Was John Brown a ‘misguided fanatic’? Essay example

As John got older, things changed and he wanted to start his own slave rebellion. He wanted people to image what kind of person he really was, and what he wanted to change. Breanna Wolford 5/9/17 Freedom Fighter Essay John Browns actions at Pottawatomie Creek and at Harpers Ferry may cause people to claim he is a terrorist but if you dig deeper, you will find it was just acts of a freedom fighter. On May 21, 1856 John Brown and his men invaded two cabins, and brutally murdered slave owners and civilians. One of the men he killed was James Doyle. I believe that the events that took place at Pottawatomie Creek were justified, because at the raid of Harpers Ferry they did not fire on civilians unlike Pottawatomie Creek which I feel he knew they should have not fired in civilians at the first attack therefore that is why he did not kill civilians at Harpers Ferry. John Brown felt obligated to abolish slavery for good. John had to get done what he had to do because he wanted to get it through to people that slavery was wrong. Furthermore this is why I believe John Brown was a freedom

John Brown was a hero. His reasoning for raiding Harper’s Ferry was that he wanted to abolish slavery. Events that led to the raid was the Dred Scott case and how a slave sued for his freedom because his master took him to Wisconsin, a free state. The Supreme Court ruled against Scott and said that black people whether they were free or not couldn't sue because they weren't citizens and that slaves were property and that they could be taken anywhere. Other news was the new territories and deciding on whether “it be slaving owning or free (video 0:14).” Which started the Kansas protest that was once peaceful turned violent. This was the start of John Brown and him wanting to end slavery because he was chosen to by God.The plan was to take control

John Brown was an abolitionist who attempted to free slaves. He had a strong hatred for slavery. Many abolitionists moved to Kansas since the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 which gave states the right to decide if they would allow slavery. They wanted to make Kansas a non-slave state. In 1855 Brown and his family moved to Osawatomie Kansas, he bought land and had a farm. In 1856 the town of Lawrence which was near where they lived was fiercely attacked and burned by men who were proslavery. Only a few short days later John Brown led his men he gathered up to Pottawatomie Creek, where they killed five proslavery settlers. On October 16. 1859, Brown along with sixteen white men and five black men led a raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harper’s Ferry

John brown was against slavery and a mad man. Thus making him travel to Kansas with his sons to fight for his cause, but well we was there a group of proslavery men had attacked and admonished the town of Lawrence. This event deepened his abhor towards the south; this resulted in Brown and his sons destroying cabins and drawing weapons at people in Potta creek. These 2 events led to the summer of 1859 being in complete guerilla warfare. On October 16 of the same year Brown, his sons , and 20 men marched down to Harper Ferry, West Virginia. That night Brown and his men had held 60 citizens captive in hopes of a slavery revolution outbreak but local slaves. When non came forward Brown and his “army” where shot at. In the end it impacted the country

John Brown was once an abolitionist who believed that slaves should have freedom and after the trial of Dred Scott a once freed slave in his hometown who was unfortunately classified as a slave after traveling to a state that still had slaves he decided to matter into his own hands. John gathered about eighteen individuals which included slaves that set out on a journey to fight against anyone who was against anti-slavery but his main focus was to attack the slave owners. Unfortunately his plan was quickly interrupted when Colonel Robert E. Lee and a group of troopers captured John Brown. John Brown’s army rapidly dwindled when six were captured, some were murdered and the others ran away cowardly in fear that they would be captured and harmed.

John Brown was an abolitionist who was very passionate about ending slavery for once and for all. He felt that they should use everything and anything to put an end to slavery, including violence. After protesting slavery, he came with a plan that abolish slavery.

John Brown broke many laws. In 1856 Brown and his men tortured and killed five pro-slavery civilians on their doorstep. In 1859 Brown and about 24 men attacked Harpers Ferry, they murdered seven people and captured multiple people. The acts of murder and treason were carried out in an attempt to free the slaves. The most unlawful act he committed was treason. He was tried for treason by the Common Wealth of Virginia and found guilty after the raid on Harpers ferry.

