Harper’s Ferry, was the first target in Brown’s war for slave liberation. His plan was to steal arms and kill any slave holders. Brown’s whole mission was to end slavery and to let people know that slavery was a sin. Brown leads 21 men to battle and they capture some slave owners, hoping that the slaves would join in and help. They thought wrong and the slaves were no extra help, and no sooner militiamen capture Brown and kill his son.
America was not the only country of course that practiced slavery; there were many countries that had practiced slavery before. Pinckney states that “If slavery be wrong, it is justified by the example of all the world” (D’Souza, pg. 466). The problem that comes to mind with this is that in those other countries there was no word for freedom, while America was founded as a so called free country. It’s important to understand that slavery wasn’t because of racism but because the pursuit of profit.
Some anti-abolitionists have argued that by abolishing slave trade and slavery, the freedom and liberty of individuals who are benefiting from slavery will be taken away. Merchants were seen more important than slaves. Others believed that if slave trade will end in Britain, other countries such as Spain and France will benefit from it because they will continue with the trading. But the opposition have failed, as slave trading was officially illegal from 1807 and slavery was illegal from 1833. Dundas was removed for mismanagement of funds, which benefited Wilberforce; he was able to continue with his speeches and acts without interruption.
People would say that he was insane because he tried to help African American escape to their freedom. He helped enslaved people go to Underground Railroad go to the North. This would show his sanity. John Brown also killed many people. He led Pottawattamie Massacre.
Devon Williams September, 2013 2013FA-HIST-1301-81008 Was John Brown A Hero or A Murderer? John Brown was a radical American abolitionist who believed in the violent overthrow of the slavery system and orchestrated the infamous (and unsuccessful) 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry federal arsenal which resulted in his capture and sentencing to death by hanging that same year. Historians agree that Brown’s actions greatly contributed to the start of the civil war and his raid further revealed the division between the North and South. He is often recognized as “America’s first domestic Terrorist”. Brown was born in 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut to an extremely religious and abolitionist family where he first began forming his anti-slavery views.
Even though Biography of a Runaway Slave was written much time later, way after the abolishment of slavery it’s intention was to give people a powerful descriptive story of what it was like to live in times that Esteban lived in our current times and it does a great job in telling a story of a runaway slave. Miguel’s style of writing shows true feelings of what Esteban felt about different types of slaves and what they meant to him. “Truth is that the blacks were honest.” (pg. 26) Many of the testimonials coming from Esteban are raw and he does not hold back. Every word is the truth and it gives a more sense of realness to the narrative.
Jefferson also believed slavery to be an atrocious blot on the face of America. Their strong opinions of equality resonate in today’s world but were not considered the correct morals in their time. 2. a.) The conspiracy between Jefferson and his affair with Sally Hemings, his slave, first surfaced in a publication written by James Callender.
It was considerably less dangerous to work individually in escape plans than in large numbers. Although, if slaves did stay in the south, if freedom was reached, would more than likely be short lived, due to some masters seeking extraordinary efforts to recapture their property (by using dog's and professional slave catchers). Some runaways were often helped along their way but coupled with sheer determination of their masters, their efforts were again, like their ancestors, in vain. Recaptured slaves were often harshly punished. More often than not it was a battle of wills between the slave and their master – and due to politics being dramatically unfavourable against the blacks, the masters would often abuse this political freedom in their punishment.
Some of these groups and people included ‘Malcolm X’, Rosa Parks, and ‘The Black Panthers’. Malcolm X saw King’s campaign as trying to persuade the African American citizens to forget the days of slavery, and forget what the white men had done to their people. His stance was passive/aggressive and wanted equality by any means, including violence. Malcolm X was assassinated by a white supremacist during a speech and died of bullet wounds. Also, ‘The Black Panthers’ were a very violent group and saw King’s campaign as time consuming and feared it being forgotten in the process.
Not only did this case show the Abolitionist fight against slavery and to stop it, it also showed our questionable laws that come from the Constitution. When comparing and contrasting how Spielberg accurately portrayed this time in American history he did it well. In class we talked about how slaves were captured by others of their kind and sold, treated very horribly while on the slave ships and some left to die. The movie illustrates the horrors of the slaves, all the things they undergone, and how they were captured and taken from their homes and brought to a new world. It was very hard to look at and see all the cruelty and things that went on with the slaves after they had been captured, due to the fact they had been minding their own business a significant amount of years and then someone comes along, suggest that Africans are not to be treated inhuman and turned into a slave.