The Browns had varied views on the institution of slavery. From letters and other documents, we can piece together some of the Browns’ attitudes, but they can never be entirely clear. It's likely that over time their opinions on enslavement shifted as they and the world around them changed.
Despite being an enslaver, we know little about John’s views on slavery. However, we do know that he and ten other men, served on a committee for the Presbyterian Church and published a pamphlet in 1836 condemning the practice and encouraging gradual emancipation.[1] Unlike abolitionists who believed in an immediate end to enslavement, gradual emancipationists believed in a more conservative approach where individual enslavers granted freedom to people once they had reached a certain age, typically 25. John would adopt this practice and shortly after the convention set up the manumission of Hannah and Miles Stepney and their children[2]. In addition to promoting emancipation, the pamphlet John and his peers published also encouraged educating slaves. Three of the eight Stepney children were provided an elementary education, Selim and George attended school in Frankfort[3] and Mary was taught by Margaretta at Liberty Hall.[4]
Margaretta’s thoughts on slavery are slightly more known. In an 1804 letter to Eliza Quincy she expresses conflicting feelings; she felt as though the people enslaved in Kentucky were treated better than hired servants but says “there is something in the idea of involuntary servitude which shocks humanity.”[5] Even after she and John became enslavers themselves she continued to dislike the institution of slavery and seemed to be self conscious about her role in it. In a letter chastising Orlando for his pro-slavery opinions, Margaretta told him “...the difficulty with which we brought ourselves to own as many slaves as were necessary for our personal accommodation, added to the pain which we took to instil our own principles in your bosom...”[6] Margaretta’s account books also show that she donated to The American Colonization Society in 1828 and 1829.[7]
Unlike John and Margaretta, Mason and Orlando displayed pro-slavery opinions although we don’t have many documents discussing them. From census records we know that Mason and Orlando increased the number of enslaved people here at Liberty Hall Historic Site and their surrounding farms. They did not continue their parents’ practice of gradual emancipation and the people they enslaved would not be emancipated until the passage of the 13th amendment.[8]
References:
[1] John C. Young. An address to the Presbyterians of Kentucky: Proposing a plan for the Instruction and Emancipation of their Slaves. 1836. https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7jq23qvt9r
[2] Last Will of John Brown. May 4, 1836. Liberty Hall Collections.
[3] Margaretta to Orlando, April 13, 1820. Liberty Hall Collections.
[4] Margaretta to Orlando, March 27, 1827. Liberty Hall Collections.
[5] Margaretta Brown to Eliza Quincy. Dec. 22, 1804. Reprinted in Memoir of the Life of Eliza S. M. Quincy (Boston, 1861), pp. 97-100
[6] Margaretta Brown to Orlando Brown. Nov. 11, 1818. Liberty Hall Collections.
[7] Account Book. 1828-1838. Liberty Hall Collections.
[8] Franklin County Slave Schedule, pg. 18 & 26