John Brown: Hero Or Villain?

Improved Essays
John Brown was a dedicated advocate of abolishing slavery. No matter the consequences, he did not keep his opinions to himself and fought for what he believed in. While leading an attack on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Brown was injured and ten of his followers were killed. He was captured and later hanged for treason on December 2nd, 1859.
Depending on which angle you look at it, John Brown could be considered both a hero and a villain. For example, he fought hard to do what he believed to be the right thing; he dreamed of ending slavery and was prepared to do whatever it took to make that dream become reality. Because of this dedication, he was willing to use violence to achieve his goal. While John Brown fought to the free the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Midnight Rising Book Review Before reading “Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War” by Tony Horwitz I believed that Abraham Lincoln was the man whose policies and beliefs sparked the Civil war and the Abolition of slavery. I believed that because even though there are many abolitionists in the history books none or are as famous or as notable as President Lincoln. I had never heard the name John Brown or how he and his small gang of followers may have single handedly ignited the fire that would spiral into a full-fledged civil war and national divide. The argument over slavery and its moral convictions has had a presence in American society long before the time of John Brown.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why Did John Brown Raid

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    John Brown was a 19th militant abolitionist known for his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. Born on May 9th, 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut. He worked with the Underground Railroad and the League of Gileadites. He was brought up thinking and knowing Slavery was a sin to god. He believed that violence was the case to end slavery.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Brown's plan was to provoke a massive slave revolt in the South which would scare the entire institution of slavery in the United States. He planned to do this by first raiding Harper's Ferry for weapons and then go take the slaves and give them the weapons and free even more slaves and give them weapons too. He wasn’t going to stop until he took over the entire state. Once he did the state government, he would move onto the next state and repeat the process until all the slaves were freed. But it didn’t work out in his favor a he expected.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why Did John Brown's Raid

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages

    John Brown’s raid was a very big turning point in history, it teaches us a lesson by showing us how we should fight what we believe in and if we have to suffer, then we suffer. John brown believed that slavery is wrong and it should be stopped throughout the u.s. But not everyone agreed with him, so he gathered a group of twenty-one men and went to fight Robert E. Lee and his army. On October seventeen, John Brown went to the armory and stole all the guns there and freed many slaves, He thought they would help him fight but the slaves didn't want anything to do with it.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    History is ripe with tales of traitors and treason, especially when one group is unhappy with another. Take, for example, John Brown’s three day raid on Harper’s Ferry in Virginia. Angry with the lack of progress in the abolition movement, Brown planned to take the military’s stockpiled arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia and use it to free slaves across the south (“John Brown’s”). Or maybe think about the more realistic 20 July Plot during World War II. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and some cohorts, believing that what Hitler and his Nazi regime was doing was immoral and unethical, blew up Hitler’s primary meeting house, The Wolf’s Lair (“July Plot”).…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Brown is a terrorist for three reasons: he advocated terrorism, his family had a long history of being insane and he thought he was sent from God to kill people for slavery. First I just want to say: The definition of a terrorist is a person, usually a member of a group, who advocates terrorism and terrorism/ terrorist is the use of violent acts to frighten the people…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    When he was just 8 his mom passed away. And that was very hard on him. When he was 12 he was walking down a road and had to watch a slave be beat, this led him to start a "eternal war with slavery". And that was when it all started. John Brown was a very caring person to animals and humans.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the thirteenth of May 1856, John led free-staters to parts of eastern Kansas. 2. In his time, John Brown killed five men.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Brown was in fact a criminal. Brown was fighting for a just cause, but did so illegally. As stated in the constitution, he has the right to peaceful protest and speech, but took it much farther than that. In fact, he should be considered a vigilante. Brown and his followers murdered five men in cold bold in Kansas, along with helping on the Underground Railroad, both illegal acts as well.…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    John Brown; hero, criminal, or insane? John Brown was a 19th-century belligerent abolitionist who is well known for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859. John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. Growing up with a father who strongly disapproved of slavery, Brown was highly motivated in creating a slave insurrection. He strongly believed in violently taking care of entities.…

    • 2138 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slaves Impact During The Abolition Movement During the movement slave holders were preached to by Baptist and Methodist preachers. Black Harry was a Methodist preacher who was once considered the best orator in America. Black Harry was once a carriage driver and servant. He was known for his ability to memorize long passages in the bible this is why he was considered the best orator in America, he was intended to preach to slaves however, further down the road when he would speak at sermons whites became influenced by Black Harry and his skill to cite the bible so well. His intentions were almost identical to Sam Sharpe 's, which was to have slaves free and they both preached.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    One of histories greatest ironies; John Browns struggle preceded the Civil War, but Brown is still looked as a criminal. Even though thousands were killed in the civil…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    John Brown was a bad person because he killed five…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    John Brown Abolition Movement

    • 1892 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited

    Brown's rebellion was doomed to fail. The abolitionists were captured and Brown was hung on charges of murder, inciting insurrection, and treason (Stoddard and Murphy, 15). John Brown and his men clearly showed how socially divided the nation was on slavery, with both sides willing to kill to further their…

    • 1892 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Was John Brown a hero or a terrorist? Some historians think that he was a hero for saving multiple slaves and drawing even more attention to a growing problem in the South. Other historians may think that he was a terrorist for unlawfully killing slave owners and wreaking havoc in the Confederate States of America. Although, was it possible that John Brown was both or neither?…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays