Large Number Of Slaves example essay topic

John Brown: Past and Present Rodney Titus History 33 155 America: A Historical Survey Dr. Richard FruchtApril 2, 2005 Host: "Looking into the crystal ball, I wonder who our guest will be. As the fog lifts from the orb, a picture of a man that has had an enormous impact on our socially accepted views begins to appear. Who is this man? Well, he is known as both a martyr and a psychopathic killer. He has been called a blatant liar as well as a man of strong convictions, all in the same breath. But his most notable contribution to our country is undoubtedly his involvement in the antislavery movement.

The man I am referring to is John Brown. While we talk with him today, we will compare the consequences of past actions with the consequences of today's actions. So, let's give a warm round of applause as we welcome John Brown to the hot seat. To begin with, why don't you give the audience a little bit of back ground about yourself. Tell us where you were born and something about your childhood". John Brown: "I was born on May ninth in the year of our Lord 1800.

To understand my story, I must first tell you about my father, Owen. As a child during the Revolution, his father, John Brown, was away fighting in the Revolution and Owen found himself handling a lot of the responsibilities around the home. During the day he worked in the fields alongside a slave, from Guinea, named Sam. Sam used to carry my father on his back and my father grew to love him. When Sam died, it was to be the first funeral my dad had ever attended.

Because Owen's dad was gone during the Revolution and Sam stood in as a caring father figure, Sam ended up being the seed of my father's views about slavery. My dad saw Sam as a mentor and not as a slave or a man of color. After Sam's death, my father turned to religion for comfort. This was during the same time as the Great Awakening and my father started attending the revivals. During one such revival, my father heard a sermon by the late Reverend Jonathan Edwards where he stated that slavery was a cardinal sin against God. After hearing this sermon, his attitude towards slavery was cemented.

The final incident that caused my father to become active in the antislavery movement then occurred. A preacher by the name of Mr. Thompson had taken refuge in Connecticut with his slaves during the Revolution. After the Revolution, Mr. Thompson decided to take the wife and kids of one of his slaves back to his southern estate. My father was angered by this hypocrite. How could a preacher teach God's word and then ignore his teachings? I don't know what happened to him, but my dad said Mr. Thompson didn't get to take his property back to his southern estate.

This last incident is what turned my father into an avid abolitionist" (Abels, 1971). Host: "I can see how your father's upbringing influenced your beliefs, but what caused you to become such a passionate abolitionist?" John Brown: "I believe it was from my readings about Toussaint L'Ouverture. L'Ouverture led a revolt in Haiti that freed his people from the white supremacy of the French and the British. After reading these accounts, I realized that Negroes were bold, capable, and willing to fight for their freedom. They wanted no more or less than we did when we left England and came here for the chance of freedom and opportunity" (Abels, 1971). Host: "What caused you to start taking physical actions as an abolitionist?" John Brown: "I think after my many failures in business leading to my bankruptcy at the age of forty and my unsuccessful attempts after my bankruptcy left me feeling desolate.

Returning to the Bible renewed my outlook on life and steered me back to my childhood ambition of ending slavery. With this new purpose in life, I devised a plan. It would, however, require capital and other resources" (Abels, 1971) (Malin, 1942). Host: "Are you talking about your plan that eventually led to the Federal Armory being seized at Harper Ferry, Virginia?" John Brown: "Yes, I am".

Host: "Well as you explain your plan, could you give us an idea of any changes you would make if you were going to negotiate the same plan today?" John Brown: "Before we go into my battle plan, you need to understand where I received my military knowledge. Back in 1849 when I was in business with Simon Perkins, I had the fortunate opportunity to go to Europe to oversee the sale of my wool. It was during this time that I acquired my military knowledge. While there, I visited the battlefields of Napoleon - Waterloo, Jena, and Leipzig.

One thing all these battlefields had in common was the mountainous, rough terrain that the enemy had to try and negotiate. It seems, in my opinion, that this terrain was the inadvertent weapon that defeated Napoleon's enemy. I made a mental note to deliberately include this factor in my battle plans. In January of 1851 in Springfield, Ohio, I encountered my first taste of leadership and foresaw the path of success. It was here that I organized the United States League of Gilead. The point of this organization was to band together freed slaves and fugitives.

After consolidating them, I intended to encourage them to stop the slave-catchers from taking a fugitive out of a free state and returning them to southern soil; in short, to retaliate against the Fugitive Slave Law by using strength in numbers. The problem with this meeting was the number of supporters that attended. I only received forty-four signatures on the agreement that night because of my lack of recruiting efforts. If I were in the same situation today, I would have reached many more supporters of my resolution and affected more support. It is with the majority of population support, that swift action comes from the government.

We know today as we did back then that the "peculiar institution", (slavery), was not looked upon favorably by the majority of the population. After this, my first conflict with a decisive win was the battle of Black Jack. This occurred on June 2, 1856. My fifteen men were joined by twenty-five of Captain Shore's men who I had just met. With a combined force of forty men, we surprised Captain Henry Pate and his eighty men while they were eating breakfast. After battling for four hours and causing confusion within the ranks of Pate's men, Pate surrendered unconditionally.

This skirmish was the first battle between the opposing sides of slavery in Kansas and was considered the "curtain raiser" to the Civil War. These small victories boosted my ego and gave me the confidence to set my master plan into motion. My purpose was twofold. Virginia had such a large number of slaves, I believed if I could acquire the armory and its stash of weapons and ammunition, I would have the tools necessary for the slaves of Virginia to liberate themselves. Only after the assault on the armory did I realize my mistakes.

The problems that I encountered were numerous. By postponing my invasion for a year and letting the participants go home, I lost the confidence and support of many of my soldiers. Had I attacked the year before, I would have maintained soldier morale and a higher number of volunteers. The location I picked was grossly inadequate for our needs.

Although there were plenty of weapons to be had, there were no slaves to give them to. This was because of the chosen location. Since there were no cotton, sugar, or rice plantations, there were no slaves to gather and arm. The slaves that were around were loyal to their owners because they were well cared for and held under loose reign. If I would have prepared and researched my objective, I would have chosen a location in the Deep South with numerous oppressed slaves that would have been easily influenced. The information resources that are available today would have given me the right location and I would have had a networked support group already in place before initiating that first step" (Villard, 1943) (Abels, 1971) (Malin, 1942).

Host: "Well it seems that you have had some time to think about your past, present, and future. Before I let you go, do you have anything that you would like to leave with the audience?" John Brown: "Looking at the history of our past and the advances that have been made in our ethical and communal well being, I am convinced that we are still in the beginning stages of social and moral maturity; even with the modern advances in technology, when mistakes made in our past are only a click away. Societies and people are still na " ive in thinking that right prevails. From where I'm sitting, this is just not the case.

It may look like our government is liberating Iraq for example. But underneath that thin ne neer of help, our government is lining big business' pockets as well as the leaders of our government's pockets. The consequences for our interference today may not be seen for years, but just as the sun will rise tomorrow, there will be retributions to pay. Just as slavery was used in my past for political and personal gain, so are the issues of today".

Bibliography

Abels, Jules (1971).
Man on fire: John Brown and the cause of liberty. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company. Malin, James C. (1942).
John Brown and the legend of fifty-six. Philadelphia, PA: Independence Square. Villard, Oswald G. (1943).
John Brown 1800-1859: A biography fifty years after.