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Effects of john brown's raid
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Merriam- Webster Dictionary defines hero as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities”. Some might argue that John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry was the work of a madman; but actually, John Brown is a hero. John Brown was an abolitionist from Torrington, Connecticut who organized a group of outraged northerners and went to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia to raid their arsenal. This ended with Brown being sentenced to death, and his allies being killed during this event. Brown’s goal was to end slavery, which clearly did not happen during his raid on Harper’s Ferry; but this started the Civil War, a war that caused slavery to be outlawed. To some, John Brown’s actions at Harper’s Ferry were extreme. The testimony of Daniel …show more content…
In his last speech he says, “I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice … I submit; so let it be done.” This is a reliable source because these are John Brown’s words in a speech he wrote while on trial in Virginia. Brown wasn’t trying to cause a rebellion, or mass casualties, he just wanted to make African Americans free. He felt he was acting as “an instrument in the hands of Providence” according to a New York Herald account of the interrogation of Brown. As a northern abolitionist, he felt that he was doing what was morally right and didn’t think twice about ending his life for …show more content…
Some believed that the issue of slavery would be resolved with compromises and congressional meetings, but John Brown knew that this moral injustice would only be solved with bloodshed. It’s reported that Brown was silent at the gallows the day of his execution, however, he gave a note to one of the guards which read as follows: “I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” Brown accepted his punishment, and knew that thousands of others would have the same fate as him fighting over slavery. Unlike many political leaders, Brown assumed that the issue of slavery would cause a large conflict. Although he didn’t directly cause the end of slavery, Brown was a major factor that indirectly ended it. The Civil War, a grueling war spread over the span of four years, led the 13th Amendment being passed into law in 1865 which abolished slavery all together. After the Civil war came to an end, Frederick Douglas looked back on the raid at Harper’s Ferry and said, “Did John Brown fail? John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic. His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him..” John Brown’s extreme empathy reached much farther than most other people’s; and embodied many characteristics that contributed to his
Since John Brown went through his death sentence so bravely, I believe that this could have been his purpose from the beginning, not to prompt a slave revolution but to be finished and hence, sacrifice himself to the root. If this is true, then he placed the lives of twenty-three other people in danger which consisted of sixteen people that were slaughtered in the invasion, one passed away from a disease while waiting for his trial, six that were hung for their contribution to the raid and as well as the deaths of Brown’s two sons.
Many Northern abolitionists, including Frederick Jackson, were ashamed of Brown. Most Northern abolitionists were pacifists and tried to emancipate slaves using newspapers, rallies, cartoons, and literature. Moderates on both sides also disliked Brown and his actions. Men like Abraham Lincoln, who wanted to preserve the Union at all costs, felt like Brown’s drastic actions would serve only to be yet another reason for Southerners to secede. As history shows us, Lincoln was right. Harpers Ferry convinced many Southerners that they could not live in peace nor safety as long as Northern abolitionists kept questioning their “peculiar institution” and pulling stunts like these, so they wanted to secede, almost like how certain people in the North had tried to leave society to create their own “utopias”. It appears that the only people who liked what Brown did were indeed the Transcendentalist writers in the Northeast who sought to leave society. As Davidson and Lytle point out, many historians think of the raid on Harpers Ferry as one of the most significant triggers to the Civil War.
John Brown should be remembered as a villain and a hero because he took armed possession of the federal arsenal and launch a massive slave insurrection to free the nation’s 4 million slaves.
John Brown was a man who lived in the mid eighteen-hundreds and who fought against the evil of slavery. He had a very strong belief that slavery was unjust, and this is true, but he thought that in order to abolish slavery, violence would be the best method. That’s where he went wrong. John Brown led two attacks on slave owners and those who supported slavery, the first at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas on May 24th, 1856, and the second at Harper Ferry, Virginia on October 16th, 1859. At Pottawatomie Creek, joined by seven others, Brown brutally hacked to death five men with sabers. These men supported slavery but weren’t even slave owners themselves. On October 16th, 1859, Brown led 21 men on another raid on Harpers Ferry attempting to take possession of the U.S. arsenal and use the weapons in a revolt against slave owners, gathering up an army of slaves as he made his way south. Brown’s attacks were not in self-defense, they were heinous acts of revenge upon slave owners, and therefore his attack had no justification.
Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry affected American culture more than can ever be understood. Tension between the North and South was building in the 1850's. Slavery among many other things was dividing the country into two sections. Brown was executed on December 2, 1859 for his murderous out-lash on society. Was his mind so twisted and demented that he would commit cold-blooded murder? The answer is no. John Brown was a man with a goal and a purpose. When he said that abolition could not be achieved without blood he was right. It is one of histories great ironies; John Brown's struggle preceded the Civil War by only 17 months. Thousands of people were killed in the Civil War, yet John Brown is still looked on as a criminal. He was not a criminal but a hero, fighting for what was right. He was a man ahead of his time.
There are authors who speak differently of John Brown, and this is proven in the following two monographs. The novel “Fire from the Midst of You: A Religious Life of John Brown” by Louis A. DeCaro reveals Brown’s roots in Puritan abolitionism and theorizes that Brown’s reasoning for the raid was because of his religious preferences. The second novel is Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America by Evan Carton. Here, in this monograph, the author makes it very clear that John Brown fought for slaves because he truly cared for one to have equal rights. The previous historiographies differ in believing why John Brown proceeded in fighting for the slaves.
Who is a hero? In contemporary times, usage of the term has become somewhat of a cliché. Over the years, the term “hero” has become representative of a wide variety of individuals, each possessing differing traits. Some of the answers put forth by my colleagues (during our in-class discussion on heroism) as to whom they consider heroes pointed to celebrities, athletes, teachers and family members. Although the occupations differed, each of their heroes bore qualities that my classmates perceived as extraordinary, whether morally or physically. Nonetheless, Webster’s defines “hero” as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” Thus, it is worth considering that individuals become heroes relative to the situation with which they’re faced.
What makes a hero or a villain? A hero is defined as a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. By this definition, there existed countless heroes in America during the 1800’s with relation to slavery. There were many abolitionists, particularly from the North, that exhibited courageous attitudes. It was these heroes that taught the southerners, who believed their lives could only prevail if slavery survived and expanded westward, what they knew was morally right (3, 92). John Brown is one abolitionist who stands out amongst the rest and has been noted as one of the most important men in the process of abolishing slavery. It was Brown’s work that sparked the revolts and fighting that would occur between the North and the South after his time. Brown can be considered a hero on account of his actions in Kentucky and Virginia.
On October 16, 1859 , a Sunday, the time that John Brown usually commenced a Bible reading to start the day. Brown was a man that had dedicating himself to funding anti-slavery campaigns and was prepared to use any methods necessary to secure victory to be rid of slavery. One of his first moves against pro-slavery actions was the raid on Harpers Ferry. Brown had his plan staged out, he had ordered his men to detain anyone who spotted them. Luckily for Brown, they swiftly came to the bridge over the Potomac River and detained the bridge's guard, William Williams. Then came the misstep, the Ohio-Baltimore train had arrived and Brown stopped the train and out of all the chaos Browns, men killed the night
According to google.com a hero is someone who “is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievments, or noble equalities.” (google.com). For example, superman , superman is an all time american classic modern hero who is admired for his courage and for saving earth multiple times from super villains. Another example of a hero is Beowulf. Beowulf was created around 1000 AD and was known far and wide throughout the lands for his selflessness,bravery, and courage .
A hero is simply someone who makes sacrifices to help others, and they’re highly respected, a world changer. There are different types of heroes all over the world. The hero is Nat Turner. Nat Turner is a very independent, strong person who fought for what he believed in to change the world for slaves and African Americans. According to (google source) Turner was born into slavery on October 2nd 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia.
This reputation was greatly enhanced when Brown and his sons led a brutal mission against the proslavery population, which resulted in five innocent proslavery settlers being mutilated and murdered. After staying in Kansas for a while longer, Brown returned to the North where he gave many speeches and fund raising meetings based on the abolishment of slavery.
The definition of a hero is someone admired for their courage or outstanding achievements. The definition of a terrorist is a person who uses terrorism in pursuit of political aims. John Brown by many different people have accused him being each of these two characters. But it is safe to say John Brown's strident actions had created him to be a hero than he was a terrorist. His actions were for justice and it would lead to more of a promised life for the African-American people and the civil rights movement proceeding forward.
Webster’s dictionary defines a hero as any man admired for his courage, qualities or exploits, especially in war. Some people attribute the term hero mostly to war. My personal definition of a hero is someone who takes a stand against evil or an unjust cause. The term hero can be applied to anyone, it isn’t necessary to save the world from explosion to be a hero. The act of standing up for a friend can also be called a heroic act.
You also don’t have to kill anyone, conquer foreign land, or risk your life to be a hero. Anyone who influences anyone else by saving or helping save his or her lives is a hero. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the lives of millions of people by bringing justice to minorities. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest heroes, led a nonviolent revolution to free his country.