I have, may it please the court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted -- the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was what I intended. I never did intent murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.(Fanton 82)
These are some of the words spoken by abolitionist John Brown at his trial in Charles Town, Virginia (now part of West Virginia) following his violent raid at Harper’s Ferry Federal Arsenal in October, 1859 (Fanton 82). John Brown played a vital role in the anti-slavery movement and his actions opened the eyes of a nation that would become divided in a war of brother against brother. He clearly states his intentions, but did he really not mean to excite or incite a rebellion among slaves? John Brown represented the ideals and thoughts of many Americans. John Brown’s strong beliefs on a violent insurrection of the slaves gave rise to the beginning of the Civil War.
John Brown was born on May 9, 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut (McPhail). When Brown turned five years old, his family moved to Ohio. His parents Owen Brown and Ruth
However John Brown is someone who fought for what is right in his own mind without directions from other men. He was fully capable of knowing the surroundings around his world and was aware of how he was executing his action to fight for freedom for the slaves. However as he claimed that God came down and spoke to him to be the leader to free the slaves, John Brown took actions by his own choice and not by a superiority figure. He fought for colored choice by his own choice and not the choices of others. And in today's world the fight at Harper’s Ferry should not be counted as an act of terrorism but rather of act of free will to believe what is right for the country. John Brown is someone who fought for what is right in his mind. His mental state was not ill neither religious superiority controlled him to commit his actions. John Brown fighting for the freedom of colored men was his own choice and not the choices of other. He should be considered today as a true noble abolitionist who paved the way for equality for all and a hero to
In this statement, the white men threaten to beat Henry Adams and every other negro that said they didn't belong to anyone. If they were truly free the slaves would not have to worry about anything like this. This is just further proof that slaves were not actually
Douglass began his speech to the audience by asking a series of rhetorical questions in addition to the use of sarcasm. He referred to the Declaration of Independence as “that” instead of “the” Declaration stressing a separation between African-Americans and the freemen of the United States. He extended the use of his rhetoric by asking, “What have I or those, I represent, to do with your national independence?” Slaves, whose freedom is denied, do not share other Americans’ patriotic feelings regarding the Fourth of July. His use of these rhetorical questions was valid because it separated Douglass as a different man than the rest of his white audience. Furthermore, Douglass asked, "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?" He indicated that people knew in their hearts that all were entitled to freedom. Douglass demonstrated sarcasm in this principle of freedom, almost as if the aforementioned rhetorical question shouldn’t need to be stated. He further declared that the stigma separating free whites and enslaved African-Americans was blatantly foolish.
also the value of non-violent resistance supported by the transcendentalists and, There were many prominent figures in the Abolition movement that made great strides to freedom. Most took the route of political campaigning, but a few decided to take a more direct approach. One said individual is John Brown. John Brown was a white abolitionist born in Connecticut who simply grew tired of the pacifist approach and took up arms with a few volunteers against slavery.
John Hancock was born January 23, 1737 (according to the Julian calendar that was in use around that time, the date was January 12, 1736) in Braintree, Massachusetts. Hancock was the son of Reverend John Hancock of Braintree, Massachusetts and Mary Hawke Thaxter. After his
Slavery in the United States was a driving force of the economy from the inception of our nation until the mid nineteenth century. Enslaved peoples in the United States endured trials and tribulations that we today cannot fathom. Enslaved peoples were taken from their homes, separated from their loved ones, boarded onto ships and packed together like pigs headed for slaughter. One would wonder if death was actually more humane than what those people endured. Not everyone was a supporter of slavery in America. John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Abraham Lincoln were known abolitionists who opposed slavery in the United States. “Abolition was a radical, interracial, movement, one which addressed the entrenched problems exploitation and disenfranchisement in a liberal democracy and anticipated debates over race, labor, and empire.” In January of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved peoples in the southern states that had seceded from the Union. There have been abolition movements in the United States dating as far back as the eighteenth century. For abolition to work abolitionists needed the support of congress, be it to the chagrin of southern states where slavery was still a cultural norm, it did not gain traction early on. From abolitionists issuing pamphlets and writing plays and poems to bring awareness and solidify their cause for the abolishment of slavery, abolition had gained traction
In the village of Hampton there was a man who goes by the name of Benjamin F. Butler who had in his words, “a large number of Negros, many of them are composed in a great measure of women and children who had fled thither within my lines for protection, who had escaped from marauding Rebels who had been gathering up able-bodied blacks to aid them in construction their batteries on the James and York rivers... (Doc A)” This may prove to us that Ben was a slave owner in Virginia possibly before the Civil War and during the Civil War. Ben had some questions on his mind about his slaves, “First, what shall be done with them? Second, what is their state and condition? Upon these questions I desire the instruction of the department. (Doc A)” He had many other questions about his slaves and how the way he was treating them, “... Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free? Is their condition that of men, women, and children, or of property, or is it a mixed relation? What has been the effect of rebellion and a state of war on their status? (Doc A)” Ben had his moments on his questions about the slaves and the events that are going on, but he had something to say to his questions in his head, “When I adopted the theory of treating the able-bodied Negro fit to work in the trenches as property liable to be used in aid of rebellion, and so contraband of war, that condition of things was
8) What were the goals and methods of the abolitionist movement? Who were the leaders? Why were they unpopular?
