Passion is a good thing. I believe God gives people talents and passion about certain things so they will work hard and glorify Him through their efforts. Sometimes, though, people are misguided on how to effectively channel their passion which can end disastrously. Perhaps no better example exists in American history than John Brown.
Brown was a RADICAL abolitionist who favored violence and slave uprisings over civil discourse and national legislation. He was involved in Bleeding Kansas, a "pre Civil War of sorts in the Midwest", where some of his men brutally slaughtered proslavery citizens during the dead of night. He never admitted to killing anyone personally, but he witnessed countless violent acts perpetrated by his followers. He laid low for a while after these so-called "Pottawatomie Massacres", but popped back upon the national radar in Harpers Ferry, VA.
Harpers Ferry was a federal arsenal where weapons, ammunition and gun powder were stored. His plan was to overtake the arsenal, disperse the inventory to slaves and instigate America's largest slave insurrection. He did overtake the arsenal, but few slaves joined in the fight and Brown was captured while his men fled. He was hung for treason in October 1859. Slavery was eventually abolished, but he was not alive to see it.
Brown, as you can imagine, was well loved by some and reviled by others. A free African American wrote to Brown saying, "I thank you that you have been brave enough to reach out your hands to the crushed and blighted of my race." A newspaper in the South held the opposite view. "The miserable old traitor and murderer belongs to the gallows (the place where a person is hung), and the gallows will have its own."
So, was he right to take radical measures to fight against an institution as evil as slavery? Is it ever justifiable to "do wrong to do good"? Watch this video and in the comments section thoughtfully analyze Brown's actions. Was he to be commended because slavery was so bad, or was he a villain?
John Brown is a tricky person to judge. His reasons for being radical and violent is justifiable, but I’m actually still not sure if he should be commended for his actions. Brown wasn’t an unreasonable man. In the video, one of the women said that he had thought it through, in the Dred Scott case, Brown realized he would get no back up from the legislation. Because if he tried the diplomatic approach, it would be futile, what else would work but violence, logically? I don’t think he had to murder people or go to that extent. The Boston Tea Party proved their point and made a difference without murdering anyone, and it was violent. I can’t say he’s a villain, but I also can’t say that he should be commended for taking other people’s life. (136)
ReplyDeleteWell he is not wrong for disliking slavery. It’s his own opinion. I don’t think his actions would have been as radical if they weren’t so violent, grody, and icky. The fact that he chose to kill the pro slavery people is kind of crazy. He said that God put him on the earth to abolish slavery but I am pretty sure that God didn’t want him to kill all pro slavery people because obviously killing isn’t a good thing. I don’t really know if it is justifiable to do wrong to do good. You shouldn’t do bad but then you should do good so that’s tricky. I think he should be commended for trying to abolish slavery but he shouldn’t be commended for killing those people. Even if someone does bad and it is for a good cause they shouldn’t be commended for the bad but instead for speaking up about it. (153)
ReplyDeleteIt is never right to kill a human just because of their beliefs. John had absolutely no right to go killing the pro-slavery people just because they had a different belief then him. There are many other ways he could have went about to help resolve the slavery issue. For example, he could have used the Bible to prove a point in court, gave speeches concerning slavery or even have been a Conductor in the Underground Railroad. I think he was a villain, but his heart was in the right place, unlike his actions. It doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible, kill if you think it will benefit others. I highly doubt God ‘told’ him to go kill people. I think he was commended for good reasons. He was a Southern terrorist for crying out loud! That would be like us not killing Osama Bin Laden because he thought killing people would bring an end to some war or bring him eternal peace with Allah. I think free-blacks were happy that someone was taking such measures to do something about it, but some did indeed realize he didn’t have to be so drastic. Like Converse said, he is very tricky to judge, and only God has the right to truly judge him.
