William Green (Virginia Historical Society, Accession no. 2009.1.8)

John Andrew (Library of Congress)

The hope of many Americans was that moderate voices North and South would be heard. Two such spokesmen were the attorneys William Green of Richmond and John Andrew of Boston. They had been in touch before the hanging and they continued their correspondence afterwards. They calmly debated the issues and remained consistently respectful of the other's point of view. Green, the Richmonder, could never justify the institution of slavery, while Andrew, the Bostonian, could never effectively defend Brown's criminal actions.