I need to remind myself what this guy’s name is – “John Brown”. John Brown is the guy who got together a bunch of white anti-slavery activitists and shot up a bunch of people. It’s important to remember him for multiple reasons. For one, many would-be John Browns have tried to follow in his exampe (e.g. Timothy McVeigh) but prosecutors tried to make sure that no one would ever see these people as “martyrs”.
Another reason, is how much John Brown affected history. I remember the textbook from US History in high school not really painting him in a very “sane’ light. It does seem like a bad idea, that if John Brown and a bunch of other white people started shooting slave owners, that the slaves would get word and revolt.
But, that never happened. Apparently, no one thought to tell the slaves about what was going on and his plan didn’t work out. Brown tried to get some black people to join in on, what would later be called, his “act of terrorism”. He even tried to recruit Fredrick Douglass, but Douglass declined.
There were a number of things that went wrong with his plane, but Jonn was probably remembered more (at least back then) for what he stood for moreso than how well he managed to plan things out. Rather than just prosecuting John Brown and his cohorts for murder, they decided to add conspiracy to free slaves and TREASON against the state of Virginia to the charge as well.
That was probably the prosecutors’ biggest mistake. Yet, the pro-slavery advocates at the time didn’t see what they were doing, and even went as far as to accuse the Republican party as being part of the terrorist act.
WIth the southern states turning making the attack all about slavery (which was John Brown’s intent anyways), black intellectuals as well as other anti-slavery intellectuals and journalists took this opportunity to make John Brown a martyr for the cause to end slavery in America. This made the voices of abolitionists louder and gave the slave states further motivation to secede.
Many Southerns like to point out that the Civil War wasn’t really about slavery – claiming that tax was the real cause. Tax on foreign goods was what initiated the Southern to begin threatening the federal government with secession, but it’s clear to me that the debate over slavery was what pushed the nation into civil war.
I don’t know if Timothy McVeigh knew who John Brown was, but regardless of whether or not he did, his dream of being made into a polical was never realized. At least not in the way it was realized for John Brown. Federal prosecutors didn’t make that mistake with Timothy McVeigh, and no where (at least not to my knowledge) was “terrorism” included with the list of things that they were trying him for.
Because, the prosecutors didn’t make it about politics, no one else made it about politics. Anyone who agreed with Timothy McVeigh’s politics didn’t want to defend his act of murder. If ever his name or what he did was brought up, they probably would’ve kept quiet about their political beliefs to avoid being associated with him.
Anyways, for future reference, I need to remember who John Brown is. It’s important because future would-be’s will likely come up in the future and being able to make the reference might help with conversations about those acts.
Another reason, is how much John Brown affected history. I remember the textbook from US History in high school not really painting him in a very “sane’ light. It does seem like a bad idea, that if John Brown and a bunch of other white people started shooting slave owners, that the slaves would get word and revolt.
But, that never happened. Apparently, no one thought to tell the slaves about what was going on and his plan didn’t work out. Brown tried to get some black people to join in on, what would later be called, his “act of terrorism”. He even tried to recruit Fredrick Douglass, but Douglass declined.
There were a number of things that went wrong with his plane, but Jonn was probably remembered more (at least back then) for what he stood for moreso than how well he managed to plan things out. Rather than just prosecuting John Brown and his cohorts for murder, they decided to add conspiracy to free slaves and TREASON against the state of Virginia to the charge as well.
That was probably the prosecutors’ biggest mistake. Yet, the pro-slavery advocates at the time didn’t see what they were doing, and even went as far as to accuse the Republican party as being part of the terrorist act.
WIth the southern states turning making the attack all about slavery (which was John Brown’s intent anyways), black intellectuals as well as other anti-slavery intellectuals and journalists took this opportunity to make John Brown a martyr for the cause to end slavery in America. This made the voices of abolitionists louder and gave the slave states further motivation to secede.
Many Southerns like to point out that the Civil War wasn’t really about slavery – claiming that tax was the real cause. Tax on foreign goods was what initiated the Southern to begin threatening the federal government with secession, but it’s clear to me that the debate over slavery was what pushed the nation into civil war.
I don’t know if Timothy McVeigh knew who John Brown was, but regardless of whether or not he did, his dream of being made into a polical was never realized. At least not in the way it was realized for John Brown. Federal prosecutors didn’t make that mistake with Timothy McVeigh, and no where (at least not to my knowledge) was “terrorism” included with the list of things that they were trying him for.
Because, the prosecutors didn’t make it about politics, no one else made it about politics. Anyone who agreed with Timothy McVeigh’s politics didn’t want to defend his act of murder. If ever his name or what he did was brought up, they probably would’ve kept quiet about their political beliefs to avoid being associated with him.
Anyways, for future reference, I need to remember who John Brown is. It’s important because future would-be’s will likely come up in the future and being able to make the reference might help with conversations about those acts.
