Who Is Responsible For John Brown's Crimes

Picture this… an abolitionist in the 1850’s leading a slave army, fighting for the freedom of African-American slaves. Such accomplishment is incredible, inspiring, and some may say heroic. However, John Brown received the death sentence by doing so. The Virginia Court’s decision to convict John Brown and sentence him to death by hanging was unfair and unjust – John Brown was an antislavery activist with good intentions and was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death.
Important to realize, John Brown never destined his actions to have violent results. Born in Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown grew up with his father who abominated slavery and believed that slaveholding was a sin against God. John Brown may have been traumatized from experiencing a slave beaten with an iron shovel by a man who he lodged with in Michigan. During Elijah Lovejoy’s memorial service, Brown promised to end slavery and stood by his word. According to an excerpt from The Library of Congress, American Memory Historical Collections, John Brown and twenty-one of his followers …show more content…
The Timeline of John Brown’s Life notes that on May 24, 1856, John Brown “directs his men in the murder of five proslavery settlers. Brown directed his men in the murder, but Brown did not commit murder on his part. John Brown was also convicted of treason, yet Brown used his right to freedom of speech, press, and beliefs protected by the constitution and never went to war or conflicted with his own county. While John Brown did encourage slaves to rebel and was convicted of “inciting a slave insurrection,” as stated by the Timeline of John Brown’s Life, the death sentence by hanging was a cruel and unjust punishment. Given these points, John Brown’s conviction was one-sided, biased, and wrongful, especially since the decisions were strongly influenced by Virginia’s proslavery