Questions About John Brown

[Rsmyth]

Kansas received the nickname “Bleeding Kansas” even before John Brown had stepped foot in the state. There were murders, pillaging and arson on all sides with one whole town (Lawrence) sacked and burned by border ruffians…before the arrival of John Brown. There were three sides embattled in the state; pro-slavers, who were the largest and best organized side, abolitionists, who did not want the state to enter the Union as a slave state and ultimately wanted the slaves freed. Lastly were the free-staters or free-soilers, who for the most part did not care about the slaves but did not want the territory flooded with cheap labor (slaves).

The abolitionists had been unsuccessful in fighting the issue of slavery since the ratification of the constitution which proclaimed slaves as property. Keep in mind that many of our founding fathers that contributed to the authorship of the constitution were either slave owners or former slave owners. Fifty out of the first seventy years of this countries existence saw an elected president also either a slave owner or former slave owner. How did this come about? Partly because of the 3/5 rule that established that slaves, although they could not vote, counted towards representation for the slave owners in Washington. There is no better example of having your cake and eat it too in this nation’s history.

Guided by manifest destiny, the Louisiana Purchase and the invasion of Mexico were all looked upon by the southern power in Washington as an opportunity to expand slavery.

Until the arrival of John Brown, the abolitionists, ineffectively, continued to fight slavery with words.

Do the ends justify the means? Would Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry have had the same effect if there had been no Pottawatomie? After the raid and Brown’s execution, southern slave owners were fearful that there were others like Brown in the north willing to go to extremes to free the slaves. His actions hastened secession, the Civil War and ultimately, the Emancipation Proclamation.

It was a war in Kansas in the years leading up to the Civil War. War is not pretty. Detractors of John Brown point to the Pottawatomie massacre as justification to label him a murderer. Has anyone heard of Charles Hamilton and his actions in Kansas? He was a pro-slavery militia leader who rounded up eleven; unarmed free-soilers (most of who knew Hamilton) led them to a gully and shot them. There was violence on all sides. John Brown’s actions were the spark that lit the fuse.