A Disease in the Public Mind (28 page)

Here is the John Brown that the beard concealed. Note the grim mouth and glaring eyes of the fanatic. One can almost hear his war cry: “Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin.”
Library of Congress

Many Virginians considered Captain Robert E. Lee to be George Washington's heir. He was married to Mary Custis, the founder's step great-granddaughter. In the war with Mexico, Lee won promotion to lieutenant colonel for his daring and leadership. President Lincoln offered him command of the Union Army in 1861. In one of the hidden turning points of American history, Lee refused the offer.
National Archives

Quaker John Woolman urged slavery's abolition through patience, prayer, and gentle reproaches. Hatred was foreign to what one biographer has called his “beautiful soul.” Woolman died in England, urging the British to free the slaves of the West Indies. The seed he planted led to peaceful emancipation in 1833.

Phillis Wheatley arrived in Boston on a slave ship in 1761 at the age of seven. She learned to read and write almost immediately and in 1773 published a book of poems. In 1775, she dedicated a poem to General Washington. He paid tribute to her “great poetical talents” and invited her to visit him. It was a first glimpse of the remarkable freedom from race prejudice that led Washington to free all his slaves in his will.
Library of Congress

Colonel John Laurens persuaded George Washington to back his proposal to free 3,000 slaves to serve in the Continental Army. The Continental Congress voted its approval. Some historians have called their vote the first emancipation proclamation. Sadly, Laurens was killed in a skirmish and the idea died with him.
National Park Service

When President Thomas Jefferson approved Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of St. Domingue (Haiti) in 1802 to restore French rule, he created a nightmare that became a disease of the Southern mind—fear of a race war. Yellow fever destroyed the French army and the enraged Haitians killed almost every white man, woman, and child on the island.
From
France Militaire
, 1833

Short, stocky Jean Jacques Dessalines was the black general who fought Napoleon's invasion of Haiti and ordered the slaughter of the surviving French men and women on the island. But his hatred extended only to French whites. In 1804, he sought American recognition of Haiti's independence. President Jefferson persuaded Congress to reject his letter. The next president to send a diplomat to Haiti was Abraham Lincoln in 1862.

In 1822, inspired by the example of Haiti, Denmark Vesey proposed to kill all the whites in Charleston, South Carolina, seize ships in the harbor, and flee. Some blacks revealed the plot the day before the rebels were to strike. Vesey and many of his followers were hanged. The South's fear of a race war grew deeper.

In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison launched The Liberator, a newspaper that demanded the immediate emancipation of the South's slaves. Although he claimed to be inspired by God, Garrison repeatedly compared slavery to rape and preached hatred of slave owners and “The Slave Power”—his name for the southern states. Almost single-handedly he created a disease in the public mind.
Library of Congress

Ex-President John Quincy Adams was elected to Congress soon after Andrew Jackson defeated him in his bid for a second term. Although Congressman Adams promised to represent “all the people,” he gradually became an outspoken foe of “The Slave Power” and helped turn abolitionism into a political movement.
Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson Randolph was Thomas Jefferson's oldest grandson. In 1833, he called for the gradual emancipation of Virginia's slaves and participated in a ferocious debate on the issue in the state legislature. Numerous Virginians admitted slavery was a great evil. Randolph's proposal lost by only five votes.
Thomas Jefferson Foundation