Abolitionist: Was John Brown As A Terrorist

In the 19th century, slavery became a highly divisive issue. Slavery was an ongoing tragedy that had been going on for centuries, and did not come to an end until the occurrence of the civil war in 1865. Slavery was a profoundly cruel and immoral institution that allowed a person to be controlled by another consuming their life, liberty and fortune. The state of being enslaved meant to be legally owned by another human and is coerced to work and follow any instructions that person gives the slave. With two sides present, those that were proslavery believed it was necessary for the economy, while those who opposed of slavery believed it was cruel and immoral, hence this debatable issue being one of the main reasons why the civil war emerged.

Therefore, his raid attacks of territory in the state of Kansas known as the “Bleeding Kansas” and his raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in order to start a liberation movement, led people to believe that he was a terrorist. What is a terrorist? Was John Brown considered a terrorist for committing these acts of violence or was he rather marked as a legacy throughout history? Usually in present day, what it means to be a terrorist is any form of attack using different kinds of weapons to harm innocent people and/or places without having a reason. However, terrorism has no exact definition but one of the views on this subject is, to utilize any form of violent behavior, as well as indulge into the power of intimidation, in the objective of any political motives. Although, sometimes it will correlate to a religious belief, hence the reason terrorism occurs. But, it is never to try and stop a situation or to fight for the right reasons, it is simply aiming for attack for no particular rationale. Nevertheless, John Brown doesn’t seem to fit into this category because he was rather fighting for a movement, fighting against slavery, in hopes to create

Without violence, he gave them something else to do rather than to expand slave territory, which was to attack. Therefore, John Browns participation into the antislavery movement and his acts upon raids, wasn’t an act of terrorism since he had logical intentions to put an end to slavery, fight against slavery to save all suffering people. But rather, to abolish slavery for once and for all. Brown became a symbol for antislavery forces, that the issue upon slavery would have never been able to be resolved without an act of violence thus Browns final prophecy would be proven. Without a doubt, John Brown was not only a martyr for freedom, but also one of the most important figures for antislavery throughout