McPherson_The Revolution of 1860_from Battle Cry of Freedom

In “the revolution of 1860_from battle cry of freedom” by McPherson, the author is talking about John Brown, an American abolitionist. Brown, unlike most abolitionists, didn’t believe in nonviolence and his favourite religious passage that he believed in the most was “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin”. He also believed that the only solution for the change they needed was a revolution. Enduring what was happening in the 1850s, some abolitionists shared the same viewpoint of Brown. The text explains how Brown held a secret anti-slavery convention in Canada

There was a group called “the secret six”; a group of white men who secretly funded the 1859 raid and backed John Brown’s scheme to invade the South. The six of them supported the free-state activists in Kansas. The plan was that Brown rented a farm in Maryland under a false name. He intended to seize the US armory and arsenal in the area and distribute the weapons to the slaves who joined him. Five black males and seventeen whites, including three of Brown’s sons, made up Brown’s shock troops for this reason. Brown wanted Douglass to be a part of his plan but  he refused, he didn’t believe in what Brown wanted to do. Also some other black recruits didn’t show up which disappointed Brown but he decided to continue with what he had. During clashes, eight of Brown’s men got shot and two of them were Brown’s sons. Three of the townsmen were killed too. Seven people could escape at this time but two of them got captured later. The next day Brown was captured and here he knew that his campaign to free the slaves had come to an end. He got accused of treason, murder, and fomenting insurrection so the judge dentenced him to a death by hanging and later it was discovered that he’d left a carpet bag full of documents and letters at the Maryland farmhouse, some of which revealed his relationship with the Secret Six. Sanborn refused a summons from the Mason committee but Howe and Stearns went to Washington and faced the Mason committee . the author then said that The South’s reaction to Brown’s raid brought to light a contradiction at the heart of slavery. On the one hand, many whites were terrified of slave revolts. Southern whites, on the other hand, believed that slaves were well-treated and happy in their servitude.

The author talked about how emotional and important the day of hanging Brown was. On the day of Brown’s execution, several northern communities witnessed extraordinary events and the editor of republican wrote “the death of no man in America has ever produced so profound a sensation. A feeling of deep and sorrowful indignation seems to

possess the masses” which shows how the death of Brown affected the population. And young William Dean Howells said that “Brown has become an idea, a thousand times purer and better and loftier than the Republican idea”

In conclusion, John Brown’s raid was a very important step for abolishing slavery, and during his raid, he was able to kill one slave owner and freed 11 slaves and then he was hanged. After he was killed, northern conservatives staged big anti-Brown rallies to assure the South that Brown sympathizers were a vocal minority.

John Brown is a very brave man who sacrificed his life and his sons lives to feed others who’re not even related to him and his campaign was a big mark in history.