John Brown 's Influence On The Commencement Of The Civil War Essay

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

John Brown was very similar to Nat Turner they both believed that they were chosen by god to lead slaves into freedom and if that required a fight then that was what they had to do. John Brown had a goal and that was to abolish slavery throughout the united states. The trouble in Kansas began when the Nebraska Act was signed by President Pierce, this act engaged that people make a determination on whether Kansas territory should be free or slave. In hopes that Kansas would become free of slaves, the opposing side which was named Border Ruffians invaded their territory and forced the pro-slavery election. After John heard about the fear of Kansas becoming a slave state and after also hearing that the Border Ruffians ransacked the town of Lawrence

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

Each of the persons ,John Brown, Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln, with their own niche roles contributed greatly to the coming and the inevitability of the Civil War. Lincoln being chief among these people in respects to importance to the coming of the Civil War was a huge catalyst to the civil war through his election to presidency without the votes of a single southern state, and his debates with Stephen Douglas. Douglas was another large part of the fruition of the Civil War through his Compromise of 1850, and the Douglas-Lincoln debates which lead to Lincoln winning the election. John Brown while not contributing to the coming of the war as Lincoln or Douglas still played his role by becoming a martyr for the Republican-Abolitionist cause. Each person while contributing unique aspects to the onslaught that was the Civil War had one thing in common, they all progressed it 's coming heavily making the Civil War almost inevitable.

In 1854 another problem arose which resulted in Congress passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise, this act was introduced by Stephen A. Douglas a chairman of Committee on Territories, this act allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose rather they wanted slavery in their boundary or not through the power of popular sovereignty, the Pro-slavery settlers won the election but were charged with accusations that they cheated, in order to make sure that the vote was right they ordered a re-election but the Pro-slavery refused and the refusal resulted into a battle. John Brown an Anti-slavery leader who believed that he was sent here by god to kill anyone who was pro-slavery. He led the anti-slavery force which gained the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”. The fight was soon stopped, and a final election was held, this time the anti-slavery settlers won the vote and was announced that Kansas would become a free state in 1861. In conclusion the Compromises and Acts may have had their flaws but it they some how manage to solve the slavery issues.

John Brown’s beliefs about slavery and activities to destroy it hardly represented the mainstream of northern society in the years leading up to the Civil War. This rather unique man, however, took a leading role in propelling the nation toward secession and conflict. Many events influenced Brown’s views on slavery from an early age. When he was older, his strong anti-slavery feelings had grown, and he became an extreme abolitionist. His raid on Harpers Ferry was one of the first monumental events leading up to the civil war.

This is when his mission started to become more and more violent. Brown published an essay instructing African Americans to stay together to resist this new law. He ordered them to even if it took killing the slave catchers, that’s what they had to do. He formed an armed resistance against the Fugitive Slave Law. Brown’s United League recruited 44 African Americans. Following this, the Kansas-Nebraska Act surfaced, which allowed settlers to decided whether or not to be free or to practice slavery. Then, in order to achieve the southern support in the 1856 Democratic presidential nomination, Stephen Douglas proposed to divide the new territory into two. This meant that Kansas, since it was in the more southern of the two territories, would be made into a slave state. This would lead to the start of an organized militia against slavery.

3. Explain the maneuvering by pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces to gain control of the Kansas government. What did both sides come to believe that Kansas symbolized for the nation?

This formed the Nebraska and Kansas territories. Each territory was able to decide on the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty, this repealed the Missouri Compromise and added to the huge debates in the Union. The act also lead to Bleeding Kansas, when pro and anti-slavery groups rushed to Kansas to vote for or against slavery. Violence then broke out as abolitionists fought against Border Ruffians to control the government in Kansas and John brown, an abolitionist leader, captured 5 pro-slavery men and killed them. He also was the leader of the Harper’s ferry where they raided an armory. The Kansas-Nebraska act brought many tensions within the union, action now being taken in more ways than just

What does reaction to John Brown’s raid in the North suggest about the depth of antislavery sentiment outside the slaveholding states?

One particular situation that occurred in Kansas was the sacking of the city of Lawrence. Pro slavery advocates of the city of LeCompton, Kansas set up a group or a posse that went to the anti-slavery city of Lawrence, Kansas, ransacked, burned and literally destroyed the city. In response to this attack by the Southerners the Northerners took revenge. John Brown, a radical abolitionist, decided to do a similar thing to the Southerners. He planned an attack on LeCompton, Kansas. Enroute to LeCompton he encountered about five pro slavery supporters, and without remorse, hacked them to death at Potawattamie Creek in Kansas. The entire country was slowly being divided into two parts and even

He was well known at the time for attacking pro-slavery residents during the bleeding Kansas conflicts, in which there were many violent confrontations in Kansas over the morals of slavery. John Brown was different than some other abolitionists, as one of his beliefs was that punishing the wrong with violence- or those who were pro-slavery- was a fitting form of ‘punishment’. One of John Brown’s known supporter was actually Harriet Tubman- they met after she had escaped from slavery, and she agreed on his views that slave owners or pro-slavery citizens should be punished with violence. This belief eventually led to John Brown’s death, in 1859. In West Virginia, he and 21 of his followers led an attack on the arsenal Harpers Ferry. However, his troops were soon surrendered, and he was then hanged for the crime. However, John Brown remained a well respected individual for his actions for the abolitionist

Douglas proposed that the Nebraska Territory be split into two territories. These territories would be named the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, and the residents would decide whether the two territories be open to slavery or closed to slavery. As a result, over five thousand Missourians, and thousands more from all over the nation scrambled to the territories to cast their vote. Since the proslavery outnumbered the anti-slavery, both territories became open to slavery. Anti-Slavery settlers then established their own government after boycotting the formal government. Tensions between the North and South continued to increase, as well as violence in Kansas. One of the most notable attacks against on the proslavery was carried out by extreme abolitionist John Brown, who murdered five of his proslavery neighbors. The fighting in Kansas earned the name “Bleeding

As John Brown matures he decides he is going to make the choice to try and change slavery in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. John Brown killed many people hoping to start a slave rebellion. The South perceived this as the North wanting to kill the slave owners of the South to abolish slavery. This occurrence frightened a lot of moderate Southerners into thinking that abolitionists would keep encouraging slave uprisings in the South. John Brown represented the South's biggest fear of their slaves turning against them which stirred more conflict. This wavered many people into supporting the succession as a solution to the Abolitionists continuing and increasing anti-slavery

John Brown and his sons moved to the Kansas Territory following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which gave citizens of those two territories the right to choose for themselves whether the territories would permit or prohibit slavery (McGlone, 2009). After an attack on the town Lawrence, which was where most supporters of the anti-slavery movement were. Brown, his sons and two other men went to Pottawatomie Creek. There they ended up killing James Doyle and two of his sons and took Allen Wilkinson away as prisoner, but ended up killing him too. Following the events in Kansas, Brown traveled throughout New England for two and a half years, raising funds to take his anti-slavery exchange to the South. This was the beginning of