John Brown’s Anti-Slavery Efforts

John Brown had been an abolitionist all of his life. He was born into a very religious family in Torrington, Connecticut in 1800. Although his family moved to an area with anti-slavery views, his dad was also very against slavery. Throughout the years, John Brown moved all over the country and fathered 20 children. Since he wasn’t wealthy, he worked as a farmer, wool merchant, tanner, and land speculator (John Brown). Although John Brown was a white man, he strongly endorsed a black man’s freedom from slavery.

Brown’s lack of funds didn’t hold him back from supporting causes that he believed in. With his wife, he raised a young black child in their family. He gave land to fugitive slave and also participated in the Underground Railroad. In 1851, he helped develop a League of Giladites, which is an organization that protected escaped slaves from slave catchers (John Brown).

After meeting Frederick Douglass for the first time, Brown showed his sympathy to the black man. Douglass believed in Brown’s intentions and knew that although he was white, Brown was on their side and wanted freedom for the black man. In addition, Brown became a leader of antislavery groups and fought an attack in the town of Lawrence and also in Missouri (John Brown).

John Brown started to consider seriously a plan for war in Virginia against slavery. He was hoping to receive assistance in order to form an army. However, Brown and 21 other men, who included seven black men, raided the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1859 (Foner 428). However, the townspeople and militia realized John Brown’s group’s intent. On the morning of October 18th, an opposing group, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart invaded the building and captured John Brown and his men (Trigger Events of the Civil War).

Although Brown was wounded, he was imprisoned in Charlestown, Virginia. However before Brown heard his sentencing, he addressed the court with the following;

“I believe to have interfered as I have done, . . . in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done”. (John Brown)

Many Northeners spoke favorably about John Brown and his abolitionist approach. For example, Henry David Thorieau defined John Brown as “a crucified hero” (Foner). However, John Brown was brought to trial for murder and treason and found guilty. Although he was hanged on December 2, 1859, John Brown handwrote one last note which stated, “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done” (Trigger Events of the Civil War).
On April 12, 1861, the war that John Brown seemed to anticipate began in Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (Trigger Events of the Civil War).

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. , 2006.

John Brown. 11 May 2010 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html.

"Trigger Events of the Civil War." 2009. Civil War Preservation Trust. 11 May 2010 http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/triggerevents.html.

HORACE MANN "The Father of American Education"

Horace Mann was very passionate about education of the people. In addition, he was very interested in school policy. Although he was a successful lawyer, he left his law practice and became the Secretary of Education in 1837. During his time in office on the Board of Education, he published twelve annual reports about his programs, work, and the essential association between, freedom, education, and Republican government (Mason-King). Since Horace Mann was a strong supporter of education, he wanted to promote the importance of equal opportunity of public education, where children would all have a fair and enjoyable chance to learn.

Horace Mann was born in 1796 in Franklin, Massachusetts. Although he only attended school eight to ten weeks a year, Mann taught himself by reading books from the Franklin Town Library. With this limited education, he was able to be admitted to the sophomore class of brown University in 1816. He studied law school and received his ban in 1823. He also had a seat on the state legislature and also was a State Senator (Mason-King).

When Horace Mann was the Secretary of Massachusetts State Board of Education, he wrote in his twelfth annual report to the Massachusetts Board of Education that there should be an equal opportunity among people who are getting educated. Regardless of their earnings, each person should have an equal chance to earn the same by being exposed to the same conditions (Mann, Horace Mann on Education and National Welfare).

Mann states "Education, more than anything else, demands not only a scientific acquaintance with mental laws, but the nicest art in the detail and the application of means, for its successful prosecution; because influences, imperceptible in childhood, work out more and more broadly into beauty or deformity, in after-life. No unskillful hand should ever play upon a harp, where the tones are left, forever, in the strings” (Mann, Lectures on Education).

He indicates that the methods should be established and also universally diffused. Although there were a lot of Public Schools in this Commonwealth, they were all very different and independent communities. Each school was presided by their own traditions, local customs and habits. There wasn’t any common administration and bond linking them, which kept them as strangers to each other. This situation also was reflected by the teachers (Mann, Lectures on Education).

Any new principles of learning was not shared among other districts but remained within the school. In these Lectures on Education (Mann, 1848), Mann gives examples of how other things like industrial or economical ideas are shared quickly all over the country. However, when improvements regarding education such as helping children learn easier, and sharing the enjoyment of learning, were not shared or considered important topics (Mann, Lectures on Education).

