John Brown Hero or Villian

John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. (And died in Dece

mber 2, 1859, Charles Town, West Virginia.) John Brown spent most of his childhood in Ohio while his professional life featured a series of business failures. In 1855 after helping the escape of several slaves, John Brown and his five sons moved to Kansas just after that territory had been opened after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. As an abolitionist John Brown made himself captain of the antislavery forces on Osawatomie Creek. What is an abolitionist? A person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery.

After the success of the proslavery guerrillas burning down Lawrence, Brown, with four of his sons and two other accomplices murdered five proslavery settlers who lived along Pottawatomie Creek. According to History.com “After a meeting Brown and his followers in Chatham, Ontario, in the winter of 1858 he proposed to help a black insurrection through armed intervention in Northern Virginia.”

Early in 1859, he rented a farm near Harpers Ferry, Virginia and collected weapons for his army. On October 16, with twenty one followers attacked and occupied the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Quickly surrounded by military commanded and by Col. Robert E. Lee, Brown’s position was overrun, ten of his followers were killed, and Brown himself was wounded and captured. After that Brown was hanged for killing military officers.

Is John Brown a hero or a villain. Abolitionist consider him a hero but southerners consider him a villain. What do you think?

http://www.history.com/topics/john-brown

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism

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