John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid on the abolition of slavery. Brown has variously been referred to as a madman, terrorist, and murderer; others have called him a saint, hero, and a martyr. Regardless of one's opinion of Brown the human being, his place in history and his impact on ending slavery cannot be denied. Deranged or no, Brown was a driven man who lived the courage of his convictions.

There can be little doubt that Brown's raid advanced the cause of abolition by escalating the debate over slavery that was already taking place in a polarized nation. Anti-slavery arguments ran the gamut from the political to the economic to the religious. At one time considered a fringe movement, by the mid-1800s abolition had taken center stage in American politics. A number of anti-slavery organizations had existed in America for years, but it was not until the 1840s that such organizations...
[ View Full Essay]