Political Contributions of John Brown Term Paper

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously declared that John Brown's execution would "make the gallows as glorious as the cross." (Quoted by Reynolds 127) Other historians have opined that Brown's martyrdom was the single most important event that "sparked the Civil War" and ultimately ended slavery. During his lifetime, Brown's uncompromising, radical ideas were often considered dangerous even by such anti-slavery politicians as Abraham Lincoln. In death, Brown became a symbol of courageous opposition to slavery. Union soldiers during the Civil War marched to the tune of the song, "John Brown's Body," and its heady chorus about Brown "mouldering in the grave" while "his soul keeps marching on." (Reynolds, 136). Some scholars, rather exaggeratedly, have even expanded the scope of his influence to the civil rights movement in the 20th century.

Negative Influence

John Brown's political contribution has a negative side too. He has often been depicted as a forerunner of anarchists, and a number of scholars have compared him with contemporary terrorists. Indeed many modern-day terror groups, on both sides of the political spectrum, have been inspired by John Brown's legacy. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber considered him a "spiritual patron"; the anti-abortion zealots in the U.S. have invoked John Brown's legacy while bombing abortion clinics and murdering doctors. On the other hand, in the late 1970s, a leftist group calling itself the John Brown Brigade fought pitched battles with the Ku Klux Klan in the American south. The journalist, Ken Chowder, calls him "the father of American terrorism."

Conclusion

John Brown, the 18th century abolitionist, remains an exceedingly controversial figure even in the 21st century. He still evokes extreme responses in people, just as he did during his lifetime. To those people who consider violence as justified when used for a good cause, John Brown is a hero and a martyr. Others, who oppose violence in all forms, dub him as a deranged fanatic who murdered innocent people and preached violence for selfish reasons. Most people, however, agree that he had a profound impact on American politics, and his execution in 1859 may well have been the single most important reason behind the start of the American Civil War.

Works Cited

Chowder, Ken. "The Father of American Terrorism." American Heritage Magazine. February / March 2000 Volume 51, Issue 1. December 2, 2007. http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2000/1/2000_1_81.shtml

Hitchens, Christopher. "The Man Who Ended Slavery" the Atlantic Monthly. Volume: 295. Issue: 4. (May 2005): 121+

John Brown -- 1800-1859." Africans in America. N.d. December 2, 2007. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html

Oates, Stephen B. Our Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, and the Civil War Era. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1979

Reynolds, David. John Brown, Abolitionist: Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 2005.

Underground Railway was the informal network of secret routes and safe houses that the abolitionists used to help the slaves in the U.S. To escape to free states and Canada.

Fredrick Douglas, the famous black Civil Rights leader, after a private meeting with Brown observed: "though a white gentleman, is in sympathy, a black man, and as deeply interested in our cause, as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery." (Quoted by Oates, 31)

Prior to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the two states were…