"Coatesville" by John Jay Chapman (1912)

Visual Source: Best Thinking History
"A nation cannot practice a course of inhuman crime for three hundred years and then suddenly throw off the effects of it"
-John Jay Chapman "Coatesville"

A year prior to Chapman's essay being published, Coatesville, Pennsylvania housed one of the most horrifying murders. Hundreds of spectators looked on as a few white men tortuously killed a black man by burning him. The black man was chained to an iron bed and "thrust back by pitchforks when he struggled out of it." John Jay Chapman lived close to Coatesville and was furious when he learned of this horrible and unnecessary execution in the newspapers. This sparked his tirade because of the fact that none of the spectators intervened to try to cease the man's agony. He wanted to explain to people that even though slavery was abolished less than 50 years prior, racial tensions continued to be high, and black people were still not treated equal. His essay was for everyone of America because he believed they were all at fault for the man's burning. The Americans still treated them the same way as when they were slaves, and Chapman saw no use for this kind of behavior. John Jay wanted his audience to see the error of their ways and ultimately, the mistakes of the human race. It was really important to him to share that slavery makes all parties involved cruel and that it continued years after it was gone. He wrote several long sentences that ultimately showed he was ranting. This essay was a way to get his point across in a speech, and his diction displayed how frustrated he was that this happened. Another rhetorical device he used was imagery. When describing the scene of the man's burning, he used specific details that drew the reader into the essay. It helped to establish the writer's argument and provide countless evidence for it. Chapman wrote an essay that stood the test of time because of how these kinds of situations still occur in today's world, which made it very easy for him to accomplish his purpose.