What are your views on John Brown??

Question: What are your views on John Brown!?!?

Hero or Terrorist!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

John Brown is a hero!. I don't agree with the methods he used -- a violent overthrow of slavery would have been even more brutal and bloody than the civil war eventually was!.

But John Brown was on the right side of history on the issue of abolishing slavery!. He had the right message and wrong means!. But I think he needs to be remembered as a man who was willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, to defend his moral beliefs!. There is something heroic about that!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

That is a difficult question!. He is the man who forced slavery from an intellectual pursuit followed by some abolitionists (Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe) to a action based cause!. He decided that he was done with the talk about ending slavery and took action!. First, in Kansas and later at Harper's Ferry!. According to James M!. McPherson, Brown's actions along with the Mexican War are the two events that brought about the Civil War, more than any other!.

I would say that he died a terrorist to some, and a hero to other!. The Union soldiers had a marching song named after him!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Criminal, terrorist, murderer, religious fanatic and he deserved his fate to be hung on the gallows!. Just because he believed in the abolition of slavery did not give him the authority or right to go around killing those whose views were different!. I'm not defending the institution of slavery, but let's face it, slavery was an ingrained institution that was centuries old at that point in time and was still socially accepted!.

I am fundamentally opposed to abortion and consider myself pro-life!. Even though I believe abortion to be immoral, I am not going to go bomb an abortion clinic, or kill a doctor who performs abortions, or a woman that goes and has one!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Neither, he was a traitor to his country!.
He attacked an arsenal, which was government property!. This is the same as attacking the White House, the Pentagon or any other building owned by the U!. S!. Government!.

Irony #1:
The first person killed at Harper's Ferry was Heyward Shepherd, a free black man, who worked at the railroad station, as a baggage porter!.
So much for Brown's compassion for black people!

Irony #2
Brown and his so-called army, were captured by Colonel Robert E!. Lee and Lieutenant J!. E!. B!. Stuart!.

Brown got what he deserved!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I would say he was a hero because he was willing to go to extreme measures to end slavery!. He was quick to realize that the southerners would never surrender their slaves except by force and so in that regards he was a practical abolitionist!. He was trying to end it by argument but by action!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Fanatic abolitionist who wanted to start a race war in 1859!. This is not heroic regardless of the wrong (slavery) that he wanted to end!. His action at Harper's Ferry was, in fact, counter productive because it made white southerners believe that all people who wanted to end slavery were just like him!.

Modern analogy!. Some Moslems are terrorists!. Therefore all Moslems are terrorists!. FALSE reasoning!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hero!. And in my opinion, he should be much more well known today than he seems to be at the presentWww@QuestionHome@Com

I think he was a hero whose body lies a moulderin' in the grave!.Www@QuestionHome@Com