John Brown Argumentative Essay

Fighting against mistreatment of people is a great cause; however, it must be done in the correct way. John Brown decided to take a violent stand point when it came to ending slavery, which could be seen as his uprising or his downfall. His plan to free slaves and start a revolution was not a new concept, but his overall plan was a unique one. Whether it was killing families in Mississippi, or killing slave owners in Virginia John Brown felt violence was the only way to get his point across. However, were these killings and his onslaught of violence justified? He has been described as both a patriot and a terrorist, but I believe that he is an American domestic terrorist. Although slavery was an atrocious affair, revenge in the form of killing is not justified. His plan to rewrite and enforce his version of the constitution was not only treason, but his disloyalty to citizens around him. A …show more content…
His plan cost him his sons, family, and ultimately his life. A seemingly courageous and God-serving man, Brown used his anti-slavery ideas as an excuse to kill the innocent people of the United States. Although slavery needed to come to an end, Brown did not fix the problem, but rather worsen it as the Civil War broke out about twelve years later. Brown’s actions made a war break out that killed over one million people, but ultimately ended slavery. Here is the thing, during the length of the slave trade about 450,000 slaves were sent to the United States (of course, not all were killed by their owners), but the Civil War killed over 1.2 million people. So, in effort for stopping the mistreatment and killing of slaves he ended up causing a war that killed over 1.2 million people, isn’t that ironic? Brown should not be seen as a hero who lead slavery to be abolished, but a corrupted criminal who saw violence and death as a suitable outcome for his