John Brown

John Brown

John Brown's raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, In October 1859, involved
only a handful of abolitionists, freed no slaves, and was over in two days. Although many
Northerners condemned the raid, by 1863 John Brown had become a hero and a martyr in the
North. The views about John Brown expressed in the documents illustrate the strained
relationship between the North and South before the civil war(1859-1860) and the severely
crippled relationship after the civil war.
In 1859 before the Civil war the Northern-Southern relationship was strained with such
laws as the Kansas-Nebraska act, 'legalizing' slavery through popular soveirgnty in the
territories, and the Dredd Scott decision practically legalizing slavery in any territory(without
popular sovereignty). Soon after John Brown's famous raid, Northerners condemned him(Doc.
A) for combating a 'great evil'(Slavery) in an 'unfit way'(through fighting), They said this because
it was unconstitutional to fight without going through the government and there are other ways to
get rid of slavery. This basically was a last ditch effort to save the south from succeeding from
the union and to hold the thread that was holding the relations of the North and South together.
By 1860, the dreaded election of 1860 was here and the Civil war would soon start
due to the 'Railsplitter' Lincoln winning the election. Views of John Brown in the North were
gaining more momentum as he became more popular(Doc. D)...

John Brown

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