Sectionalism...Prelude to War

Was John Brown a "misguided fanatic"?

After taking notes on the ideas that were polarizing America, we will examine primary source documents to determine the extent of John Brown's fanaticism.  Answer the guided questions.

Document A:

1. John Brown delivered this speech on the last day of his trial, after hearing the jury

pronounce him ‘guilty.’ He knew he would be sentenced to die. Given that context,

what does this speech say about him as a person?

2. Based on this document, do you think John Brown was a “misguided fanatic”? Why

or why not?

 

Document B:

1. What are two reasons why Douglass opposed John Brown’s plan to raid Harper’s

Ferry?

2. Douglass’s account is written in 1881, twenty-two years after the raid. Do you trust

his account? Why or why not?

3. Based on this document, do you think John Brown was a “misguided fanatic”? Why or

why not? 

John Brown Original Documents

John Brown Timeline

  

1800 John Brown born in Connecticut.

1833 John Brown married his second wife, who took care of

his five children and later bore him thirteen of her own.
Finances got harder as he attempted to provide for his
large family.
 

1837 November 7: John Brown vowed to end slavery when he

learned that an abolitionist newspaperman was killed.
 

1842 John Brown went bankrupt. Lost almost everything.

1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Voters will decide if

Nebraska Territory will be slave or free.
 

1855 John Brown followed his sons to Kansas as Free-Soilers.

1856 May 24: Brown went to nearby Pottawatomie Creek and

directed his men in the murder of five proslavery settlers.
 

1859 October 16: John Brown attacked the armory at Harpers

Ferry with 21 men (16 white, 5 black). Within 36 hours,
they were almost all captured or killed. Two of John
Brown’s sons were killed.

November 2: A Virginia jury found John Brown guilty of

murder, treason, and inciting a slave insurrection.

December 2: John Brown was hanged.

 

1860 November: Abraham Lincoln elected President.

1861 April 12: The South seceded, and the Civil War began.

1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished

slavery.

Notes and Timeline Homework assignment...Sept. 12 and 15