In 1831, one of his sons died. Brown became sick, and his businesses started to do poorly. This made Brown have a lot of debt. In the summer of 1832, shortly after the death of a newborn son, his wife Dianthe died. The only family he had left were his children John Jr., Jason, Owen, and Ruth. (Another three of their children died before they became adults.) On June 14, 1833, Brown married 16-year-old Mary Ann Day (April 15, 1817 – May 1, 1884). She was from Washington County, New York. They had 13 children; those alive at John Brown's death were Salmon, Annie, Sarah, and Ellen.
In 1836, Brown moved his family to Franklin Mills, Ohio (now known as Kent). There, he borrowed money to buy land in the area. He built and operated a tannery along the Cuyahoga River. His partner was Zenas Kent.
In 1837, when he learned that Elijah P. Lovejoy was murdered, Brown promised: "Here, before God, [with witnesses around me], from [now on], I (dedicate) my life to the destruction of slavery!"
He strongly believed in Christianity. He believed that Christians should treat people the same no matter what color their skin was. Many white Christians in America at this time did not agree with this.
Brown lived mostly in Springfield, Massachusetts before moving to the Kansas Territory. This would later become the state of Kansas in 1861. Several of his sons were already living there. Brown's sons wanted his help to fight people from Missouri. The people in Missouri wanted slavery to be legal in Kansas. On May 24, 1856, Brown and his sons killed five people in Kansas who wanted slavery to be legal. They dragged the people out of their homes and killed them with swords. This came to be known as the Pottawatomie massacre. Many people in Kansas were shocked and upset about this. More violent things happened after this. This was the beginning of the period in the Kansas Territory known as Bleeding Kansas. Before leaving Kansas, Brown and his followers were attacked at the Battle of Osawatomie on August 30, 1856. His son Frederick was killed there.
In 1859, Brown decided to attack the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was planning on giving the weapons to slaves. The slaves would use the weapons to fight against their masters and become free. Brown attacked the arsenal in October 1859. His sons and several other men, including several black men, helped him with the attack. His attack failed. Brown was captured, and was executed by hanging for treason against the state of Virginia on December 2, 1859.
On the morning of December 2, 1859, Brown wrote:
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, [naively thought] that [it could be done without much bloodshed].
He read his Bible and wrote a final letter to his wife. The letter included his will. At 11:00 a.m. he was taken from the county jail through a crowd of 2,000 soldiers a few blocks away. He was taken to a small field where the gallows were. Among the soldiers in the crowd were future Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, and John Wilkes Booth (Booth borrowed a militia uniform to watch the execution). The poet Walt Whitman, in "Year of Meteors", described watching the execution.
Brown chose to receive no religious services in the jail or at the scaffold. He was hanged at 11:15 a.m. He was declared dead at 11:50 a.m.
The raid on Harpers Ferry is generally thought to have pushed the United States towards civil war. Southern slaveowners, hearing early reports that hundreds of abolitionists were involved, were glad the action was so small. However, they feared other abolitionists would also try to lead slave rebellions. Therefore, the South reorganized the old militia system. These militias became a ready-made Confederate army, making the South better prepared for war.
Many abolitionists in the North believed Brown was a martyr, and that he sacrificed for the evils of the nation. Immediately after the raid, William Lloyd Garrison published a column in "The Liberator". He said Brown's raid "[meant well] but sadly unwise" and "wild and [pointless]". However, he defended Brown's character from haters in the Northern and Southern press. He argued that those who supported the ideas of the American Revolution could not consistently oppose Brown's raid. On the day Brown was hanged, Garrison said in Boston: "whenever [it happens], I all slave revolts succeed".
After the Civil War, Frederick Douglass wrote, "His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine ... I could live for the slave, but he could die for him."
People had strong feelings about John Brown. Some people thought that he was crazy or evil. Other people thought that he was a hero. His attack on Harpers Ferry helped lead to the American Civil War. The war would start in 1861.
Many Black leaders of the timeMartin Delany, Henry Highland Garnet, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubmanknew and respected Brown. "Tubman thought Brown was the greatest white man who ever lived." Douglass called him "a brave and glorious old man."
Black businesses in the North closed on the day of his execution. Church bells rang across the North.
John Brown
John Brown is the name of:
Sinocentrism
Sinocentrism is the belief that China is the cultural center of the world.
This idea may have possibly been reinforced by the Chinese Isolationist policy enforced by Emperor Hongwu during the Ming Dynasty.
Thoroughfare Gap
Thoroughfare Gap is an album by American singer-songwriter Stephen Stills. The album was released in 1978.
Most tracks were composed by Stephen Stills.
Annabeth Chase
Annabeth Chase is a fictional character in Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus" series. She is a demigod, meaning she is half-mortal and half goddess. Her father is the mortal Frederick Chase and her mother is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, crafts, arts, and battle strategy. She is first cousins with Magnus Chase, whose mother is her paternal aunt. She appears first in the first novel of the series, "The Lightning Thief". Throughout the series she becomes close friends with Percy Jackson, later becoming his main love interest and girlfriend.
Annabeth is architect of Olympus and one of the leaders in Camp Half Blood for half bloods/demigods.
She is played by the actress Alexandra Daddario in the movie "", which is based off the first book, "The Lightning Thief. Also played the same part in the movie " The Sea of Monsters", which is based on the novel "Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters"."
She is played by Kristin Stokes in the musical "The" "Lightning" "Thief:" "The" "Percy" "Jackson" "Musical", which is based off of the first novel in the series, "The Lightning Thief"
The writer of the books, Rick Riordan, was asked in an interview, "Do you feel those who said the main characters, such as Grover and Annabeth, are heroes in their own right?". He answered, "Annabeth is Percy's rational side. She can think through things and look at options that sometimes evade Percy in his moments of battle panic." This means she can think even when there is a fight going on, unlike Percy, and can find solutions to problems. That is also why Annabeth is a daughter of Athena because she is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy.