights, except in punishment of Crime. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That when any form of Government, becomes destructive to these ends, It is the right of the People, to alter, Amend, or Remodel it.
Laying its foundation on Such Principles, & organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect the safety, & happiness" of the Human Race, To secure equal rights, privileges, & justice to all; Irrespective of Sex; or Nation; To Secure Fraternal Kindness to all Friends of Equal Moral privileges, to all who honestly abandon their Despotic oppressive rule. We hold this truth to be self evident; That it is the highest Privilege, & Plain Duty of Man; to strive in every reasonable way, to promote the Happiness, Mental, Moral, & Physical, elevation of his fellow Man.
And that People, or Clannish Oppressors; who wickedly violate this sacred principle; oppressing their fellow Men, Will bring upon themselves that certain & fearful retribution, which is the Natural, and Necessary penalty of evil Doing.
"Prudence, indeed will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light & transient causes; But when a long train of abuses, & usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object; evinces a design to perpetuate an absolute Despotism; and most cruel bondage; It is their Right, it is their Duty to resist & change such Government, & provide safeguards for their future Liberty."
Such has been the patient sufferance of the slaves of the United States, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to brush this foul system of oppression, The history of Slavery in the United States, is a history of injustice & Cruelties inflicted upon the Slave in every conceivable way, & in barbarity not surpassed by the most Savage Tribes.
It is the embodiment of all that is Evil, and ruinous to a Nation; and subversive of all Good. "In proof of which; facts innumerable have been submitted to the People, and have recorded the Verdict & condemnation of a candid & Impartial World."
Our Servants; Members of Congress & other Servants of the People, who receive exorbitant wages, from the People in return for their unjust Rule, have refused to pass Laws the most wholsome & necessary for public good, they have refused to pass laws for the accommodation of large districts of People, unless that People, would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
Our President & other Leeches have called together Legislative, or treasonable Bodies, at places unusual, uncomfortable, & distant from the depository of our public records; for the sole purpose of fatiguing us into compliance with their measures. They have dissolved Representative houses, for opposing with Manly firmness, their invasions on the rights of the people, petitions; and have failed to pass Laws for our relief.
They have prevented in all possible ways, the administration of justice to the slave, They have made judges Taney dependent on their will alone, for the tenure of their office, & the amount & payment of their salaries, They have erected a Multitude of new offices, & sent on swarms of Blood Suckers, & Moths, to harass the People, & eat out their substance, They have affected to render the Military, independent of, & superior to the power & wishes of the People (the Civil power.)
Claiming that knowledge is power, they have, (for their own safety) kept us in total darkness, & Ignorance, inflicting base cruelties, for any attempt on our part to obtain knowledge "They have protected base Men, Pirates (engaged in a most Inhuman traffic; The Foreign; & Domestic, Slave Trade.) by mock trials, from punishment, for unprovoked murders which they have committed upon us, & free citizens of the States.
They have prevented by law, our having any Traffic or deal with our fellow Men; Regardless of our wishes, they declare themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. They have abdicated government among us, by declaring us out of their protection, & waging a worse than cruel war upon us continually.
"The welfare of the People; Is the first Great Law." The fact, & a full description of the enormous Sin of Slavery, may be found in the General History of American Slavery, which is a history of repeated injuries, of base hypocrisy; A cursed treasonable, usurpation; The most abominable provoking atrocities; Which are but a mockery of all that is just, or worthy of any people. Such cruelty, tyranny, & perfidy, has hardly a parallel, in the history of the most barbarous ages.
Our Servants, or Lawmakers; are totally unworthy the name of Half Civilized Men. All their National acts, (which aply to Slavery,) are false, to the words spirit, & intention, of the Constitution of the United States, & the Declaration of Independence. They say by word & Act, That their own Children, or any faithful Citizen, may be Legally robbed of every Natural & Sacred Right, & that we, have no rights whatever.
They are a Blot upon the Character, the honor, of any Nation, which Claims to have the least shadow or spark of Civilization above the lowest, most inferior Canibal Races.
This is a slight though brief recital, of some of the enormous atrocities, of these Idle, haughty, tyrannical, Arrogant Land Monopolists; Slave holders our lords, & masters, From which, Good Lord Deliver us. These are some of the facts, which we now, (after the lapse of 83 years, since the writing & signing of that Sacred Instrument, Honored & Adored by our Fathers, which declares that it is Self Evident that all Men are Created Equal, Endowed by their Creator with certain inherent rights &c") submit to the Decision of all candid; true Republican, Friends of Universal Freedom, & Natural Equality of Rights.
All We Demand; is our Liberty, & the Natural rights & immunities of faithful Citizens of the United States. We will Obtain these rights or Die in the struggle to obtain them. We make war upon oppression, we have no controversy with any Religious Sect, Our intention is not to molest any Good Man, what ever may be his religious belief.
We hold these to be self evident truths, That That any Tribe, Rulers, or People, who Rob & cruelly oppress their faithful Laboring Citizens, have within themselves the Germ, of their own certain & fearful overthrow; It is one of Nature’s Immutable Laws; that "According to the measure ye mite; so shall it be Measured to you again."
Herein is the secret of security & true happiness, for Individuals, And the Only Firm Basis, upon which Governments, may be Permanently Established; Where the Citizens, are Devoted to the greatest good of their Fellow Men, The more humble, benighted & oppressed they are, so much more sympathy; & earnest effort for their relief, is demanded, striving earnestly to promote the safety and prosperity of their Nation; & the Human Race.
It is a fixed Law of Nature, That any People, or Nation, whose [sturdy?] purpose, & Constant Practice, is in accordance with these principles; Must go forward Progressing; So long as Man Continues to Exist. For in Nature the Principle of Reciprocity is Great. "The Legitimate object of all Punishment, is to prevent Crime" When any Punishment is inflicted, more than is necessary to prevent crime, it then ceases to be a Punishment, It has then become a Barbarous Crime. A Sore Evil.
"The Natural Object of all Government is to Protect the right, Defend the Innocent.”
When any set of Usurpers, Tribe, or Community, fail to protect the right, but furnish protection & encouragement to the Villain, by bestowing a Bounty, or Premium, upon the vile Thief, Robber, Libertine, Pirate; & Woman killing Slave Holder; as a reward, for their deeds of rascality and Barbarism; And inflict grievous cruelties upon the innocent, Shooting & Butchering those most faithful, Citizens, who have Striven Manfully, for the relief of the downtrodden, oppressed of their Country), who fought bravely in support of the Great Principles set forth in our Declaration of Independence, from the oppressive Rule of England.
Encouraging in various ways, by bribery & fraud, the most Fiendish acts of Barbarism (like those Perpetrated within the limits of the United States, at Blount’s Fort; in Florida & in other Territories), under the Jurisdiction & guidance of Slaveholding Authority, & in strict accordance with Slaveholding Rules.
They have transcended their own limits, They have fairly outwitted themselves; Their Slave Code, is a shame to any Nation, Their Laws, are no Laws; they themselves are no more than a Band of Base Piraticle Rulers. They are a curse to themselves, a most lamentable Blot upon Society.
"In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Class of oppressors, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrannical Despotism, is unfit to rule any People.
Nor have we been wanting in attention, to our Oppressors; we have warned them from time to time, of attempts (made by their headlong Blindness,) to perpetuate, extend, strengthen, & revive the dying elements of this cursed Institution. We have reminded them of our unhappy condition, and of their cruelties, We have appealed to their native justice & magnanimity, we have conjured them by the ties of our common nature, our Brotherhood, & Common Parentage, to disavow these usurpations, which have destroyed our Kindred friendship, and endangered their safety.
"They have been Deaf to the voice of Justice & Consanguinity. We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces their tyranny & unjust rule over us. Declaring that we will serve them no longer as slaves, Knowing that the Laborer is worthy of his hire."
We therefore, the Representatives of the Circumscribed Citizens of the United States, of America in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World, for the rectitude of our intentions, Do in the name, & by the authority of the oppressed Citizens of the Slave States, Solemnly, publish & Declare; that the Slaves are, & of right ought to be as free & independent as the unchangeable Law of God, requires that All Men Shall be.
