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.