“I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, [...]” John Brown stated at his trial in 1859. John Brown was an abolitionist who attempted to end slavery, but his methods differed from most. Brown used violence to free slaves, and he was both loved and hated by people. He was a man of many titles: violence, lying, murder. It is a well-known question: Is John Brown a villain or a hero? Was he doing the right thing, or was he just a corrupt villain trying to get his way? John Brown was a villain because he killed innocent people, changed his intentions, and kept switching his stories. First off, John Brown killed innocent people. An example from the text is a letter from Mahala Doyle to John Brown. She was a married mother of two sons until Brown and …show more content…
Furthermore, she was happy with him on trial and hoped her son would tie the rope around his neck. Mahala Doyle, Document E. The family of four did not even own slaves, so John Brown did this for no apparent reason. She was furious, and for the right reason. Typically, you seek revenge or satisfaction when someone obliterates your family. Continuing, John Brown changed his intentions. In Document F, Brown told the court, “I certainly intended to have made a clean statement of that matter,” during his speech at the trial. He said the actions he committed were not what he planned to do. John Brown claimed all of these things, yet he still did them. Brown was not typically a man of his word, as shown throughout this document. Usually, when you do something so horrid and inexcusable, you testify against it. John Brown did the exact same thing. Finally, John Brown switched the story of the attack. In Document G, John Brown wrote a letter to an attorney, stating the contradiction in his final speech and what he said awaiting trial. There was a clear difference in his story, so few believed