John Brown--DOMESTIC TERRORIST..and hero?

Tragic Prelude by John Steuart Curry, mural at the Kansas Statehouse, Topeka. (Source: Kansas Historical Society)

My students will tell you that I am not a fan of John Brown. I don't let my opinion of historical subjects be known that much but I can't mask my feelings for John Brown. He was one the right side of an issue but determined that 'right' was more important than 'life'.  Several students have taken on Mr. Brown in their research. They want to prove he wasn't a domestic terrorist in my mind. I love the challenge they undertake. The have forced me to reconsider Brown each year. While they haven't weakend my feelings for John Brown, they have tempered my off-handed disgust. Brown is important for reasons beyond the Pottomatomie Massacre.

 

One thing which has challenged my interpretation of John Brown is his oration at his trial after Harpers Ferry. An except follows:

 

"[T]he New Testament teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them....I have endeavored to act on that instruction.  I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons.  I believe that to have interfered, as I have done,...in behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, but right.  Now,  if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood farther with the blood of my children and the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done."

 

I am slowly warming to the idea that I can still think him a terrorist but can also acknowledge why Thoreau would plead for Brown's life and Benet would, using some of Brown's own words, memorialize his death:

 

"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 say, let it be done."



Harpers Ferry (from near the Engine House)

 

Engine House at Harpers Ferry

Engine House

1855...when 791 + 5,427=2,905 ...only in Kansas!

We have moved on to Bleeding Kansas and I get to show one of my favorite primary sources!

Absttract-Kansas Voting Ledger 1855 (National Archives)

This ledger is the Abstract of Census and Returns of Election for the first territorial election in Kansas. The territorial governor had already been appointed by Pesident Peirce so the election is for the teritorial delegate to Congress. Look at the bottom of the ledger. According to the abstract, there were 5,427 votes for the pro-slavery candidate and 791 votes for the Free State (anti-slavery candidate).

5427+791=6218, right? Well, according to the census prior to the vote, there were only 2,905 elegible voters in the territory but more than 6,000 actual voters.

I love that there is a column in the ledger for illegal votes. Look at Leavenworth (#16). The number of illegal votes is more than double the number votes even possible. Leavenworth was a solidly proslavery town but it even happened the bastion of the Free State movement, Lawrence (#1)! There are 269 elegible voters and it is logical that more than 250 of the votes were for the Free State candidate. Then there are the almost 500 voters who cast a pro-slavery vote in Lawrence.

The answer is one of the reasons for the Border War between KU and Mizzou. At election time thousands, of Missouri residents cross the border to vote in the election. All they had to do was state they were intending to take residency and they were allowed to vote.

Letter to E. Thayer by Charles Robinson, 1855 (Source: Kansas Historical Society)

Future governor of Kansas, Charles Robinson wrote to a friend back east:

 

For E. Thayer

This is sent to Mr Rice to avoid opening & [xxx] [xxx].

Lawrence April 2 1855

Dear Sir

 

Another election in Kansas Territory has passed & like the first was controlled entirely by Missourians. A few days before the election I was travelling in the Southern & eastern part of the territory & met hundreds of people from Missouri on their way to the different voting precincts in the Territory. Encampments were formed in the vicinity of the polls varying in size according to the number of voters required in the several districts to secure their end - The grand rendevous was at Lawrence where they had reinforcements stationed for all parts –

 

At Tecumseh two of the judges of election refused to take the oath prescribed by the Governor & the third refused to proceed when the mob, after snapping pistols at the antislavery judge & threatening to destroy all the judges if they did not leave, proceeded to choose judges of their own & go on with the election - The free state men accordingly abandoned the polls & did not vote - At Douglas the judges attempted to conform to the law & instructions of the Gov. when they were mobbed & driven off. No antislavery voting was consequently done at that place

It will take two concurrent state legislature (one Free State and one "Bogus"), John Brown's Potawotomi Massacre, the sacking of Lawrence, four state constitutions, and a Civil War to get Kansas in the union. Kansas was a mess. Some things never change! ;)

Have a great weekend.

Crowdsourcing with Google Maps-wanna play?

This is the Engine House at Harpers Ferry. Brown was captured here.

One of the tools we were shown today involved Google Maps. You can create your own maps and that has some cool implications for the classroom. I'm still playing with it but have created a map of places John Brown traveled while active in the abolition circuit.

The link is here.

The program isn't as user friendly as I am used to, but it probably points to my laziness more than anything else.

If you want, feel free to add a location. May I suggest looking to see if Brown was near you? My east coasters and Kansans, this is going to be easier for you but who know what we'll learn.

BTW-This is part of a class project so my smart-mouthed friends please note that ... (do I really need to finish this?). The only thing I ask is that you tell me where you got your information. Avoid wikipedia-I've already found a couple errors/questionable facts in their John Brown entries. About.com; ask.com; Jeeves; ...fall into the wiki category as well so avoid those too.