He could not have been tried by a jury of his peers, because his peers did not exist.

More from "A Plea for Captain John Brown" (1859)

• Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.
• A man receives only what he is ready to receive... The phenomenon or fact that cannot in any wise be linked with the rest of what he has observed, he does not observe.
• Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
• Any fool can make a rule And every fool will mind it.
• Any fool can make a rule And every fool will mind it. Journals, entry for Feb. 3, 1860
• Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.