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John Brown And The Abolition Movement

Decent Essays

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. Brown was born the son of Owen Brown, a tanner, in the town of Torrington, Connecticut. The Browns were conventional evangelicals, and John went to school in Massachusetts to become a Congregationalist minister. Unfortunately he ran out of money and returned to his family and opened his own tannery with his brother. He soon started a family and his tannery was growing to a very successful business. A few years came to pass, and tragedy struck his family. One of his sons died, Brown became very sick, he incurred a tremendous amount of debt, and his wife passed shortly after the death of a newborn son. A year later he would marry 16 year old Mary Ann, and have 13 children, creating a total of 20 children of which only 11 would survive into adulthood. After moving his family to the town of Franklin Mills, Ohio, he opened a new tannery but soon fell victim to the Panic of 1837, leaving him in more debt. He took up horse and sheep breeding, as well as many other efforts to relieve himself of his debts. Brown was even

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