Remember John Brown

When considering the current freedom of African Americans, a one who is but vaguely familiar with history is likely to think of such people as Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. Someone more familiar with history might think of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Benjamin Franklin. Only a few will remember John Brown, maligned and ignored as he is. Accused of being mentally insane and fanatical, John Brown is often looked upon as a black mark upon the history of abolitionism, but is he?

In the year 1800, John Brown was born into a family that was both deeply religious and fervently anti-slavery and in 1837, Brown stood up in church and vowed to "consecrate myself to the destruction of slavery." Throughout his life, Brown was an active abolitionist who gave generously in support of abolitionists and escaped slaves despite his own economic instability. In 1847, he met Frederick Douglass in Springfield, Massachusetts, who became a life-long friend and one of the few people to say anything in favor of him following his execution. It was then that Brown first discussed his envisioned war on slavery which "did not, as some suppose, contemplate a general rising among the slaves, and a general slaughter of the slave masters. An insurrection he thought would only defeat the object, but his plan did contemplate the creating of an armed force which should act in the very heart of the south."

Brown first took radical measures against slavery in 1851, when he helped found the United States League of Gileadites, a group dedicated to the protection of escaped slaves. Later, in 1855, Brown and five of his sons went to Kansas, where pro- and anti-slaverites were fighting over the policies of the soon-to-be state. Once there, Brown organized a group of guerrilla fighters. Most scholars and textbooks will be quickest to point out Brown's attack on Pottawatomie Creek, in which five pro-slaverites were killed. However, what you will not often hear is that this was in retaliation to the sacking of the town of Lawrence, an event not only led by a sheriff, but also celebrated by pro-slavery newspapers.

Brown also became a hero among the abolitionists when he and his followers attempted to repel a small army of pro-slavery forces attacking Osawatomie. Brown was outnumbered approximately seven-to-one but he and his men still managed to kill or wound over sixty men. The pro-slaverites succeeded in sacking Osawatomie but failed to move on to Topeka and Lawrence. Brown fought in various other battles, many of them started by invaders from Missouri.

Finally, in 1859, Brown led twenty-one armed men into Charleston, Virginia, where his war on slavery was to begin. The plan was for slaves to rally to John Brown and his men after they had captured Harpers Ferry--a federal arsenal--and to then leave Charleston and travel throughout the South. The slaves would escape to join Brown's army as they passed through various counties, causing his numbers to swell. The army would then fight only in self-defense and as it grew, thus destroying slavery not through force, but simple economic strain as more and more slaves escaped. This was not to be.

Before capturing Harpers Ferry, Brown and his men cut the telegraph wires and dispatched a few men as a rear guard. After this, he took control of the arsenal as well as the sword of George Washington. After that, everything went wrong. The first and most obvious problem was that none of the slaves joined Brown or his men. The other is that a train passed through the town. The train was held up by the rebels but Brown eventually told his men to let it pass, a decision that he attributed to mercy in his trial. As the train headed for Washington, the town also organized a militia that successfully pinned down Brown and his men. The next morning, John Brown was captured after seeing two of his sons killed along with eight of his raiders. The seven men who had neither escaped nor died were sent to jail to await their trials.

On October 18, 1859, Brown was declared fit for trial and thus he was taken to court. Brown's first defense attorney tried to plead insanity, a case that Brown was not pleased with. Brown hired several other attorneys but in the end it made little difference. The fact of the matter was that John Brown had been fully aware of the fact that as long as slaves were considered property his plan was based around theft, he knew he would at some point be required to commit murder, and he was prepared to carry out out his plan regardless of this knowledge. John Brown was a criminal and he was prepared to face any consequences. Thus it was that when he addressed the court on November 12, 1859, he was trying not to convince the anyone of his innocence, but rather to do one more service to the cause of abolition.

" Had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends," said Brown shortly after being sentenced to death, "... it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment."

"The court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God" continued Brown. "I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible...that teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to 'remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.' I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done -- as I have always freely admitted I have done -- in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments. -- I submit; so let it be done!"

On his way to his execution, Brown stopped, unshaved, surrounded by armed guards, and convicted of treason against the United States of America, to kiss a black infant. After the rope grew taught and John Brown grew stiff, journalists and politicians rushed into a frenzy to disassociate themselves from the man. Even the famous abolitionist paper, The Liberator condemned Brown's work. At the same time, a brave few such as Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Douglass put their careers and reputation on the line to praise him. "Prominent and influential editors, accustomed to deal with politicians, men of an infinitely lower grade, say, in their ignorance, that he acted 'on the principle of revenge'", wrote Thoreau, disgusted with the way in which Brown's memory was treated. In a speech made the day that Brown was executed, Lucias Bierce said that "until virtue becomes fanaticism, divine wisdom folly, obedience to God madness, and piety wickedness, John Brown, inspired with these high and holy teachings, will rise up before the world with his calm, marble features, most terrible in death and defeat, than in life and victory."

Though Brown failed to carry out his war on slavery, his actions nonetheless succeeded in furthering the cause of abolition in such a way that few men before him ever had. "He moved the boundaries of acceptable thoughts and deeds regarding slavery." writes James W. Loewen in his book, Lies My Teacher Told Me. for the next few pages, Loewen explains how Southerners became more protective of slavery and Northerners grew in their abolitionist tendencies, a phenomenon that led the South to secede.

Therefore, remember John Brown. Remember the crimes and tragedies that go on because no one cares enough to stop them. Remember the man that would not turn a blind eye on an unspeakable sin and remember what he did because of that. Remember that he not only died for his fellow man, but also that he lived for his fellow man. Remember this and then act upon it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASbrown.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2943t.html

http://afgen.com/john_brown1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)

http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/cgiwrap/imlskto/index.php?SCREEN=bio_sketches/brown_john