Described as “one of the major events that ultimately led to the American Civil War” (Raid), John Brown’s failed rebellion was one of the last events, close to the beginning of the war, which caused tensions to bubble over. On October of that year, he let followers into Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start a slave uprising and an army to finish the practice off entirely in the South. He captured prominent citizens and the federal arsenal, but the slaves refused to rebel. The state militia executed him and proclaimed him a traitor, but his legacy lived on after his death. Although criticized by both sides as crazed and insane, some abolitionists depicted him as a martyr, while others grudgingly applauded his intentions, if not method of carrying them out. This appalled the South. In their minds, all Northerners were like John Brown, all of them might act that way. It fed on their deeply ingrained fear of a revolt, which had existed since the early days of slavery. They became increasingly paranoid that the North would impose it's values and lifestyles of them, and despised them for this imagined policy. The timing of the raid only strained relations between the two regions, and would push them towards the eventual climax of this

By early 1858, Brown had prospered in making his own “small army”. He was then able to release a group of slaves from Missouri. Subsequently he had done this he had held hostage dozens of men due to the fact that they had plans of insurrecting slaves. On October 16, 1859 John Brown led a party of twenty-one men raiding of the federal armory of Harpens Ferry in Virginia – what is now West Virginia. Lots of Brown’s men were murdered including two of his sons. Eventually he got defeated by military forces that were led by Robert E.

John Brown: Hero or Terrorist? On October 18th, 1859 John Brown, along with a group of white slavery abolitionists and free Black-Americans, raided a government arsenal located in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown planned to gather weapons and distribute them to slaves in the Southern states to inspire anti-slavery uprisings. Quickly, Brown’s raid failed and he was tried for treason, and later executed. When one thinks of the words “hero” and “terrorist”, one’s mind reaches for extremes.

His plan was to seize the 100,000 muskets and rifles that were located in the armory and use them to arm the local slaves. From there, they would head south, gathering more and more slaves from plantations, and fighting in a manner of “self defense” (Reynolds). He had even asked Harriet Tubman to join him in the raid; however she was ill and unable to join him. Her participation would have been interesting, and perhaps tragic, as she was the escaped slave that founded the Underground Railway. John’s plan was that the slaves would revolt and battle against their masters. However, this plan would not succeed. The Raid at Harpers Ferry would be a beginning to the Civil War and an end for John Brown. The raid initially went well, they were able to capture the armory due it being guarded by a single watchmen. They then rounded up hostages from some local farms, one being the great grad nephew of George Washington, and spread the news to the local slaves. Unfortunately, Brown and his men soon found themselves surrounded by the U.S Marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and were commanded to surrender. Brown initially refused, stating “No, I prefer to die here” (New World Encyclopedia). Soon the power of the Marines was too much, Brown had become wounded, and he and the survivors of the raid became detained. Brown was taken to Charleston,

Freedom fighter or terrorist. In history, John Brown was known as a terrorist. Many people have their own points of views on John Brown and terrorism. Even though he killed and hurt many people, it does not make him a terrorist, or does it.

Brown commanded forces at the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle of Osawatomie during the conflict of Kansas. Brown and his antislavery men killed five proslavery men in Pottawatomie. Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. During the raid in 1859, he captured the armory. Seven

In John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry by Jonathan Earle, Earle explains the life and events that led to John Brown committing the acts that he did. John Brown was a radical abolitionist who from a young age had the loathing for slavery instilled in his mind. John being the God-fearing man that he was, believed the crimes he carried out were apart of Gods will and purpose for him. Many knew John Brown as a freedom fighter, but to most, he was a terrorist. John fought for the freedom of slaves but went about it all the wrong ways. He perpetrated many crimes that led to him being known as the terrorist that he was. While his reason for action is easy to sympathize with, his way of making a difference was wrong. Although it can be argued that John was strictly a freedom fighter who made bad choices, John Brown ultimately chose to fight violence with violence making him just as guilty as the slaveholders he fought so passionately against. These actions eventually resulted in his death.

John Brown was a white American born in the 1800s when the institution of slavery was entrenched. Since he was raised in a Christian Church and was near a significant amount of abolitionists, he was influenced to become a leader of the abolitionist movement. He regarded slavery as “an abominable sin against God” (Oates 20). Owing to the fact that he could not go against his spiritual beliefs, Brown did his utmost to stop it, inciting violence, riots, and revolts against the institution of slavery. For many of his fellow whites, he was no more than a traitor, and to the moderates, his actions were out of line. Although he was a passionate abolitionist, his approach to end slavery was debatable considering his acts portrayed him as both a hero and a terrorist. Brown