John Brown and His Raid on Harpers Ferry

John Brown and His Raid on Harpers Ferry The abolitionist John Brown remains one of the most controversial figures of the 19th century. During a few years of fame before his fateful raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Americans either regarded him as a noble hero or a dangerous fanatic. After his execution on December 2, 1859, Brown became a martyr to those opposed to slavery. And the controversy over his actions and his fate helped stoke the tensions that pushed the United States to the brink of Civil War. Early Life John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. His family was descended from New England Puritans, and he had a deeply religious upbringing. John was the third of six children in the family. When Brown was five, the family moved to Ohio. During his childhood, Browns very religious father would exclaim that slavery was a sin against God. And when Brown visited a farm in his youth he witnessed the beating of slave. The violent incident had a lasting effect on young Brown, and he became a fanatical opponent of slavery. John Browns Anti-Slavery Passion Brown married at the age of 20, and he and his wife had seven children before she died in 1832. He remarried and fathered 13 more children. Brown and his family moved to several states, and he failed at every business he entered. His passion for eliminating slavery became the focus of his life. In 1837, Brown attended a meeting in Ohio in memory of Elijah Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor who had been killed in Illinois. At the meeting, Brown raised his hand and vowed that he would destroy slavery. Advocating Violence In 1847 Brown moved to Springfield, Massachusetts and began befriending members of a community of escaped slaves. It was at Springfield that he first befriended the abolitionist writer and editor Frederick Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland. Browns ideas became more radical, and he began advocating a violent overthrow of slavery. He argued that slavery was so entrenched that it could only be destroyed by violent means. Some opponents of slavery had become frustrated with the peaceful approach of the established abolition movement, and Brown gained some followers with his fiery rhetoric. John Browns Role in Bleeding Kansas In the 1850s the territory of Kansas was rocked by violent conflicts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers. The violence, which became known as Bleeding Kansas, was a symptom of the highly controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act. John Brown and five of his sons moved to Kansas to support the free-soil settlers who wanted Kansas to come into the union as a free state in which slavery would be outlawed. In May 1856, in response to pro-slavery ruffians attacking Lawrence, Kansas, Brown and his sons attacked and killed five pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas. Brown Desired a  Slave Rebellion After acquiring a bloody reputation in Kansas, Brown set his sights higher. He became convinced that if he started an uprising among slaves by providing weapons and strategy, the revolt would spread across the entire south. There had been slave uprisings before, most notably the one led by the slave Nat Turner in Virginia in 1831. Turners rebellion resulted in the deaths of 60 whites and the eventual execution of Turner and more than 50 African Americans believed to have been involved. Brown was very familiar with the history of slave rebellions, yet still believed he could start a guerrilla war in the south. The Plan to Attack on Harpers Ferry Brown began to plan an attack on the federal arsenal in the small town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (which is in present-day West Virginia). In July 1859, Brown, his sons, and other followers rented a farm across the Potomac River in Maryland. They spent the summer secretly stockpiling weapons, as they believed they could arm slaves in the south who would escape ​to join their cause. Brown traveled to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania at one point that summer to meet with his old friend Frederick Douglass. Hearing Browns plans, and believing them suicidal, Douglass refused to participate. John Browns Raid on Harpers Ferry On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown and 18 of his followers drove wagons into the town of Harpers Ferry. The raiders cut telegraph wires and quickly overcame the watchman at the armory, effectively seizing the building. Yet a train passing through town carried the news, and by the next day forces began to arrive. Brown and his men barricaded themselves inside buildings and a siege began. The slave uprising Brown hoped to spark never happened. A contingent of Marines arrived, under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee. Most of Browns men were soon killed, but he was taken alive on October 18 and jailed. The Martyrdom of John Brown Browns trial for treason in Charlestown, Virginia was major news in American newspapers in late 1859. He was convicted and sentenced to death. John Brown was hanged, along with four of his men, on December 2, 1859 at Charlestown. His execution was marked by the tolling of church bells in many towns in the north. The abolitionist cause had gained a martyr. And the execution of Brown was a step on the countrys road to Civil War.

Machiavellis Best Quotes

Machiavellis Best Quotes Niccolà ² Machiavelli is a central intellectual figure in Renaissance philosophy. Although he worked mainly as a statesman, he was also a notable historian, dramatist, poet, and philosopher. His works contain some of the most memorable quotes in political science. Here follows a selection of those that are most representative for philosophers. Most Notable Quotes From the Prince (1513) Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting. For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; they offer you their blood, their goods, their life, and their children, as I have before said, when the necessity is remote; but when it approaches, they revolt. And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined, for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is merited but is not secured, and at times is not to be had. And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself fea red; for love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary to know well how to use both the beast and the man. Most Notable Quotes from the Discourses on Livy (1517) As all those have shown who have discussed civil institutions, and as every history is full of examples, it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity; and if such malignity is hidden for a time, it proceeds from the unknown reason that would not be known because the experience of the contrary had not been seen, but time, which is said to be the father of every truth, will cause it to be discovered.So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. Thus, it is an easy matter for him who carefully examines past events to foresee future events in a republic and to apply the r emedies employed by the ancients, or, if old remedies cannot be found, to devise new ones based upon the similarity of the events. But since these matters are neglected or not understood by those who read, or, if understood, remain unknown to those who govern, the result is that the same problems always exist in every era.