Was John Brown An American Abolitionists

Slavery was a horrible thing that American history faced and very few people in its prime sought to end it. The abolitionists, during the time of slavery, were a slowly growing group of people that started the fight to end slavery once and for all. John Brown was the leader of this group and “For abolitionists and antislavery activists, black and white, Brown emerged as a hero, a martyr, and ultimately, a harbinger of the end of slavery” (Paul Finkelman, John Brown: America's First Terrorist? 2011). The people that were against abolitionists saw John Brown as a terrorist and wanted to get rid of him accordingly. A terrorist is a person that goes against a group of people by engaging in violent acts that are unlawful due to their beliefs. John

John Brown, being the leader of the abolitionist group, was willing to do anything in order to accomplish his goal of ending slavery. He wanted slaves to be free and become citizens like the rest of them. Also, the idea of being a terrorist can mean “the "terror" itself, the act of violence, is the goal rather than simply the means to an end. Terrorists may hope for political change, but what they often want is to simply strike back at and harm those they oppose” (Paul Finkelman, John Brown: America's First Terrorist? 2011). This is also true of John Brown because some of his actions weren’t needed in his overall campaign to end slavery it seems as though they were a way to get back at the people that opposed him. Although John Brown was a terrorist he was on the right side of history. His efforts helped end slavery and brought many more equality ideas into law. This alone justifies his violent acts because his

He saw groups of abolitionists go against people that were pro-slavery and it ended in a violent battle that was started by the pro-slavery side. This made him cautious but he didn’t yet want to start being violent unless someone else went after him. This quickly changed and he knew that the only way to prove his point was to engage in violent acts like the others. One of these acts involved John Brown going to Rochester and meeting with a man named “Frederick Douglass. His purpose was to enlist the famous black abolitionist's support for his plan to invade the slave South and wage a guerilla war from a base in the Appalachian Mountains” (Earle, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry; May 8, 1858). This wasn't his first violent act and it definitely wasn't his last. He started by devising a plan against Virginia and wanted to go after the Blue Ridge Mountains and start a war against the people there. John also created his own constitution where he changed the way he wanted the states to be run and all slave owners wouldn't be able to keep their property and had to free their slaves. Although this constitution didn’t go into law it changed the way other people viewed what should be done about slaves and allowed John Brown to engage in more violent acts with a reasonable cause. At the time his followers saw him as a legend and thought every action he did was pure and