Why Did John Brown's Raid

“Every villain is a hero in his own mind,” quoted Tom Hiddleston, an English actor best known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From this quote it is understood that every person perceives “right” and “wrong” differently and will act according to their perception. People consider a person as either a hero or villain by looking at their actions. John Brown, was a white American abolitionist who believed that armed rebellion was the only way to overthrow slavery in the United States. With the evidence provided with different resources, such as the article John Brown: Villain or Hero? by Steven Mintz, it can be seen that John Brown is a villain.

He went after every right in order to speak up for those slaves that didn’t have a voice. Education was one of his beliefs that helped him. Telling his story to the world, born a slave but now a free man. He fought for African Americans not are viewed as “property” or “slaves” but as equal to whites and must receive fair treatment.

Because of this, he made the decision to recruit a regiment of slaves from Rhode Island. “The state’s legislature used lofty language to endorse the idea: ‘History affords us frequent precedents of the wisest, the freest, the bravest nations having liberated their slaves and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in defense of their country’” (11). On the other side of the war, Great Britain was attempting to weaken America by taking away their slaves. In 1775, they decided to offer freedom to all of those who were fleeing their masters. This offer is what sparked the largest rebellion of slaves

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

He fought long and hard for what “he believed with certitude was a sin against God.” (Bordewich, 3). Of the many words used to describe Brown, one that would come up occasionally was hero. But “it wasn't until the 1970’s that John Brown the hero re-emerged.” (Chowder, 6). Two studies done by Stephen B. Oates and Richard Owen Boyer came to a conclusion that “Brown was stubborn, monomaniacal, egotistical, self-righteous, and sometimes deceitful; yet he was, at certain times, a great man.”(Chowder,6). Also, “among African- Americans, Brown’s heroism has never been in doubt. (Chowder, 6) Many strong black figures commended Brown’s actions in various ways. “Frederick Douglass praised him in print; W. E. B. Du Bois published a four-hundred word celebration of him in 1909; Malcolm X said he wouldn't mind being with white people if they were like John Brown; Alice Walker, in a poem, even wondered if in an earlier incarnation she herself hadn’t once been John Brown.” (Chowder, 6). Harriet Tubman “thought Brown was the greatest white man who had ever lived.” (Bordewich, 5). He even “began comparing himself to Jesus Christ. And he was not alone.” (Chowder, 5). Though he was described as “crazy” for a large part of his life, the fact that he was remembered by so many in such a positive manner, makes him a hero.

This made the south feel that slavery was okay since they took care of their slaves providing them food, clothing, and shelter. This would make the slavery issue more undecided since it seemed humanely correct. It would create a more difficult way to compromise since they all knew it was wrong, but there were also rights of it. The literature made the compromise almost impossible to be agreed upon since the reasons were so indecisive towards if slavery was correct or wrong. Another issue also created stir in the country and that was Harper’s Ferry.

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

To many in the anti-slavery and abolitionist North, John Brown was seen as a driving force and as a martyr because of the fact that he was not afraid to die for his beliefs and what he believed

turned violent, with bloody episodes like antislavery partisan John Brown’s organized massacre of proslavery forces in

Thesis: John Brown was a man full of honor and passion when it came to the abolishment of slavery. Not only that, but he was a man who believed that his actions were justified by his beliefs and social standpoint. Even though, he was a strong willed man; capable of standing up for his philosophies on life, he was a man who acted upon his emotions, and killed, interrogated, and terrorized towns and people. Your beliefs and morality do not justify the amount of terror that you cause, and it does not justify the amount of blood you spill; John Brown was a terrorist.

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, has become central to an understanding and in some cases misunderstandings about the origins of the Civil War. The importance of Brown’s mission against slavery was colossal to accelerating the civil war between the North and the South. His raid on Harpers Ferry in1859 divided the United States like nothing else before, and could have been the main event leading to the Civil War.

After the rebellion and the death of Nat Turner, Garrison and Knapp, whom believed that Negroes had as much to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as whites enjoyed, published the “Liberator” in Boston, demanding that slaves be emancipated and freed. Though it cannot be said with certainty that this was the one major event that sparked the freeing of slaves of everywhere in the United States, but is without a doubt an important aspect in opening the eyes of the American people about the concept of slavery.

John Brown was a man who fought for an end to slavery, but he used drastic and violent measures to push his dream into action. Over a hundred years later, after the infamous raid by John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, historians debate if the vehement man should be considered a freedom fighter, or a terrorist. However, despite Brown’s beliefs, beliefs that matched with the thoughts of a freedom fighter, the man still killed ruthlessly, like a terrorist. Furthermore, he never used civil means, a term that became popular by Henry David Thoreau from his notable essay, Civil Disobedience, written in 1849, only ten years before John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry. Finally, John Brown’s actions present similar characteristics to the modern

War and saved the Union and efforts to abolish slavery. He is the only one during his time to be a

The Civil War era is rich with individuals and groups that stood up for the injustices by publicly demanding the freedom of the enslaved. Many of these have become historical legends for the significant contributions to the Abolition movement. This movement would test the very foundation of this country. It challenged a practice that began in the British colonies of the Americas and had woven itself into the very fabric of the political and economic condition of the country. Millions of black people lived an enslaved life in America and endured a loss of freedom, at best and horrific torture or death, at worst.