Born May 9, 1800, a man by the name of John Brown was born. Borne
to a Calvinist household Brown knew only that people are people no matter the
race. His house was a very prominent house in the Underground Railroad. His
family helped slaves gain freedom from the South. His view on slavey has
solidifies especially after he witnessed a young slave boy get beaten to death.
John Brown was very against slavery. He believed that the
only way to get your way is to chose violence. He believed in aggressive action
against slaveholders and the government. He was an entrepreneur that ran a tannery and
had a cattle trading business. He was very successful businessman until the economic
crisis that hit. He lost a lot of money. He also lost his wife and kids to
illness at this time. He moved around with his surviving family in hopes of having
a good business in the area. This adventure landed him in Springfield, Massachusetts.
This city had a growing and influential abolitionist community. This began his
radical ideologies against slavery. These ideas even influenced later radical
leaders such as Malcolm X and Timothy McVeigh.
John’s militant strategies started in Bleeding Kansas. Him and
his sons believed that they could turn Kansas to be a free state. Brown relocated to help aid in this “war”. The
“war’ became a massacre known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. This massacre ended
with the fatalities of five pro-slavery people. John Brown’s sons did end up captured
and one of his kids winded up dead.
Bleeding Kansas was not enough for this man. He wanted more.
He believed that the only way slaves could get freedom is if they revolt against
their slave masters. This started his plan on Harpers Ferry. He gathered together % black men and 16 white
men to start this raid. He chose harpers ferry because of its location to the south.
One goal was to capture a distant relative of George Washington.
The raid did not go as planned. The first main casualty
being a freed black man. Then later 17 men died during this war. John Brown was
later abducted and indicted with treason. He was then later hung for is crime.
The importance of John brown actually springs from after his
passing. The North and South were not united at this point so their way of
getting news was also very divided. One side painted John brown as this savior.
The North was told that John brown was brave and what he did was fight for the
people. While on the other side the South was being fed quite the opposite. The south was told that he was a tyrant. He was
going around wreaking havoc.
This did nothing but further drive the divided between the
two sides. This erupted into more tension between the two sides. Bleeding
Kansas and John Brown made the north and the south a ticking time bomb of who
is going to attack first.
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