John Brown

John Brown was a man who believed in extreme abolitionism who righteously killed many people to further his goal of eradicating slavery from the world forever. He believed that the lives of a few "evil" men were worth next to nothing compared to the freedom of millions. He was a saint that killed for his beliefs about what was right and what was wrong, he was a leader of his family and community that took that went headstrong into challenges, and most of all, he wouldn't accept failure and kept trying to succeed.

John Brown killed because of his strongest convictions that slavery was a sin. He also possessed an ingrained belief that slave owners had forfeited their lives. An example of this was the Potawottamie massacre. In the Potawottamie massacre, he held to his beliefs so strongly that he did not care how gruesome things got. He just wanted to serve a greater purpose. You see this trait in John Brown when he attacked Harpers Ferry too, where he killed a freed black man that was running to warn a train that John was coming. He also could have left Harpers Ferry before the militia attack, but stuck to his guns.

John Brown was also a leader in his community and in his family. He constantly was out searching profitable venues to sustain his family. John Brown was a man that was caring, funny, and lived up to his ideals and responsibilities. He was also a natural leader, but not good at following orders. This showed when he started a tannery early in his life to compete with his father's tannery. When his debt became too much and wanted to start a new life, he went to North Elba, which was owned by William Garret. When he was there, he acted as a community leader, until he went off to Kansas to fight slavery.

John Brown's most valuable characteristic is his inability to accept failure. He failed at almost everything he did in his life until he finally achieved what he wanted in the aftermath of the attack on Harpers Ferry. He had lost untold amounts of money in his land speculating scheme but he never gave up. This pattern of behavior continued when he was constantly in court and harassed by lawsuits when living in North Elba. He also tried many times to eradicate slavery, such as Bleeding Kansas.

John Brown exhibit almost all of the qualities of a folk hero in a legend. He should be remembered as the man who set in motion the beginning of the end of slavery. He committed many of the deeds a saint would be remembered for. John Brown should be remembered in a positive light, as an unlikely hero.

Bibliography:

1. John Brown's Holy War. PBS, 2000. Videocassette.