Most people who read this blog know that I spent a good part of my adult life as a history teacher. Now I'm not in the classroom anymore, but I still occasionally get the itch. Guess what? I'm going to scratch that itch here by using my blogger's discretion to teach a history lesson. I plan on making this a semi-regular feature of this site (perhaps every other week). My thought is to select a figure out of history and do a feature post on him/her.

Slept through history in high school? Football coach teach it by handing out ditto sheets or word searches? This is your second chance. History is full of fascinating characters and I'd like to bring some of them alive to you here in my own words.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet John Brown. Look into his eyes. Those are the eyes of a man who could cold bloodedly hack another man to death with his sword, with his children cowering in the house. Those are the eyes of a man who believed that God put him on Earth for a reason. Those are the eyes of a man totally dedicated to his cause. Those are the eyes of a man who believed that the ends justified the means. He believed he had a personal responsibility to end slavery in America. It was his destiny, he believed to lead the slaves in a revolt against their owners.

John Brown would be considered a terrorist today by almost any definition. A cold blooded murderer. An insurrectionist against the government. A fanatic devoted to his cause. Think of someone who shoots an abortion doctor in his home. Think of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. We have our own John Browns running around today.

But his cause was righteous, wasn't it? How do you square the actions of someone who committed crimes for a cause that was right?

Brown is an unlikely person for us to be discussing almost 150 years after his death. He was born into a strict Calvinist family and grew up in an area known for its abolitionist sentiment. He fathered 20 children by two different wives, went bankrupt, and was a failure in one business venture after another. A loser. A hard luck story. A man whose friends even worried about his sanity.

So why are we talking about him at all? A failed businessman and farmer who many people regarded as insane is regarded as perhaps the individual most responsible for the outbreak of the American Civil War. He was referred to as the "meteor of the war". The song "John Brown's Body" would become an anthem to anti-slavery forces. ("John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave.")

By the 1850's there was a growing movement in the United States to end slavery. Much of the rest of the civilized world had already given up the practice, but the American South was not keen to give up what it regarded as the lifeblood of its economy. A coalition of ministers, civic activists, escaped slaves, and advocates of women's rights pushed for slavery's restriction and eventual abolition. Speeches were made. Sermons were given in churches. Rallies were held in the streets of northern cities. Pamphlets were distributed. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" became a bestseller with its depiction of the cruel slavemaster, Simon Legree.

John Brown felt like that all of this activity was simply not enough. He was disgusted with politicians like Abraham Lincoln, who he believed (correctly) would allow the continuation of slavery to prevent a breakup of the Union. Remember, Brown felt personal responsibility for ending slavery. It was his mission. He didn't want to slowly restrict it out of existence as the early Republican Party did. He wanted to END slavery. Now. A century before Malcom X uttered those famous words, Brown wanted to end slavery by "all means necessary".

When violence broke out between pro and anti slavery activists in Kansas, Brown jumped into the center of the action. He took several of his sons with him and went to Kansas to do battle with the forces of slavery. At last Brown had a chance to put his passion into practice. After the city of Lawrence was sacked by pro-slavery forces, Brown and his sons rode to a settlement on Pottawatomie Creek and hacked five men to death with their broadswords. This was war, and Brown believed he was acting as the arm of God.

In 1859 Brown and about 20 men crafted a plan to raid the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The plan was audacious. He and his men would seize as many of the 100,000 guns there as possible, ride south, and start freeing slaves. The freed slaves would take up arms with him and free even more. Brown envisioned himself as a general leading an army that would sweep through the South as God's army, wiping out slavery for good.

Things didn't work out that way. When Brown and his men tried to seize the arsenal they were resisted by the locals, who kept them pinned down until the army arrived. The army leader? None other than Robert E. Lee. Yes, that Robert E. Lee. Brown was captured, imprisoned, and put on trial for the crime of treason against the state of Virginia. Treason against a state! His trial drew spectators of all stripes and became a national spectacle. Brown was sentenced to death and had this to say to the court:

Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done!

He was hanged a few weeks later at a hastily constructed gallows near the courthouse.

Brown's trial and hanging radicalized both sides of the slavery question. Southerners, seeing the threat of other John Browns, began arming themselves, forming militias, and secessionist ideas gained an even stronger hold. Many in the North viewed Brown as crazy, but his execution was like a clarion call to the abolition movement. He died for the cause. "What can we do to finish his work?", was the cry. A presidential election was less than a year away at Brown's death, and the nation was on edge....a powderkeg.

Look at Brown's life and actions. Was he a hero or a common criminal? Do the ends justify the means? When is it morally acceptable to do the wrong things for the right reason? Think about our own modern-day examples. Think about the line between right and wrong. Just think about it.

Thanks for your attention. Seeya next time.
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