John Brown DBQ
John Brown's raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859, involved only a handful of abolitionists, freed no slaves, and was over in two days. Although many Northerners condemned the raid, by 1863, John Brown had become a hero and martyr in the North. John Brown was an overzealous and radical abolitionist who wanted to end slavery in the South. In October 1859, he, along with 18 of his followers attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. His plan was to use the guns from the arsenal to arm slaves in the north. He then wanted the slaves to rise up in revolt, first in the north and then spread it down to the southern states. However the plan proved futile after Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and his troops captured Brown, and killed over half of his followers. Brown accused of treason, was found guilty and then hanged. Even though many Northerners denounced his raid as a criminal act, he was later hailed as a philanthropic hero for wanting to free slaves from their pain and misery. However, the South felt offended by the North's compassion for Brown as he wanted incite an upheaval in the southern states. The raiding of Harpers Ferry by John Brown illustrates the changing North-South relations between
This event eventually led to the secession of the southern states from the union. However, in Document B, Henry David Thoreau states that even though men were hung in the south for attempting to rescue slaves, northerners were not stirred by it. Southerners also interpreted Brown's attack at Harpers Ferry as an act of midnight terrorism and wanting to set off slave rebellion in the southern states. In Document G Union troops during the beginning of the Civil War sang "The Old Song" as a symbol for their goal to abolish slavery. John Brown's raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in October 1859, further deteriorated the relations between the northern and southern states. They had become increasingly nervous of slave revolts especially after the botched Gabriel's and Nat Turner's Rebellion in the early 19th century. According to Document E, the Democrats were accused of "bushwhacking" for claiming that the Republicans wanted to end slavery in states which had the greatest slave population. In Document F, Frederick Douglas was honored to meet such a confident and pristine individual as John Brown. " His death and the Harpers Ferry incident were one of the main causes of the Civil War. They also were enraged after several northern intellectuals, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Brown for his actions. They felt that he had conducted himself bravely and intelligently during his failed attempt in inciting a slave rebellion and during his trials in Virginia. The possibility of another slave revolt, this time in a much larger scale, had touched the foremost fear of the rich, aristocratic slaveholders, and of white southerners. Lincoln, however, reprimanded the Democrats by stating that "the Democrats had just been whipped in (some state elections), and seized upon the unfortunate Harpers Ferry affair to influence other elections then pending. Northerners also felt that he was a freedom fighter for enslaved blacks. " In the end, Lincoln and the Republicans defeated Frederick Douglas and the Democrats.
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Acceptance Essays
