John Brown, Hero or Terrorist?
John Brown was a white American abolitionist who very strongly believed in violently ending slavery. "He believed he was the instrument of God's wrath in punishing men for the sin of owning slaves." Brown was involved in many anti slavery forces such as the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle Osawatomie. He and his fellow supporters killed five slavery supporters. The most common event that he is known for being in was the raid of Harpers Ferry.
On October 16, 1859 Brown and 21 other men traveled to Virginia capturing dozens of men and keeping them hostage. There were two ways of success for this raid. First, their men needed to take all weapons from the townspeople, and second they needed to gather up the slaves and tell them to join their raid against their owners. Obviously they failed. Time was cutting short and Brown had no way of escaping unnoticeably. This led to multiple townspeople and lots of the 21 men being killed. Some people that had past were William H. Leeman, Thomas Boerly, Dauphin Thompson, and Brown's sons Oliver and Watson. After being captured Brown stood in trial at the Jefferson County Courthouse on October 26. He was soon found guilty of going against the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was later hung on December 2, 1859.
The cause of all this was that John Brown wanted to abolish slavery in a very violent way. Although that may have not been the best way to do it he could be considered a hero; he started a change for America. By doing so, the effect was a sectional divide between North and South and inspiring "the dispute with violence in a new and profound way." This eventually began people to realize that slavery is a wrong doing.
Some people viewed Brown as a hero but most view him as a terrorist and a martyr. The answer is so easy and obvious! He was a sick and conniving man who held captive of multiple men which then led to multiple people dying. Plus he did some other really inhuman things such as dragging five unarmed men from their homes along Kansas’s Pottawatomie Creek to take apart their bodies. He just did everything to the extreme and violently which people would then consider to be acts of terrorism.
Brown's act can be related to our modern day events such as the Lebanon hostage crisis. This was a kidnapping in Lebanon which led to the killing of people. Brown's event can be 100% be related to this everyday event, he basically did the same thing but maybe even worse!
Now you can choose, do you think he really was a terrorist or a hero? Think back to the comparison of the Lebanon hostage, would you have liked to have been the one kept in hostage?
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