John Brown and Abolitionism
Imagine a man raised in a large family. The family practices a Christian faith to the point of actively supporting a church-ran school. The Bible has a very important place in the daily life of this household. As a young man, this individual has aspirations of becoming a minister.
But there is the issue of seeing people not allowed to live with the same freedoms that your family experiences. At the age of twelve, you see a man that you respect beat one of your friends because the young man is a slave of the older individual. This incident would have a lasting effect upon you. It would mold all of your future beliefs and actions. In the end, it would cost you your life.
The person I am describing would be seen as both a hero and a villain. Some would glorify the adult man, while others would curse his name. That person is John Brown. Brown was born in 1800 in Connecticut but would live in various states over the course of his life. That pre-teen sight of seeing his friend beaten by his master would be one of Brown's earliest encounters with slavery and the problems that plagued society because of it. It would lead him to joining his life to the mission of abolitionists, those that wanted to rid our nation of slavery.
In 1837, Elijah Lovejoy, a well-known abolitionist publisher, was murdered by pro-slavery men. His death would inspire Brown to become a ramrod of the movement. Brown would state the following claim following Lovejoy's death, "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!" That is just what Brown would attempt, in whatever means possible. He would become a close associate with Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists working within the Underground Railroad. When the 1850s heralded the conflict over the entrance to the Union of Kansas as a state and the entire "Bleeding Kansas" issue, Brown was there. That also brought him into Missouri.
John Brown believed that violence was necessary in the eradication of slavery. He was a leader of the murders of five pro-slavery Missourians after the tragedy at Lawrence Kansas. in December 1858, just a few short days from Christmas, Brown and a group of abolitionists under James Montgomery entered into Vernon County, Missouri and confiscated nearly one dozen slaves. These slaves would eventually found freedom in Canada. The accounts of this event can be found in the following article.
But there is the issue of seeing people not allowed to live with the same freedoms that your family experiences. At the age of twelve, you see a man that you respect beat one of your friends because the young man is a slave of the older individual. This incident would have a lasting effect upon you. It would mold all of your future beliefs and actions. In the end, it would cost you your life.
The person I am describing would be seen as both a hero and a villain. Some would glorify the adult man, while others would curse his name. That person is John Brown. Brown was born in 1800 in Connecticut but would live in various states over the course of his life. That pre-teen sight of seeing his friend beaten by his master would be one of Brown's earliest encounters with slavery and the problems that plagued society because of it. It would lead him to joining his life to the mission of abolitionists, those that wanted to rid our nation of slavery.
In 1837, Elijah Lovejoy, a well-known abolitionist publisher, was murdered by pro-slavery men. His death would inspire Brown to become a ramrod of the movement. Brown would state the following claim following Lovejoy's death, "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!" That is just what Brown would attempt, in whatever means possible. He would become a close associate with Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists working within the Underground Railroad. When the 1850s heralded the conflict over the entrance to the Union of Kansas as a state and the entire "Bleeding Kansas" issue, Brown was there. That also brought him into Missouri.
John Brown believed that violence was necessary in the eradication of slavery. He was a leader of the murders of five pro-slavery Missourians after the tragedy at Lawrence Kansas. in December 1858, just a few short days from Christmas, Brown and a group of abolitionists under James Montgomery entered into Vernon County, Missouri and confiscated nearly one dozen slaves. These slaves would eventually found freedom in Canada. The accounts of this event can be found in the following article.