Why Is John Brown Wrong

John Brown was crazy and his plan was a failure. He killed many people therefore “He has been called a cold blooded murderer” (Source 1). The first person he killed was unfortunately a free black man. Source 12 states that, “The first man killed during the raid was Hayward Shepherd, a free black man working with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.” This is crazy because the goal of Brown’s raid was to help blacks, yet here he killed a black man. This is proof that he may not be right in the head. In other words, he was crazy and so was his plan. Not only is there evidence that Brown is crazy from his actions (such as the action of killing the black man), but there were also people who told him that he was crazy for trying to carry out a complex

At one of Brown’s meetings he said, "I at once opposed the measure. It would be an attack upon the federal government and array the whole country against us. All his descriptions of the place convinced me that he was going into a perfect steel trap, and that once in he would never get out alive" (Source 14). Frederick Douglass was previously a slave, therefore he knew how slaves were treated and wanted it to be over. He would make any sort of possible efforts to end slavery, if they were reasonable, however even Douglass knew that this plan was way too crazy and dangerous. Another reason why Brown was a failure was because instead of helping his men in battle he was busy ordering food. “As shots rang off the walls, John Brown quietly ordered breakfast from a hotel” (Source 14). Although food is very important to the health of people in general (not just Brown), his men’s lives should have been much more important to him. Him ordering food makes him seem selfish and as if he is a failure since he did not properly show care to his men in battle. There were many more reasons why people thought that Brown was crazy and all of the reasons have evidence to back them up. Here is another one of those

This is a big deal because blacks were not given the respect that they deserved, however, this was one moment. His legacy does not portray the respect that he had for blacks or slaves but instead his legacy is violence. Source 2 has a letter from Mahala Doyle. She writes “I do feel gratified to hear that you were stopped in your fiendish career at harper’s ferry…[For you] 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.” That proves that instead of a hero a lot of people just see his violent legacy. Brown is also remembered to have remained calm and controlled the press. Brown was a big deal for the press because of the controversy of his actions. Although he was a big deal for the press as far as his accomplishments, he only brought awareness. He did not actually save any slaves. For Mahala Doyle also wrote, “[You] shot them dead in my hearing. You can’t say you done it to free slaves. We had none and never expected to own one.” Here Mahala is emphasizing that what Brown did was not for slaves but for his own benefit of leaving behind a strong legacy making him a failure. The statement, Brown died for slaves, has a lot of bias to it just like Mahala wrote. For he died to leave a legacy as was written in her letter. Lastly historians praise Brown because