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I do not think John brown should be commended for his actions. He murdered people for doing and believing in something he did not like, I mean I do not agree or like the beliefs of Buddhists but I do not go around killing the people that do. I think he was not wrong to dislike slavery with a passion but he went a little too far. I think he could have given speeches, held rallies, or tried to do something about slavery but I do know that other people were doing that for years and slavery was still happening. He is hard to judge if he was right or wrong like Kim said "only God has the right to judge him."
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ReplyDeleteJohn Brown is a hard person to understand. He should not be judged by his actions but what he was trying to accomplish. He was trying to accomplish something good but was doing it the wrong way we need to reconize him of that. He did do really bad things. He killed people so of course he was going to get hanged. He was a very good person but just reading how to get slavery ended the wrong way. So he needed to be hanged but he did not need to be projected as a villian to the public. If you look at his actions he was a villian. If you look at what he was trying to accomplish he was a good person over all.(116)
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I don’t really agree with Josh's idea that we should not judge John Brown by his actions, but his intentions. I believe that he should be seen by both his intentions and his actions, which obviously were kind of opposites, because he had good intentions but not the most respectable actions (considering that he slit five men’s throats in a night just because they threatened him). I don’t think that John should be commended for his radical actions of killing and massacring, But I do think that he had the right mind set about slavery. He REALLY thought that slavery needed to end. (106)
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DeleteI agree with Ebony that John Brown should not be commended for killing people who were pro-slavery, but commended for speaking against it. Brown said that God "told" him what to do but I do not think that God told him to kill people. And, the Bible doesn't say it is okay to kill either. Killing is wrong no matter what. We all have the right to our opinions but we have to be careful about what we do with what we believe. I also agree with Garrett that Brown thought slavery needed. I think he was somewhat of a villain; his intention to stop slavery was right but his actions were wrong. (104)
ReplyDeleteWas John Brown doing the right thing? The short answer is no. Yet once you dig deeper it gets slightly confusing for some people. He fought against slavery but he was a murderer. There seemed to be no other way to end slavery but there probably was one. The main reason that he was regarded as a hero in the north is because he fought against slavery. They just looked away from the innocent lives that the man and his followers took. People just saw what they wanted to see. There is no way that John Brown should be complemented for what he did.
ReplyDeleteI do not think John Brown should be commended for really anything. He had good intentions for ending slavery but apparently he did not really read the bible because why would he kill all those people. Violence is the answer for everything. If he wanted to end slavery he should done things that Tori said like give speeches and things. I do not go around killing people for not believing in Jesus, but we tell them about him. That is what I think John Brown should have done about slavery, telling people why it is so wrong. He tried to end a terrible thing but just kinds made it worse. (110)
ReplyDeleteJohn Brown was an interesting man. He was against slavery, but unlike normal abolitionists, John Brown decided to take it to the next level and incorporate violence into the abolitionist movement. I think it was perfectly fine for him to be against slavery. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, if I lived at the same time as John Brown, I would be against slavery too. It is just plain wrong. But it is also wrong for him to kill people just because they were pro slavery. It is okay to not like the people who think owning slaves is right and it is fine to have rallies and things like that, but killing them is just going too far. No matter how bad slavery may be, I think it is still wrong in God's eyes to murder other humans. (141)
ReplyDelete• I don't think that John Brown should be condemned. He had his own opinion about slavery, even though it was very extreme. He wanted to end slavery so that is a good thing to do. The North liked him because he was opposed to slavery. The South hated him because he was opposed to slavery. I don't think that he should have killed people for slavery, but he still could stand up for what he believed. I think that if I lived back then I wouldn't have liked slavery, like John Brown, but I wouldn't go out killing people because they are for slavery. It's not his place to kill people for what they believe or judge them, it's God's to judge them. He was killing people with the "right intensions", but the Bible still says we shouldn't murder people. He might have been more successful with ending slavery if he had a different approach about it and not be so violent. (163 words)
ReplyDeleteI honestly think John Brown was insane. I'm pretty sure he was only an abolitionist because of his parents. I don't think he really made up his mind for himself. I'm not saying that he was wrong for being an abolitionist. I would've been one too. I just mean he was VERY extreme with his beliefs. If he really cared about it, he would've chosen the most successful way to rid of it, and obviously, murdering people was not the way to go. All that did was put a bad reputation on the Abolitionists. It made people even more against slavery, and the north. Just because of how crazy and out of line the things he did were. He could've been the Martin Luther King Jr. of his time, but instead he chose to be the Osama Bin Laden of the South. (142)
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Brown was not justified in his actions. He was wrong in killing the pro slavery men. But he was right in disagreeing with slavery. I don’t think he should have gone to the extremes he did, but maybe he thought he was doing the right thing. Maybe he thought he was following the greater command. I think he had good reasons, but a bad method of getting his reasons across. There is a way to civilly disagree and discuss issues like slavery and it's not by killing the people you disagree with, otherwise I'd have killed A LOT of people. :) Like Tori said just because we don't like Muslims or other religions we can't just kill them. Another interesting thing is that he would not do the murders, he made his sons and followers do it. That almost makes it worse. It's like he knew it was bad so he wouldn't actually be the one to slit the throats. I don’t like that. It was like he planned it but when the men were found dead Brown had clean hands. I feel like he used his sons for all the dirty work. (196)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Scherd! I also disagree with Kimberly’s point that it’s wrong to kill someone for their belief. So the Taliban believes that Americans are infidels and attacked us on 9/11. So since its ‘wrong’ to kill someone for their beliefs America isn’t going to do anything about it? No, we invaded Afghanistan to try to stop the terrorism. So America killed the terrorists in Afghanistan due to 9/11 and their threats to us. Also the tension in the Middle East; the Arab countries want Israel gone because they believe Israel shouldn’t be allowed to exist due to their beliefs. If a war starts Israel’s allies (America?) should come to their defense to try to stop the Arab countries. So in other words Arabs would doe for having a belief.
ReplyDeleteNow to answer the John Brown questions… Is the act to “do wrong to do good” ok. Well we learned (in Bible class) to follow the greater commandment. I THINK, that he was correct in trying to stop slavery during his lifetime, but could have tried an alternative route- something more like in the boundaries of the law.
Now to the Bible… God used slavery as a way to grow multiply his people and also discipline them. In Philemon the Apostle Paul sends Onesimus (a run away slave) back to his owner, he didn’t try to free him or send him away secretly (Philemon 1:8-25).
To me this is kind of like people who try to kill abortion doctors because they believe abortion is wrong. So in other words I believe that John Brown was wrong for what he did.
But then you can ask what is worse murder or slavery? All sin is sin! This is no this is worse than that. Now back to the Bible… If people believe that the 10 Commandments are God’s laws, which mean that there is no direct law against slavery.
This all depends though on a person’s belief. If I count every time I saw belief in this BLOG post it would be 11 times (someone check my math).
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Ok, I think that John Brown was pretty crazy. He definitely had the right idea being against slavery and pro-slavery individuals, but he needed to chill out. It's one thing to argue with someone about their beliefs, but just killing people because they believe something different than you is just insane. He had the right idea, just went WAY overboard, kind of like fishing for minnows with 200lb test line:) And I have to disagree with James on his point about killing people for their beliefs. I think it is wrong to kill people for their beliefs, but I do believe you can defend yourself, which is what I think we did after the attack on the World Trade Centers, I don't believe we did that because we're just ol' big bad America, I think we would have preferred to stay out of the wars in the middle east, but we can't just let them walk over us. (159 words) √
ReplyDeleteI think John Brown was wrong in his actions. Even though he was abolitionist and was against slavery he didn't have to go around and try to get people to kill those in favor of it. The Bible says not to murder. Thats why I think he was wrong but I do agree with trying to end slavery. He should have tried in a more civil manor though. If he thought that slavery was so wrong he in a way contradicted himself. He thought all man should have equality. By trying to kill those who agreed with slavery he was in a way putting them below others.(107 words)
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