That they are absolved from all allegiance to those Tyrants, who still persist in forcibly subjecting them to perpetual Bondage, and that all friendly connection between them & such Tyrants, is, & ought to be totally dissolved , And that as free, & Independent Citizens of these States, they have a perfect right, a sufficient & just cause, to defend themselves against the tyranny of their oppressors. To solicit aid from & ask the protection of all true friends of humanity & reform, of whatever Nation, & where ever found; A right to contract Allegiances, & to do all other acts & things which free independent Citizens may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration; with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence ; we mutually Pledge to each other, Our Lives, and our sacred honor. Indeed; I tremble for my Country, when I reflect; that God is Just; And that his Justice; will not sleep forever."
Nature is mourning for its Murdered, and Afflicted Children. Hung be the Heavens in Scarlet.
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Cite this
Chicago Manual of Style:
Brown, John. “A Declaration of Liberty by the Representatives of the Slave Population of the United States of America.” 1859. Manuscript. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Digital edition published by The John Brown Project. https://johnbrown250.org/archive/declaration-of-liberty.
MLA:
Brown, John. “A Declaration of Liberty by the Representatives of the Slave Population of the United States of America.” 1859. Boyd B. Stutler Collection, West Virginia State Archives. The John Brown Project, johnbrownproject.org/archive/declaration-of-liberty.
About this Document
Written in 1859 and modeled directly on the Declaration of Independence, this document was Brown's ideological proclamation for the liberation movement he intended to build through the Harpers Ferry raid.
Seized among his papers after the raid's collapse, it was the companion to his Provisional Constitution—where that document established the governing structure of his planned provisional state, this one declared why it had to exist. It is among the least-known of the major Brown documents, and among the most direct.
What it is. Brown structured this declaration as a point-by-point rewriting of Jefferson's 1776 text, using the founding document's own language and logic to argue that the same revolutionary principles requiring American independence required the immediate abolition of slavery. The opening lines are unmistakable: "When in the course of Human events, it becomes necessary for an oppressed People to Rise..." He was not alluding to the Declaration of Independence. He was rewriting it.
What it is not. Brown explicitly states: "We make war upon oppression, we have no controversy with any Religious Sect, political party, or denomination as such." The document is a demand for liberty rooted in the founding logic of the republic, not a call for the destruction of American society.
Its relationship to the Provisional Constitution. These two documents were written in the same period and should be read together. The Provisional Constitution (1858) is the governing charter of Brown's planned free state — the legislative, executive, and judicial structure of the movement. The Declaration of Liberty is its founding statement of purpose. The Constitution answers how. This answers why.
The July 4 date. Some archival sources assign a date of July 4, 1859. If intentional, the dating was a pointed act — an antislavery manifesto issued on Independence Day, indicting the republic for its failure to live up to its own premises. That tradition had clear predecessors: David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829), and Frederick Douglass's "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" (1852).
Primary Source info
Physical form. The original was transcribed by Brown's son, Owen (ostensibly because Owen had the best penmanship), in ink on a long piece of cloth—scroll-like. It was seized at Brown's Maryland staging ground after the raid and preserved by Virginia authorities. The original manuscript is held at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Text version: http://digitalhistory.hsp.org/pafrm/doc/declaration-liberty-representatives-slave-population-united-states-america-july-4-1859
Collection Information: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Miscellaneous Collection (Collection 425)
Editor’s Note on This Transcription
The text on this page follows the transcription at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's digital history archive, sourced originally from F.B. Sanborn's The Life and Letters of John Brown(1885). Scholars working from the original manuscript may encounter different spellings ("evry," "sustinance," "persuit") that Brown's own hand produced. I corrected the spelling errors because I am sure John Brown would want that. I did not alter his choices for capitalizing words because I have a hunch he would NOT want that.
—Daniel Morrison
Related Primary Sources
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States (1858)
John Brown's Last Speech to the Court, November 2, 1859
John Brown's Final Note, December 2, 1859
John Brown's Interview at Harpers Ferry, October 18–19, 1859