Slavery was a horrible thing that American history faced and very few people in its prime sought to end it. The abolitionists, during the time of slavery, were a slowly growing group of people that started the fight to end slavery once and for all. John Brown was the leader of this group and “For abolitionists and antislavery activists, black and white, Brown emerged as a hero, a martyr, and ultimately, a harbinger of the end of slavery” (Paul Finkelman, John Brown: America's First Terrorist? 2011). The people that were against abolitionists saw John Brown as a terrorist and wanted to get rid of him accordingly. A terrorist is a person that goes against a group of people by engaging in violent acts that are unlawful due to their beliefs. John …show more content…
John Brown, being the leader of the abolitionist group, was willing to do anything in order to accomplish his goal of ending slavery. He wanted slaves to be free and become citizens like the rest of them. Also, the idea of being a terrorist can mean “the "terror" itself, the act of violence, is the goal rather than simply the means to an end. Terrorists may hope for political change, but what they often want is to simply strike back at and harm those they oppose” (Paul Finkelman, John Brown: America's First Terrorist? 2011). This is also true of John Brown because some of his actions weren’t needed in his overall campaign to end slavery it seems as though they were a way to get back at the people that opposed him. Although John Brown was a terrorist he was on the right side of history. His efforts helped end slavery and brought many more equality ideas into law. This alone justifies his violent acts because his …show more content…
He saw groups of abolitionists go against people that were pro-slavery and it ended in a violent battle that was started by the pro-slavery side. This made him cautious but he didn’t yet want to start being violent unless someone else went after him. This quickly changed and he knew that the only way to prove his point was to engage in violent acts like the others. One of these acts involved John Brown going to Rochester and meeting with a man named “Frederick Douglass. His purpose was to enlist the famous black abolitionist's support for his plan to invade the slave South and wage a guerilla war from a base in the Appalachian Mountains” (Earle, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry; May 8, 1858). This wasn't his first violent act and it definitely wasn't his last. He started by devising a plan against Virginia and wanted to go after the Blue Ridge Mountains and start a war against the people there. John also created his own constitution where he changed the way he wanted the states to be run and all slave owners wouldn't be able to keep their property and had to free their slaves. Although this constitution didn’t go into law it changed the way other people viewed what should be done about slaves and allowed John Brown to engage in more violent acts with a reasonable cause. At the time his followers saw him as a legend and thought every action he did was pure and
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).
Some might say that he was fighting for freedom, therefore he was a freedom fighter and his actions were called for because it was for a good cause. But someone who is really religious knows that murdering is wrong no matter what they believe in or what their opinions. John Brown murdered innocent civilians because they did not join him in his thinking and beliefs. He wanted to become a martyr and that is what he did. He was captured and died for his cause; if you look at modern terrorism that is what happens to most modern day
John Brown (May 1800- December 1859) was a Militant American Abolitionist and an antislavery martyr. Brown worked many jobs such as a tanner, sheep driver, wool merchant, farmer, and land speculator, in order to take care of his family, but he was, most importantly, helpful in setting hostility that lead to the Civil War (1851-1856). Being an enemy of slavery, Brown did not mind living in a black community in New York and even wanted to win justice for slaves. He assisted antislavery forces in Kansas (1855) and become the leader of antislavery guerillas. Brown led a raid on a settlement that was for slavery and became "Old Osawatomie Brown", a man feared by slavery apologist.
While William Lloyd Garrison described John Brown’s actions as misguided and wild, John Brown was turned into a martyr in the North. The South were enraged by it all, and entered a brief time of fear of slave insurrection, similar to the reaction of Nat Turner’s rebellion. After realizing that no slaves had joined John Brown, southerners were relieved and felt like their claims that slaves were happy were confirmed. John Brown’s raid ultimately ended up enraging southerners and emboldened their pro-slavery way of life, along with inspiring northerners to join the abolitionist movement. Although much less impactful than the Civil War itself, John Brown’s attempted slave revolt, along with an abundance of other factors, helped lead the nation into breaking out in Civil War about eighteen months
He was the man that raided Harper’s ferry leading to the start of the civil war. He was excecuted in 1859 at the age of 59 and his body now rest at the John Brown Farm and grave site in Lake Placid, New York. We believe that the acts of John Brown were acts of terroism because of the ways he handled the situations. In Kansas John Brown and his sons led an attack on pro slavery residents in that area. John Brown and his sons killed 5 pro slavery residents and claimed that it was god’s will.
John Brown was a good man. He fought for what he believed in and he had good intentions. Brown did the things he did to help free slaves. John Brown was not a terrorist. He was a freedom fighter.
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.
John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed that the only way to end the institution of slavery in the United states is through a violent insurrection--Truly he was a man of Action. Born on the 9th of May 1800, John Brown, who hailed in Torrington, Connecticut was born into an extremely religious christian family who ardently opposed slavery. From his youth it was instilled in him that slavery was wrong. Thus, this belief is what eventually led him to host several violent attacks in the means of putting an end to slavery. In October 1859, together with 21 followers, two of which his sons, John brown instigated an unsuccessful raid to a federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
John Brown was an American abolitionist who was very religious. He fought for the freedom of slaves which he believed can only happen by using violence. He was considered a hero in the North and a terrorist in the South. He attacked 5 defenseless men and dismembered their bodies just as you would butcher cattle. On October 16, 1859, he led a rebellion with 21 men – 5 blacks and 16 whites – against Virginia slavery, he attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry but he was hurt and then captured, trailed, and before he was hanged on December 2, 1859 he stated, “… if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of
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.
which he did. The last and final charge was murder. John brown killed many people while he was trying to free the slaves and can be classifies as a terrorist. Although John brown is not still here today he made an impact on history that can never be removed. However history repeats itself and people should be aware of what happened.
Brown replied, ‘No man sent me here; it was my own prompting and that of my maker’” (Johns Brown’s Interview 1). This further indicated that Brown was willing to take responsibility for this brutal attack on American soil, demonstrating just how far John Brown was willing to go and perhaps how crazy John Brown had become. He viewed the act of slavery as an act against God, and through this brutal attack, he was fighting against the social injustices of man. Not once did he distinguish that he was fighting against the United States, despite attacking a federal
He was born into a family that had anti-slavery values and who were also extremely religious. The sentiment that society can only be cleansed of their wrongful thinking was through violence is something that Brown wholeheartedly agreed with. He saw the acts of slavery as violent, atrocious, and dehumanizing and the only way to remove it was through bloodshed. Similar to other terrorists that get caught, there was an apparent lack of remorse for these murders when he is being investigated in trail. In his mind he believed that what he was doing was justified because of his “higher
It was not his intentions to kill, as many people as possible, like some terrorist’s intention. All he wanted was to end slavery, and imagine what it would be like if he did not start the rebellion against slavery. Therefore, just because John Brown murdered many civilians, does not ultimately make him a terrorist. Others may argue the fact that terrorist act out because it is their religion. John Brown sprung to action because he felt that God wanted him to; which means he did it for his religion.
Through his writings, Brown tells us he had no doubt in his intentions being for the better, choosing to ignore these lives lost as they didn’t serve to further his cause. Scott John Hammond tell us about John Brown’s calculated nature by comparing him to Machiavellian philosophies, a philosophy associated with the use of power in often ruthless means, “Given the fact that all founders and reformers will inevitably encounter resistance from those enemies … Machiavelli notes that a lawgiver … must go forth armed and prepared for struggle” and “A founder is consonant with the idea of virtue, or grandeur of soul - a character of extraordinary proportions, defined in terms of “ingenuity, skill, and excellence.”