Therefore, Mann wanted to make sure that the success of Common Schools should be considered very exclusive and most important. A child should be excited to see the value in knowledge. In addition, the child should be able to understand and be motivated to study. Moreover, a child should not be afraid of learning, especially if he was unclear of the information that was being read or learned. Children are excited to learn and want to expand their knowledge (Mann, Lectures on Education).

After resigning in 1848 from the Secretary of Education, he continued into the U.S. House of Representative and then became the President of Antioch College in 1852 (Mason-King). Mann’s victory for the public school system has continued to be an essential part of the American culture. Mann states "If ever there was a cause, if ever there can be a cause, worthy to be upheld by all of toil to sacrifice that the human heart can endure, it is the cause of Education" (Mann, 7). With that view point, parents and students can thank the dedication of Horace Mann in providing American people with the opportunity of education.

Works Cited

Mann, Horace. "Horace Mann on Education and National Welfare." wikispaces. 29
March 2010 .

Mann, Horace. "Lectures on Education." Mann, Horace. Massachusettes, 1848. 18.

Mann, Horace. Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann. New York: Lee and Shepard, 1872.

Mason-King, Pam. "Horace Mann." n.d. nd.edu. 30 March 2010 .

The Death of President Lincoln

In the morning of April 14, 1865, Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses Grant a few days earlier. President Lincoln was also waiting for Joseph E. Johnston to also surrender. The morning papers announced that his wife and he were going to attend a comedy show called, "Our American Cousin". After the meeting concluded with Grant and the Cabinet, Grant told Lincoln that they could not attend the show with them that evening. Lincoln’s wife, Mary, complained of a headache and thought about not going to the show. Lincoln said he was tired also, but was ready to enjoy an entertaining evening. There were people, such as Secretary Edwin Stanton, who was worried about Lincoln getting shot and his body guard William Crook, who practically begged him not to attend the show. However, President Lincoln decided to go anyway and disregarded the fears of assassination. Since there was going to be a guard outside of their theater box, at Ford's Theater, he wasn’t concerned (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865). The choice of President Lincoln to attend the show at the theater ended his presidency and his life.

Although the box door was closed, it was not locked. John Parker, the posted guard who was also known for his drinking, went across the street to get a drink (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865). The President and Mrs. Lincoln were enjoying the show, in attendance was a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris. After the play started, a figure appeared holding a drawn derringer pistol and stepped into the presidential box. At that time, he aimed and fired his gun, at the back of Lincoln’s head, which made the president slump forward (Library of Congress).

The assassin’s name was John Wilkes Booth. After shooting the president, he dropped the gun and waved a knife at the officer. The officer, Major Rathbone, went towards Booth, but Booth cut Rathbone in the arm. When Booth jumped from the balcony, he caught his leg on a flag wrapped over the rail causing him to break a bone in his leg when he landed on the ground. Although he was hurt, he ran out the rear door, jumped on a horse and escaped (Library of Congress).

There was a doctor also at the show who went upstairs to the see the president. The president was injured by a bullet that entered through his left ear and stopped behind his right eye. Unfortunately, he was paralyzed and barely breathing (Library of Congress).

Gideon Welles, who was Secretary of the Navy, woke up to the news that Lincoln had been shot. When he arrived at Ford’s Theater, he learned that Lincoln had been carried across the street. The physician told Welles that Lincoln only had three hours to live (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).

Welles describes the room that Lincoln occupied as the following:

“The room was small and overcrowded. The surgeons and members of the cabinet were as many as should have been in the room, but there were many more, and the hall and other rooms in the front or main house were full. One of these rooms was occupied by Mrs. Lincoln and her attendants, with Miss Harris. Mrs. Dixon and Mrs. Kinney came to her about twelve o'clock. About once an hour Mrs. Lincoln would repair to the bedside of her dying husband and with lamentation and tears remain until overcome by emotion” (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).

Welles continues his story:

“A little before seven I went into the room where the dying President was rapidly drawing near the closing moments. His wife soon after made her last visit to him. The death struggle had begun. Robert, his son, stood with several others at the head of the bed. He, bore himself well but on two occasions gave way to overpowering grief and sobbed aloud, turning his head and leaning on the shoulder of Senator Sumner. The respiration of the President became suspended at intervals and at last entirely ceased at twenty-two minutes past seven" (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).

President Lincoln died on April 15^th 1865 (Library of Congress).

Works Cited

Library of Congress. American Civil War. n.d. 26 February 2010 .

"The Death of President Lincoln, 1865." 1999, revised 2009. EyeWitness to History. 27 February 2010 .