Was John Brown a Terrorist? Essay Example

Arguably, a majority of the United States history textbooks put a lot of emphasis on the role of John Brown, a nineteenth-century abolitionist who well renowned for leading an unsuccessful slave uprising against the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Following his intervention to slavery, John Brown was convicted of treason and hanged in 1859 for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. This left a lot of conflicting opinions on most Americans with many perceiving Brown as the harbinger of the future. In particular, to the Southerners, Brown was deemed as the embodiment of all their fears since most of them perceived him as a white-man-martyr who was dedicated to ending slavery. Besides, a majority of the Northerner's saw him as a prophet of righteousness, dedicated to bringing down a terrible swift sword against the immorality of slavery and the haughtiness of the Southern master class. Therefore, drawing from this conceptual base, the core intent of this essay is to discuss whether John Brown, through his actions, could be perceived as a terrorist.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

John Brown was born in May 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut to a very large family. During his early adult years, Brown worked in various vocations which saw him moving around between the 1820s and 1850s. Following the kind of life that he lived, Brown experienced great financial difficulties, and he became an ardent abolitionist who had close associations with the Underground Railroad, with which he gave land to the Free African Americans and formed the League of Gileadites, with which he intended to protect the African Americas from slave hunters. As an abolitionist, Brown believed in the use of violence to bring the prevalent slavery, in the United States, to an end. Drawn from this context, Brown developed great intent of inspiring a slave insurrection, a desire which inspired him to lead various anti-slavery groups. One of his most renowned anti-slavery intervention was the unsuccessful raid on the Harpers Ferry federal harmony.

While a majority of scholars have increasingly tried to give a proper definition of terrorism, the FBI defines domestic terrorism as an act that is perpetrated by individuals and groups that are inspired by or associated with the United States based movements which espouse extremist ideologies or religious, political racial, social, or environmental nature. This being said, John Brown, is an American citizen is connected to terrorism for two main events in his life. These events are the 1856 Pottawatomie raid in the Kansas Territory and his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859; which both involved violence and killing. With reference to the book, "John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry: A Brief History with Documents" despite the fact that John Brown's anti-slavery crusades are perceived as a moral cause, his violent tactics, which were primarily evidenced by the unsuccessful raid on Harper's Ferry in which many people died, and no slaves freed, made him a less celebrated individual.

More fundamentally, John Brown is well-renowned for his participation and his overall significance during the abolitionist movement, which was both a political and a social push for the immediate emancipation of all slaves as well as the end of racial segregation and discrimination. During this period, slavery had been legitimized by the state, and some societal violence such as the "Bleeding Kansas" were some of the conflicts that plagued the United States with the rapid approach of the civil war. According to Earle, in the 1850s, and in the face of the Abolitionist Movement, the United States faced extreme sectional tension owing to the fact that free states and slave holdings struggled to maintain a balance of power in what was deemed as a divided government. Based on this context, a majority of the United States citizens, during the Abolitionist Movement era, had embraced slavery as part and parcel of their daily lives and for this reason, actions by abolitionists such as John Brown were a reflection of the violence during this time. Besides, to others, these actions were considered a reaction to what he viewed as the legalized criminality of slavery, something which had been upheld by the state under which he lived.

Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

In an attempt to start an armed slave revolt so as to eradicate the dominant institutions of slavery, Abolitionist John Brown led a small group in a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The 1859 raid led by Brown was following his success in liberating a group of enslaved African Americans from Missouri homestead. The events of the raid took place on October 16th, 1859 when Brown led a group of 21 people on a raid of the federal armory. To commence this slave revolt, Brown and his men planned to capture the arsenal at Harpers Ferry and arm the participants of his slave revolt. From the very beginning, hundreds of people were held, hostage. However, this is not what Brown intended to do since his initial plan was to inspire a slave rebellion. Due to the lack of proper ammunition and failure to have a strong army, following the fact that he was unable to recruit many slaves to join his rebellion, the raid went out for two days, and Brown's forces were trapped in the arsenal as forces from Virginia and Maryland surrounded the fort. Brown was, therefore, held out for two days and eventually defeated by the opposing military forces which were led by Robert E. Lee. A majority of Brown's group was killed, among them, he and his two sons were eventually captured, taken to trial and sentenced to death on the 2nd of November. Earle, States that, right before his death, Brown said that, "I believe that to have interfered as I have done [...] and on behalf of the despised poor, I did no wrong, but right... I am ready for my fate" (Earle). In the end, Brown was convicted of treason, against the state of Virginia, conspiracy with a group of the Black community, and also first-degree murder.

Reynolds, Points out that significant historical events led to Harpers Ferry. For instance, the establishment of the arsenal in Harpers Ferry in 1796, was done in the face of the industrial boom a time which the population of the town grew as Northern merchants, and immigrant workers all came to the town, in large numbers. Following this American historical development, Harpers Ferry became one of the most significant transportation hubs in the east.

Based on his actions and the events that led to his decision to form an anti-slavery rebellion, it is evident that John Brown was more of a guerrilla freedom fighter than a terrorist. Despite the fact that various critics reference his use of violence as the primary reason why Brown should be considered a terrorist, Finkelman, points out that his intentions behind the Harpers Ferry raid are more in line with guerrilla operations or insurgent activities. In the same vein, Finkelman references the FBI definition of terrorism to prove the point that John Brown was not a terrorist. In his book, Earle states that although Brown's raid increased fears in the Southern Whites of slave violence and rebellions, his trial gave a majority of them, alongside the Northerner's reasons to refer to Brown as a Martyr. This, in essence, as evidenced by the note that he handed to one of his jailers giving a prophecy on the fate of the United States. Reynolds, points out that Brown's note stated that "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood" (Reynolds). In the end, Slavery in the United States came to an end after the civil war.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am of the opinion that John Brown was not a terrorist. Drawing from the FBI definition of "a terrorist," John Brown would not be considered as a terrorist, despite the fact that his Harpers Ferry raid saw the death of numerous people. More fundamentally, it would be ideal if Brown was perceived as a hero to some extent since his execution marked a major turning point in the American abolitionist movement. Brown's execution caused a lot of peaceful abolitionists to embrace more militant measures to push for the end of slavery.

Works Cited

Earle, Jonathan. John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry: A Brief History with Documents. 1st ed., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.

Finkelman, Paul. "John Brown: America's First Terrorist?" National Archives, 15 Dec. 2017, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2011/spring/brown.html. Accessed 24 May 2018.

Reynolds, David. John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. Vintage Books, 2006.