The Civil War
Many historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid was to the Civil War what the Boston Massacre had been to the American Revolution. They were both incendiary events. Defenders of the union generally condemned Brown and called the raid "the work of a madman." Everywhere the threat of slave insurrections fed fears, and the uproar strengthened the hand of secessionists who argued that the South needed to rid itself of northern influence. The eventual view in the " living" North that John Brown was a martyr, combined with the abhorrence of Brown by the masses in the South showed that a Civil War was imminent. The North and the South had an ideological difference about the practice of slavery. What the North considered incorrigibly evil, the South considered a positive good. The conflict between the North and the South sprung from the slavery issue and men like John Brown were part of the causes of the war. To his men and to Frederick Douglass, Brown made clear that he intended nothing less than to provoke a slave insurrection. All evidence points to that motive. Brown constantly warned his conspirators that such a raid might fail; yet even in failure he h
(Document H) The Old Song sung during the Civil War shows that many thought that brown had given his life but not his soul to the cause. Also the bias of these affidavits must be examined. Brown's contradicting statements has provoked speculation over the man and his hidden motives. Confronted with these affidavits Governor Henry Wise of Virginia had Brown inspected by the state's asylums. Democrats criticized the Republican party as openly endorsing the raid and viewed the raid as a proof of the validity of Seward's "irrepressible conflict. oped a sectional crisis would unfold leading to the destruction of slavery. Brown refused to plead insane at his trial and for him slavery was an unethical and unconstitutional assault of blacks. Not all shared the Northern view of Brown as a martyr. During his trial, a number of people testified to a pattern of insanity in the Brown family, particularly on his mother's side. Although he had conducted the raid on Harper's Ferry with the intent of starting a Civil War and freeing the slaves, many saw Brown's resolve through his perhaps short-sighted violence. (Document G) Here again, it is evident that Brown was seen as a martyr figure, a person who had nobly given his life for the benefit of others in the future, a future he would not even live to see. Despite his mental demeanor, Brown was regarded as a martyr by both the more pro-abolitionist class as well as the Republican party who tacitly supported Brown's raid. The view of Brown in the North as a martyr, and the conflicting view in the South, was a result of a long, conflict existing since the conception of the southern slave economy, the difference in views arose, as a Civil War was imminent. A man who was not even fighting people for his own race, this was a man with honor Douglas thought. They felt that Brown represented the views of the abolitionists, who many, including those in the north felt to be fanatics.
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Acceptance Essays
