John Brown's Raid - Assignment Example

    Question As abolitionist, John Brown is a figure in the United s renowned for his fight against slavery. The big question many might ask is why he as a white man was against it, and Africa Americans were the one targeted as slaves. To start with, John was brought up in a Christian family. His father was against slavery. The strong bond between him and his father made him share the same feeling against slavery. To him, African America were just like his brothers and sisters, and they were not supposed to be treated  any differently. The masters mistreated African America  and no form of humanity was granted to them. In fact they were equated to street dogs. At the very young age of twelve, Brown witnessed the mistreatment of a slave of his same age, with an iron shovel.That in turn started a fire deep inside brown to do all he could for the freedom of slaves (Earle, 4). Brown was disgusted by ruthless of the master, and in his mind he thought of an instant revolution to avert the crisis. He felt  miserable and aggravated for the boy, this might have contributed to the reasons that crossed his mind and could not stop his mission of fighting slavery.             In the year 1849, he moved to North Elba, New York. African American inhabited the region; though it was isolated, it was better off than being a slave. Brown’s move to this region was not just an ordinary one, rather a significant one to his anti-slavery fight. Brown observed that African America living in North Elba were facing difficult despite Gerrit Smith gave them large tracts of land (Crompton, 27). Brown, being a farmer, he decided to lead as an example to African American community to help them practice productive farming that will transform their lives for better. The trust and confidence people had in Brown, despite him being a white man, made his path towards the fight against slavery more important. It is a tall order to assist a person who is resistant to your idea. Though the salves themselves resisted joining the revolution, Brown had enjoyed a good corporation from the Black community that made him be focused on the mission.                                     Question 2             John Brown tends to be brilliant and brave abolitionist; following his efforts and plans for the attack on Harper’s Ferry in “Virginia” this is manifested. The hardship slaves were going through made him go beyond the average way of conducting a raid. In his initial plan, Brown sought for other people who had same line of thinking as his to form an army. One might tend to think that the anti-slavery motives were born in his family. It can be argued that Brown’s father, Brown, and Brown’s son were all against the idea of slavery.Browwn travelled to raise money and arms to fund the Harpwers Ferry raid.( Earle, 59) leading businessmen greeted Brown.These leading business man become know as the Secret Six. (Earle, 59). 1857 Brown had recruited Forbes to “train under the tutelage of a down-and –out English soldier of fortune and fencing ” (Earle, 20).Brown was aware of the complexity surrounding the attack on the Harper’s Ferry and had to  recruit someone who had experience.To Brown he was an asset in his mission to liberate the African Americans who were still held in as slaves.Since not all can fight for the minority.Many ridiculed  Brown’s terming it as a joke and unrealistic.They army consisted of five blacks and sixteen white, two of which were Brown’s son , but they achieved in the fight against slavery is remarkable.   Brown was a bright guy despite his business failing and him being declared bankrupt he had an idea on what it take to have successful invasion. The army set up a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the base was strategic placed to help them in leading the slaves away and attack the slaveholders (Crompton, 22). His plans however changed when Forbes decided to leak the planned invasion and forced Brown to go into exile for fear of being captured until 1858. One thing to note is that for the invasion to take place, it required financiers.This can be evidenced by the interrogation of  Brown when he was captured “..Mason continued to interrogate,  mostly aiming his questions to point of who sent Brown and who had financed the expedition…”( Earle, 77). It is clear that Brown had sourced for finance to carry out the invasion, but could not leak it out to the Virginia authority.                                                 Question 3             Terrorism can be defined the usage of violence and intimidation to instill fear to the public with an aim of passing an agenda either political or religious (Henderson, 53). Based on this definition it can be concluded that Brown was a terrorist who wanted to satisfy a political agenda. The concern of liberating slaves was for a good cause, but would have positioned Brown strategically and politically in the North.  In their tactics, Brown’s men captured innocent people from the south and held them hostage. A terrorist will use any possible means to have his ideology accepted by the public or the opposing force. Using hostage, he went a step further by holding the great grandnephew of George Washington. A tactic the terrorist would use. Holding a relative of a senior or influential person in the society makes the authority to come to their knees. Brown used George Washington grandnephew as a leverage to compel the authority to abolish slavery and, above all, give blacks the same right as those given to the whites. A human being is equal to each “other” regardless of color, race, or ethnic group.After Brown was executed, northern churches regarded him as a martyr for fighting for the minority groups. Brown received religious favor from churches. Abraham Lincoln supported Brown’s action towards the anti-slavery in the South.                                     Question 4             Contrary to my above argument, considering Brown as a terrorist, the discussion below will illustrate why he should not be considered as a terrorist. A terrorist will always retaliate if he is attacked, but this is not the case with Brown. When asked by Mason why he killed some innocent humans passing in the streets, In his response, Brown had this to say “….well sir if there was anything of that kind. It was not without my knowledge. Your citizens who were my prisoners can tell you that every possible means to prevent it..”(Earle, 77). From his “statement,” it is clear he was not after shedding more blood in Virginia and simply chose held up hostages to compel the authority. The authority, on the other hand, killed Brown’s men out of retaliation from Brown’s men that did occur. Retaliation from Brown’s men did not hurt innocent civilian, and was just done to protect them from more attacks.. Brown’s son Fredrick had been killed by a proslavery minister (Crompton, 39). He had a chance to retaliate back and even his men asked him to revenge, but to their surprise he refused and said cautioned them that he acted from principle and anyone who rode with him must do the same (Earle, 79). His strong stand clearly shows Brown portrays a different trait as expected from a terrorist. If at all Brown was terrorist he would revenge on someone who had killed his son.                                     Question 5             Having assessed the acts of Brown and his militiamen in my personal view I cannot regard him as a terrorist. One must understand the plight of the black in the United States in that era was devastating and for one to have the guts like that of Brown it is remarkable. A Whiteman who can go against the norm of other white men, who had regarded blacks as second class citizens will always be remembered for his courage. Abraham seconded the ideology for his actions. There is no need to create division among races which terrorism does. Brown was against that and hoped for the time when both the blacks and white would be considered equal. Currently in the United States, an African American  president sits in the White house. Cedit has to be given to John Brown. John Brown should be considered as the father compassion. It should be noted that John Brown was fighting for the rights of those who were oppressed.   . Works Cited Earle, Jonathan. JohnsRaid on Habours Ferry: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford /St Martins, 2008. Crompton, Samuel Willard. The Raid on Harpers Ferry: John Browns Rebellion. New York: Chelsea House, 2010. Print. Henderson, Harry. Terrorism. New York: Facts on File, 2001. Print. Read More