John Brown Terrorism

When discussing major events that led up to the civil war the Pottawatomie Massacre led by John Brown can not be excluded. This tragic event resulted in the brutal murder of five men An act radical abolitionism led by a white man had not been was something that had not been seen in American history before this time. Although these acts were done to free slaves which by modern logic is a positive thing the issue of whether John Brown is a hero or not is still highly contested. Looking at these events from an objective standpoint parallels can easily be drawn to acts of modern day domestic terrorism. John Brown himself matches the criteria for a calculated terrorist as well. In order to decipher whether a violent act is one of terrorism the definition of terrorism must be clear. Most individuals would describe it as “the unlawful use of threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives.”(Taking Sides). In the case of the massacre Brown and his group of men attacked those who were pro slavery and saw his views as radical. The group broke into multiple people’s homes and took these unarmed men to the woods to kill them. (Trial of John Brown). The main goal of these attacks was to instill fear into others in order to bring their goals of complete abolition to light.

He was born into a family that had anti-slavery values and who were also extremely religious. The sentiment that society can only be cleansed of their wrongful thinking was through violence is something that Brown wholeheartedly agreed with. He saw the acts of slavery as violent, atrocious, and dehumanizing and the only way to remove it was through bloodshed. Similar to other terrorists that get caught, there was an apparent lack of remorse for these murders when he is being investigated in trail. In his mind he believed that what he was doing was justified because of his “higher