How Did John Brown Contribute To Abolish Slavery

“John Brown died that the slaves might be free, But his soul goes marching on.” During the civil war John Brown’s Body, was a popular song choice for Union soldiers and supporters because of it’s ties to heroism and courage. John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington Connecticut. John’s father, Owen Brown, was a strict Calvinist and an outspoken civil servant who advocated for the abolition of slavery. When John was young his family moved to Ohio, where his father opened up a successful tannery. He was close friends with Fredrick Douglas, a famous abolitionist, and Douglas often stayed with the Browns when he was speaking in the area. At the age of sixteen John Brown moved from Ohio to Massachusetts to train as a minister, but after
failing to complete his training he moved back to Ohio. At the age of twenty, John Brown married Dianthe Lusk and had seven children. Dianthe died in 1832, and Brown eventually remarried to Mary Ann Day with whom he had thirteen more children. Brown was a successful abolitionist who inspired many African Americans to stand up for their rights by utilizing aggressive force.
John Brown’s youth was filled with influences derived from his father's activist ideals and religious beliefs.
However, more than anything, one eventful day was responsible for dictating John Brown’s path in life. John Brown’s motivation to abolish slavery grew from his experience and immersion within the African American community. From a young age, John was exposed to the horrors of slavery. When John was twelve, he witnessed a young African American boy being beaten to death with an iron shovel. This sick image stuck with him and strengthened his ideals. John devoted his life to abolishing slavery, and John was able to gain an idea of what the experience was like for African Americans while he was in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was also able to connect with many fellow abolitionists there. John was thoroughly involved in the anti-slavery community. He went to African American ministries and hired local workers to help him with his wool business. He was ultimately unsuccessful in his business ventures, but his focus was not simply on prospering as an individual. John Brown was dedicated to the cause of abolishing slavery the fastest way possible. His method would eventually stir up the nation enough to cause a
war.

John Brown primarily pushed the utilization of guns and aggressive force to support the cause of freeing and protecting African Americans. Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which Kansas and Nebraska were allowed to decide for themselves whether or not they would be free or slave states, Brown and his sons traveled to Kansas in order to fight for the abolitionist movement. With them, they brought with him a wagon full of guns and ammunition for the free soil fight between the “Free Soilers” and the “Border Ruffians”. After the Border Ruffians burned down the stronghold of the Free Soilers Brown, his sons, and two other men went off to Pottawatomie Creek to exact their revenge. Brown and his men brutally murdered and desecrated the bodies of five pro-slavery men. Brown explained that his actions were just due to his religious beliefs, “I have no choice. It has been decreed by Almighty God, ordained from Eternity, that I should make an example of these men.” Brown’s violence extended to his affiliates in an association he created as a response to the fugitive slave act, in which an escaped slave could be taken back to his or her state if caught. This association was called the League of Gileadites, it was created to protect free and fugitive slaves from slave catchers. The League of Gileadite encouraged the use of guns. Brown advised his members to be equipped at all times and to unify and outnumber the enemy when someone is under attack. However, Brown’s most famous act was his Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Brown and twenty-one men including his sons went to the Armoury in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Brown successfully infiltrated the armory but after holding out in a gunfight against Colonel Robert E. Lee for two days he was captured and hung. "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood." These were the last words John Brown had written on a note just before he was hung. His words, though few in number spoke volumes about the conviction of John Brown to his ideals.
John Brown, though unable to spark a revolt at Harper's Ferry, was successful because he was able to inspire activists to take action rather than peacefully stand by.
Frederick Douglas a famous abolitionist know for his writing and speeches was influenced by Brown when they spoke in Springfield, Massachusetts. Douglas later wrote, “From this night spent with John Brown in Springfield, Mass. in 1847, while I continued to write and speak against slavery, I became all the same less hopeful for its peaceful abolition. My utterances became more and more tinged by the color of this man’s strong impressions.” This is Douglas accepting to some extent that Brown had convinced him that his way was effective. Moreover, as Douglas began to spread his newfound ideas some of Brown’s ideas would be mixed in gaining the large audience that Douglas had acquired over the years. Brown’s actions weren’t merely violent attacks against pro-slavery civilians. In Missouri, Brown freed eleven slaves and with the help of his supporters, he guided them to Canada. John’s supporters ranged from his abolitionist peers to the secret six, a group of wealthy men who believed in Brown’s message. Thomas Higginson, Theodore Parker, George Sterns, Franklin Sanborn, Samuel Howe and Gerrit Smith were the members of the secret six. They consisted of businessmen, a school teacher, a social pioneer, a landowner and two Unitarian ministers. The Secret six funded Brown and provided guns for his assaults. These men
were the reason Brown was able to acquire masses of guns.
Throughout John Brown’s life, the idea of abolishing slavery plagued his mind. His efforts were extreme, however, Brown felt that this was just, saying, “Better that a whole generation of men, women and children should be swept away than that this crime of slavery should exist one day longer.” John words and actions were the reason that Northerners who hated slavery considered him a martyr. His aggressive style of resistance during a time of political tension between the North and South because of the Kansas Nebraska act, Nat Turner, Fugitive slave act and many more events, caused John Brown’s actions to be the culmination that drove political tension over the top. Union soldiers sang songs about his death during the civil war over a year after he died. Therefore because of the span of Brown’s influence and the people who he freed his efforts were in fact successful despite the cruel manner in which they were conducted.