John Brown was a radical abolitionist who was born in a religious family in Connecticut in 1800. Like John Brown his father also opposed slavery. He is known as a revolutionary to some and a terrorist to others. Some believe he is the one who sparked the civil war with his actions toward slavery. Brown hated the idea of owning slaves; he fought against slavery whenever possible. One of his first acts was at the Bleeding Kansas, a political confrontation about anti-slavery and pro-slavery in the State of Kansas. Brown, with his sons and other followers planned to murder some settlers who were pro-slavery. Browns and his followers killed all five of them after kidnapping them from their beds with broadswords (NPR). The shocking part was that none of the five men killed were …show more content…
Brown went on to hire a drillmaster named Hugh Forbes to train his 21 followers including his sons. His plan was to gather escaped slaves along the way to the Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Before he left he wanted Frederick Douglass to accompany him, but Fredrick Douglass declined citing “it was a suicide mission”. On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown and his followers overran the arsenal of Harpers Ferry. They seized the armory and seven people were killed while a dozen others were wounded. His intention was to arm slaves with weapons from the arsenal, but no slaves came to his calling and the raid was put to rest by Colonel Robert E. Lee and his marines. These acts of treason are what made John Brown a important figure back then. He tried a different approach to having slaves freed but in the end it back fired and cost him and some of his kids their lives. Some people say he was a hero because he stood up to the south bulling of slaves but others say he was a terrorist because he killed innocent people based on their
I think John Brown was a hero, because he tried to find ways to free slaves. Even though he killed people or got people killed in the process, he still was trying his best to help free slaves. Supplying the slaves with weapons was a good idea, but did not turn out they way he wanted. Everyone messes up, but he still had this plan to try and help free slaves.
Looking at what he has fought for, it’s no doubt that he fought for a noble cause which is the freedom of slavery. John Brown shouldn’t be known as hero or terrorists because of want he has done applies to both sides. John Brown shouldn’t be known as a terrorist or a national hero because of his violent attack and raids. After, September 11, 2001 John Brown has been called a terrorist which has caused controversy about Brown’s legacy and reputation. Furthermore, in the article, The 9/11 of 1859 says, “He led 21 men all but two in their 20s, and many of them radicalized by guerilla fighting in Bleeding Kansas, the abolitionists’ Afghanistan”(Horowitz).
He kills many people who just are in his way. On the night of May 24, 1856, the radical abolitionist John Brown, five of his sons, and three other associates murders five proslavery men brutally with knives and swords. Just four years later, he seizes the arsenal at the Harpers Ferry, take weapons from there, and destruct many properties of the town. By destructing properties and murdering many innocent people, he starts a guerrilla war. He kills many people and scares many others.
His feelings about slavery kept getting stronger until he went to Kansas to join in the fight against slavery in 1855. Brown led four of his sons in a nighttime raid against proslavery homes, where they killed five people. This caused the opposing side to retaliate, and by 1856 around two hundred people had died. This event caused Brown to create a plan that would encite the slaves to rebel, and eventually end slavery once and for all. Brown went searching for people who would sponsor him, and this created a group that was call the “Secret Six,” which was comprised of six antislavery figure heads.
Was John Brown a terrorist or a patriot? John Brown was contentious abolitionist who helped free slaves. He was a criminal on the outside but a true man on the inside who sparded on a movement. What he did was right, but how he did it was wrong. He was a true man who fought to end slavery.
In 1859 Brown wanted to take revenge after forces stormed the town of Lawrence in the Kansas territory. He abducted and murdered five pro slavery settlers, known as the Pottawatomie massacre. He became famous for attempting to raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, so that he could use the weapons to free enslaved African Americans. In doing so he failed and was captured and sentenced to death. He justified his views by saying it was the right thing to do, others thought of it as a “noble
He saw the wrong in owning slaves. He believed what he was doing and what he believed in was right not wrong. He was hung with the pleasure of knowing he made an impact on the world. John Brown tried very hard to do anything to please god and free slaves.
John Brown was a man with a strong hatred for slavery who tried to lead a rebellion against it. After this he was called a “misguided fanatic” by Abraham Lincoln. Which leaves the question, was John Brown a “misguided fanatic”? I think John Brown was a misguided fanatic, or according to dictionary.com a, mistaken person with an extreme, uncritical enthusiasm, because he was so set in his rebellion that his mind couldn’t be changed even when told his plan wouldn’t go well, and although he was told his actions would be fatal he went on to do so . In The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Douglass states that there was no changing Brown
Lee, came and ended the failed raid. The soldiers captured Brown and he was later hung for treason on December 2, 1859. As a terrorist to the south and a martyr in the north Brown’s actions, although brutal, brought attention to the slave conflict in the states sparking controversy. John Brown’s plan was unsuccessful, but for the fight against slavery, his actions called for a change. Ultimately John Brown was a martyr for the cause of abolition because through shocking the nation, being fuel for abolition, and showing how divided America was, he drew attention to the violence of slavery which enabled others to make a choice whether to push for a change in the African American community or continue mistreating the lives of innocent people.
Some historians however, have described Brown’s actions as demented and even terrorist. Brown believed that slavery was morally wrong and needed to be abolished. His intentions were good as well as his cause however, the way he tried to create a change required extreme measures. Brown’s religious believes were a clear motivation for his violent
John Brown was an individual that arose many strong opinions toward himself. There was many citizens, mostly Southerners that despised John Brown because of the inhuman and barbaric murders. The Northerners on the other hand, view Brown as a hero that risked his life to take away the lives of cruel slave owners. To them this was the kick start they needed to begin fighting in the anti- slavery movement. The North was disgusted with the South because they took Africans away from their homes in other countries, brought them to a different country and claimed them as their own.
In the United States, during the eighteen-hundreds’, a small group of people believed that slavery was immoral and did many things to abolish it. John Brown, a Caucasian male who was part of this group of people, did two things that many people in United States history didn’t have the passion to do. John Brown’s life was very interesting: His early life and transition to adulthood, his decision to fight for the cause, his actions of violence in Kansas and Harper’s Ferry, along with, the long-lasting effects of these actions led to his hanging. These events were pivotal to the beginning of the Civil War. “John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800, five months after the death of George Washington”(Marrin,7).
Most Free-States colonists were antislavery but also anti-black; the Browns however believed in complete equality for black and were firm to fight for it. This period of political conflict over the matter of slavery is known as bleeding Kansas. Moreover, on May 21, 1856, ruffians robbed the new anti-slavery Town of Lawrence. When the news of the incident of Lawrence reached Brown’s station the Pottawatomie Rifle, which consisted of thirty-four men departed for the surround town but when they finally arrived it was too late. Furthermore, another mayor event that happened in in the capital building was the attack of the abolitionist Charles Sumner after denounced the “slave power” of committing “the rape of a virgin Territory” (94).
Nick Baxter What caused the Civil War? DBQ The Civil War was caused by three main reasons are economic differences, interpretation of Constitution, and moral beliefs. The North and the South were very different economically.
On the night of October 16, 1859, he and his followers, five of whom were African-American, attacked the lightly guarded supply depot, in Harper’s Ferry Virginia, where the supplies and weapons he wanted were being stored. The arsenal was easily taken. Then, Brown’s men moved to some nearby plantations. They freed about 30 slaves, who were brought back to the arsenal. The alarm went out and the United States troops arrived at the scene the next day.