During the 19th century the religious revival led to a corresponding social reform that would transform the American Society. Reformers led various campaigns including a campaign to close all public places such as shops and taverns on Sundays. The religious revival also led to the Abolition movement, which aimed to eliminate slavery in America. During the time up until the Civil war abolitionists would try to influence both society and politics using ways some of which were similar to those of political parties. The relationship between abolitionists, their ideals and politics was key in reforming national policy related to slavery. Though President Lincoln was opposed to slavery he was not an abolitionist. However despite this Lincoln
John Brown is an American Abolitionist who believed in abolishing slavery across the nation through killing any southern slaveholder or supporter that comes in his path. It is believed that he had a plan to gather all the free slaves and rebel against the southern states, but his rebellion never made it that far. His rebellion started in Kansas in 1855 and ended in December 1858 at Harpers Ferry leading to him being convicted and hung for his crimes. John Brown had one motive that made him do these so called “crimes” by justifying his actions as obedience to a just god (31). This is the same reason today 's terrorist do their acts of terrorism and his actions make me see him as a terrorist.
John Brown was born May 9th,1800 in Torrington, Connecticut he was a 19th-century abolitionist. He had two wives and about five sons. John was first married in 1820 to Dianthe Lusk until she died in the 1830’s, he then remarried in 1833 to Mary Ann Day. He is known for his raid on the Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1859. His goal was to capture supplies from the federal armory at the Harpers Ferry and use them to arm a slave rebellion. He believed in dominating the slavery system.
David Walker was an African American abolitionist who prompted slaves of the South to rebel against their masters. During that time, his mother was free according to the laws, which made him a free man also. However, been free did not save him from witnessing injustices of slavery. Walker travelled throughout the country and ending up settling in Boston.
"Two months after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, one abolitionist wrote that 'to make the proclamation a success, we must make freedom a blessing to the freed.' The question of how to do so would long outlive Lincoln and the Civil War" (Epilogue, p. 361). My summary is of the fourth chapter of “The Fiery Trial” novel. In March of 1857 the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scot decision saying that the founding fathers didn’t include African Americans in the wording of their constitution. This decision sent a ripple through the country and further divided the country over the issue of slavery. Lincoln gave his House Divided speech during the convention of 1860 and suggested that the United States should either embrace slavery in
Also, in Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States (1853), the first African American novel, Brown relates the story of Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave mistress Sally Hemings (1773–1835). Originally published in England, the novel eventually came to U.S. readers, but only after it had been significantly revised, with references to the president removed. Much like the evolution of Douglass's anti-slavery agenda, Brown began his career as a pacifist who boycotted political abolitionism in the 1840s, but his writings over the course of the following decade reflect his growing militancy and preference for political activism to end slavery.
James Joseph Brown, Jr., a.k.a. James Brown was born in Barnwell, State of South Carolina May 3, 1933. At his age of four, he moved to Georgia to live with his Aunt. At his young age, Brown was in the time of the Great Depression so he took whatever job that he could find just to make some money. In 1944, Brown showed his talent for the first time and won first place for an open music convention in Lenox Theater. Later on, Brown got kicked out of school at the age of twelve for not having proper clothing. Now that Brown does not need to go to school, he worked full-time with the low paying jobs. Because of his harsh life growing up in the racism society, Brown had hold on to music