Quotations of Frederick Douglass and Brown are from Stephen B. Oates, To Purge This Land With Blood: A Biography of John Brown, 2nd ed. Tonight, we take a closer look at the life and impact of John Brown on the anti-slavery movement during the deadly era that became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Brown was involved in the "Bleeding Kansas" violence when he and his sons killed five settlers in Kansas who were for legalizing slavery in the state.
Bleeding Kansas was a mini civil war between pro- and anti-slavery forces that occurred in Kansas from 1856 to 1865. This was about to change. John Brown of Osawatomie, the guerrilla captain of Bleeding Kansas and leader of the abortive raid on Harpers Ferry to free the slaves, was hanged on the bright balmy morning of December 2, 1859. Franklin B. Sanborn (1885), p. 585. John Brown and five of his sons moved to Kansas to support the free-soil settlers who wanted Kansas to come into the union as a free state in which slavery would be outlawed. Ethan Hawke stars as bearded abolitionist John Brown in the seven-episode series The Good Lord Bird, ... as he teams up with Brown for the Bleeding Kansas … The quotation from Brown's speech in court is from Life and Letters of John Brown, Liberator of Kansas, and Martyr of Virginia, ed. John Brown was a participant in the "war" and described it at length in a letter to his family, reprinted in Cutler's History.] Bleeding Kansas era and to compose a letter to a friend or relative expressing either their support for or opposition to John Brown’s violent actions. Brown's controversial actions sparked retaliatory attacks and thus counter-attacks, causing the bloodiest period of Bleeding Kansas. John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist.Brown advocated the use of armed insurrection to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States.He first gained national attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. In retaliation, the fiery abolitionist John Brown led a group of men on an attack at Pottawatomie Creek. Facts About Harpers Ferry and John Brown. John Brown, who with others rode into Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, a village of several slave-owning families, and killed five men during "Bleeding Kansas". John Brown believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. These and other events surrounding Kansas' difficult transition to statehood, made even more complicated by the issue of slavery, became known as Bleeding Kansas. Brown was at the forefront of a number of incidents during the Bleeding Kansas crisis in 1856. On May 5, 1856 a grand jury returned an indictment which, as Gihon noted, amounted to a declaration of war upon the free soilers: This was about to change. Instruct students to draw information and examples to support their position from the John Brown Border War encyclopedia entry in addition to the letters they have read.
Standards Statement During the Bleeding Kansas conflict in the 1850s, Brown and his followers fought against proslavery “Border Ruffians,” gaining admiration from New England abolitionist elites and intellectuals.