Questions About John Brown

[Thomas Thorne]

Thanks to Wild Bill for the info about the Secret Six. Gerrit Smith is the answer to one of the great trivia questions of all time: name a financial contributor to John Brown's Harpers Ferry raid who also was one of the people who bailed out Jefferson Davis.

It shows that political alignments are unstable as you can not predict that individuals will continue to agree with their comrades as new situations arise.

I have always been puzzled that the Federal government did not prosecute John Brown for treason and deferred prosecution to the Commonwealth of Virginia. I understand US Supreme Court Justice John Campbell persuaded Pres Buchanan that Brown could not be prosecuted for treason against the United States.

I believe Brown's actions met the constitutional requirements for treason against the US. Having been "elected" by his followers as provisional president of the United States, he led armed men to seize a US arsenal and waged war against Federal forces,killing one US marine.
Tom.