Chapter 14: Slavery and America's Future: The Road to War, 1845-1861





The following activities accompany the Legacy for a People and a Nation on "Revolutionary Violence" in Chapter 14. Refer to page 385 of Norton, A People and a Nation, Sixth Edition for the complete text of this Legacy. There are three parts to this web page: Questions to Consider, Investigation, and Further Exploration.




Questions to Consider
1. Some suggest today that people use religion in political and societal clashes as an excuse for their actions. How would you reconcile John Brown’s use of religion to justify his actions?

2. Identify as many motives as you can for John Brown’s raid.

3. Was John Brown a freedom fighter or a terrorist? If you think of him as a freedom fighter, why? If you think of as a terrorist, why?

4. Is terrorism ever a legitimate political weapon?


Investigation
To prepare for this section, read Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem about Brown and Brown’s speech before the court when he was on trial for murder.
Analyze a lithograph of John Brown which was commissioned in 1937 and produced for the Kansas capitol mural.
An African American university founded by freedmen, Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, dedicated a John Brown Memorial in 1911.
After examining these sites write a short paper addressing how our images of John Brown have changed over time and what he symbolizes today.





Further Exploration
1. The American Prospect On-line neatly summarizes the dilemma we face today in regarding John Brown as martyr or terrorist.

2. Read the transcript of a PBS program entitled John Brown's Holy War.

3. Visit Harper's Ferry and see the building that John Brown and his men seized in 1859.

4. Read the sheet music for the Civil War song, "John Brown’s Body." Go to the Library of Congress's American Memory Collection and search using "John Brown's Body." Look at the sheet music to see the decorations around the perimeter of the documents.