John Brown does choose a way of violence in a Harpers Ferry authority and the town itself, which is basically an insurrection. In “1854, Brown had been thinking, and talking, about an organized war against slavery in Virginia. His focus, from the beginning, seems to have been on Harpers Ferry, the site of a federal arsenal and armory” (Finkleman 5). He leads 21 men to the Harpers Ferry and made them destroy authorities like houses.
In May of 1856, a pro-slavery mob reeked havoc on the town of Lawrence, stealing property, demolishing buildings, and even setting the governor’s home on fire. Two days after the attack on Lawrence, a man named John Brown set out for vengeance.
In October 1859, the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry was the target of an assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown (1800-59). (Originally part of Virginia, Harpers Ferry is located in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia near the convergence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers.) The raid was intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. Brown was captured during the raid and later convicted of treason and hanged, but
Brown’s goal was to abolish slavery. His plan for the raid at Harpers Ferry was to arm the slaves with weapons to help kill the slave owners. He wanted to establish a base at Blue Ridge Mountain with him and his army. From there they would assist the runaway slave, give slaves their weapons, and launch attacks on slaveholders. They were prepared to attack in 1859 but postponed the raid for the next year.
All around the world, desperate acts are performed to create a perfect dystopia. John Brown tried to fight for what aligned with is morals. He fought for the dystopia where all men are equal. However, his motives and his actions lead people to question him. Through the questioning, there are also quite a few perspectives.
At the Farm John Brown trained 21 men in his army and planned their capture of the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. John Brown not only created his own army, but he was also giving slaves rifles and pikes. He did this hoping that the slaves would join his army and free more slaves. He also hoped that this would scare the slave owners. When it came time for his army to fight the slaves never showed up.
Brown chose violence which caused more harm than help. He made a plan to raise an army of escaped slaves to fight for their freedom. The thing he forgot to think about was how before when enslaved people used violence to justify their freedom, their lives became much more cruel. The plan in my opinion wasn’t thought through well enough to be able to establish anything. Therefore Brown was in total setting the enslaved people up for more violent treatments then at the time.
The second reason, John Brown led a revolt. “These men are all talk, what we need is action, action!” John Brown said before He and his men (in October 16, 1859) raided the Federal Arsenal armory, and as a result, shook the south. Upon hearing he was going to be hung he stated: “…if it is 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 was a murderer who shot three innocent family members. “...entered my house at midnight and arrested my husband and two boys and took them out of the yard and in cold blood shot them dead in my hearing, you can’t say you did it to free our slaves, we had none and never expected to own one...” (Mahala Doyle Document E). John Brown mentions in his speech during his trial that his ultimate goal was to abolish slavery without violence. However, the murder of three men with no interest in slaves does not fit that plan.
George Fitzhugh claimed that "The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest the freest people in the world." (Document H). John Brown a major person in the fight to end slavery "led a band of 18 men into Virginia to seize the federal arsenal there, distribute the captured arms to slaves in the area, and create a general slave uprising." (Document I).John Brown was executed and the aftermath of his death made tensions rise betwwen the North and South. "
By the time he got to his 50's, he saw that slavery was not going to end peacefully. This led to an obsession with the idea of serving justice to black people and slaves. John Brown figured that the only way for it to end was for him to go and use force on white slave owners, which consisted of him killing them or hurting them and forcing them to give up their slaves. During this obsession with anti slavery, Brown planned a slave uprising at Harper's Ferry. John Brown started plotting to raid the town of Harper's Ferry and seize guns from the federal armory.
John Brown was an abolitionist that saw it as his duty to be a spokesperson as well as a fighter on the forefront in abolishing slavery. In his time, he took into his own hands to physically make a change for the sake of freeing slaves. On October 16, 1859, John Brown led eighteen men in a raid to capture a federal arsenal located in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. This arsenal contained rifles, muskets, and pistol, which he intended to give to slaves to provoke and lead an armed slave rebellion. During this raid Brown thought slaves would join his eighteen men to help them conquer the arsenal and to then start their rebellion, since he planned this to help the salves, but no slaves came to help Brown and his men.
In the United States, during the eighteen-hundreds’, a small group of people believed that slavery was immoral and did many things to abolish it. John Brown, a Caucasian male who was part of this group of people, did two things that many people in United States history didn’t have the passion to do. John Brown’s life was very interesting: His early life and transition to adulthood, his decision to fight for the cause, his actions of violence in Kansas and Harper’s Ferry, along with, the long-lasting effects of these actions led to his hanging. These events were pivotal to the beginning of the Civil War. “John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800, five months after the death of George Washington”(Marrin,7).
Brown knew he was not going to get a peaceful answer, and knew that people were going to die. “No matter how bad the crime of slavery is killing innocent people if they get in the way, or simply killing in general is no way to solve a problem.” ( John Brown guilty or innocent slavery 2 ). John Brown says his mission is to free the slaves, but he kills one African American during the raid. “John Brown kills a black man who was either just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or he was the gate guard for the storehouse.
John Brown 's last speech was said in November 2, 1859. In his speech he talks to the court and states how he want it to free the slaves. John talks about how he went to Missouri he saw how slaves were treated and how they were taken away. ”When I went to Missouri, and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved the through the country, and finally left them in Canada.”(187) Brown wanted to do something when he saw how they were treating the slaves, he thought to himself that he would never disrespect a human being like how they did.