John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry

The presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil war. By 1860, the nation had been divided mostly up to that point regarding questions of states’ rights and slavery in the territories. Southerners were outraged over the plan by abolitionist, John Brown, to start a slave rebellion at Harper Ferry, Virginia. This event garnered headlines all over the nation in newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, the Northern Republic seemed equally anger by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Stanford, which declared free soil unconstitutional. The Northern Democrats, however, struggled to persuade the Americans that their policy of popular sovereignty still made since.

Throughout this time, the North was growing rapidly due to its industrial economy. They had more railroad mileage, industry, income, population, and ultimately more representation in Congress. In addition, the South was subject to high tariff laws that made it very hard for southern farmers to trade internationally. The result was a strong centralized government in the North, and an agrarian culture in the South that was solely dependent on slavery. Any attack against the institution of slavery in the South could potentially disintegrate the states in the South. In 1859, this fear became a reality as John Brown, an extreme abolitionist, led a raid on at Harpers Ferry. Although this uprising was brought down and denounced by Northern Republicans, slave owners believed that all abolitionists and Northerners shared the same radical views as John Brown.

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 thought that the way to overthrow slavery was through violence. John Brown also killed Pro slavery residents or to be more specific civilians that were pro slavery. He also justified his actions by saying it was the will of God, that he committed those murders according to Biography.com.

started. John Brown was an abolitionist, he wanted to overthrow the slavery system. They both

John Brown along with other northerners were outraged. Many abolitionists protested and claimed this law was outrageous. The question of whether it was right for the government to force abolitionist to help slave catchers was asked, Brown knew

John Brown who led the Raid on Harpers Ferry, was also a part of the Pottawatomie Massacre that occurred in 1856 in Kansas which led to the death of five men who were pro-slavery. On January 16, 1859 John Brown along with eighteen other people captured the arsenal of Harpers Ferry and pushed out to get the slaves to rise up, but the rising of slaves didn’t happen. Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee and J.E.B Stuart and soldiers arrived the next day to surround the place, which left Brown and his men cornered. Brown was asked to give up and just surrender, which he didn’t. So, when Brown refused to do so and the standoff went on, in the end some of Browns men ended up dead and a soldier was killed. In two days Browns raid was over, the same raid that Fredrick Douglass said was not going to go well and should be left alone. Abraham Lincoln spoke on the raid after, expressing his opinion of it as being ridiculous. Northerners at first disapproved of John Brown actions, but then they began to respect what John Brown did and started to see him as hero. John Brown was set on trial and was hung. The South was angered when others say Brown as an hero, and the Baltimore Sun published saying the South, “could not live under a government, the majority of whose subjects or citizens regard John Brown as a martyr and a Christian hero, rather than a murderer and a robber” (“Political Origins of The Civil War”) John Brown raid helped bring the South to seceding, but it was not the major fact that pushed the States, even though it did play a role. “The straw that broke the camel’s back,” so to speak, was the election of President Abraham Lincoln. (“Unit IV: Crumbling Loyalties and Dividing the

John Brown was a frontiers man. He became somewhat of a celebrity in New England around 1857. He found his life 's calling which was fundraising for the frontier exploits, or battles he conducted. When peace had come across Kansas in late 1857, Brown had developed a plan to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. After collecting funds from his New England friends, Brown and his army moved to a farmhouse where they began to train. It was the night of October 16, 1859 when Brown and twenty-two men took over the arsenal. They waited for slaves to rally to his banner. Quickly the Virginia Militia and a detachment of the United States Marines put an end to John Browns Raid killing most of his men and wounding Brown himself. This raid scared southerners to death, because they feared a slave rebellion. Not only that, but this attack/rebellion was not planned within the South but planned by the North and acted on in the South. Even though no slaves were informed of the uprising it was still a scare for the South. Brown went to

The Civil War was finally over and still there were more battles to face. The surrender took place at Appomattox Court House while Northern military troops surrounded it. After that, there was no treaty signed because treaties are between two nations, instead the South simply surrendered and agreed to unite with the North as one nation. The war was over, but the nightmare of the aftermath was soon to begin. Both sides had a great deal of repairing their land and/or debt. In the South, there was an enormous loss of young men, horses, and mules. “Astoundingly, southern cotton harvest at the end of the nineteenth century were triple 1860s production” (nationalhumanitiescenter.org). This gave the South an extensive break because the more cotton

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. This act allowed the settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed in to settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election held there after the law went into effect. The pro slavery settlers were charged with fraud by anti-slavery settlers and they refused to accept the results. After weeks later, the anti- slavery settlers held another election, but the problem was that the pro slavery settlers refused to vote. Later on, the anti and pro slave settlers started fighting with each other. The anti slaves settlers had John Brown

The abolitionist and the Northerners challenged the spread of slavery by protesting or throwing riots against the idea of slavery. John Brown was an abolitionist who led 18 white and african americans on a riot on Harpers Ferry in Virginia. According to Chapter 12, “Brown and his men were quickly defeated by citizens and federal troops.” Brown was sentenced to death for murder and convicting of treasure. His death became the commotion point for abolitionists. The Dred Scott Decision was a point in which the country was being more divided because of slavery. Dred Scott was a slave, he went to a free country from there he went to the court to decide whether or not he was a free man. This specific case brought an immense amount of attention. According

John Brown, recalled by some as a martyr for his anti-slavery stance, is also recalled by others as a madman. His legendary raid on Harper’s Ferry will live forever in history books, but what fueled the madness? In 1812, was his mind so deeply traumatized when he witnessed the brutal crime of a young black boy beaten with a shovel that he could never move past it? Did that single event shape his life and play, over and over, in his mind like a never-ending film? No matter what you believe, the undisputed fact is that he was one of America’s first domestic terrorists.

This article discusses the incident involving John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1859. Before the American Civil War Harpers Ferry was a small town with many shops and a U.S armory filled with weapons. There were shops focused primarily around the manufacturing of guns. This would include forges and stock making shops. John Brown’s men included sixteen white and five black. Brown’s plan was to abolish slave power in the south. The raid on Harpers Ferry was initially planned in 1857 by Brown. At this time Brown was heavily involved in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Brown’s forces were at fault due to the Potawatomie Massacre where five individuals had been killed. The Potawatomie Massacre was one of the many incidents that occurred during

By 1859, a radical abolitionist originated from Kansas named John Brown attacked the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with the purpose of supplying weapons to a slave crew who wanted to rebeel against their Southern masters. Some of them were taken hostage and others were killed, among them the mayor of Harpers Ferry. John Brown was forced to stay in the corner with his followers in a fire engine house, Virginia militia and Federal troops were missioned to capture them all. (http://www.nieonline.com/sentinel/downloads/curricula/civil_war.pdf)

During the 1850s, Douglas was in the fore front in abolishing slavery, which was threatening, to tear the country apart. In the beginning, Douglas felt that John Brown’s anti- slavery ideas and plans were suicidal and he refused to engage in a raid on Harper Ferry. Brown’s activities saw him captured and hanged, an act which