Ambrose Bierce Quotes
ACCUSE, v.t. To affirm another's guilt or unworth; most commonly as a justification of ourselves for having wronged him.
Bierce, Ambrose. The Devil's Dictionary. Neale Publishing Company, 1911.
Southerners were paranoid that the relatively new Republican party leaders were conspiring to foment slave rebellions. In particular, they believed that the Republican party was behind John Brown’s failed slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry. For many Republicans, Brown’s raid was understandable and even inevitable and moral, but there was no assistance provided to Brown by the Republican party of even members of its leadership. Democrats attacked the Republicans with this charge. There were some strong abolitionists who were Republicans who did believe that violence to end slavery was not only moral but was inevitable due to the intransigence of the South.
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and Civil War veteran. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature"; and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (also published as In the Midst of Life) was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.
