John Brown : Terrorist

Rob Hadad

Ms. Lehman-Wranitz

American Studies Honors

9 January 2013

John Brown: America’s First Terrorist

John Brown was one of the first terrorists that the United States of America has ever seen. John Brown believed he was on a “mission from God” and had to free slaves from their bondage. Many of his family members went insane, showing that he could have been insane himself. He murdered innocent people who had no slaves, and felt no guilt from killing many people, including a free African American during his raid on Harper’s Ferry. In addition he also showed many characteristics of serial killers and modern day terrorists because of his radical religious beliefs.

John Brown received a letter from Mahala Doyle, wife and mother of victims from the Pottawattamie Creek massacre. She said Brown had, “ Entered her house at midnight and arrested my husband and two boys, and took them out of the yard and in cold blood shot them dead in my hearing”. She goes on to say, “You can’t say you done it to free slaves. We had none and never expected to own one”. Brown killed those men to get revenge for the sack of Lawrence (Finkleman 5). John Brown did not have any proof of their affiliation with the sack of Lawrence but killed them, along with others with guns and if they resisted they were cut in many places with knives and swords until they bled to death (Finkleman 18). A martyr would not take the lives of others just for revenge, especially slowly, with knives and swords.

John Brown in his address to the court in December 1859 said, “ I feel no consciousness of Guilt”. Brown was referring to his raid on Harper’s Ferry during which he and his men killed 5 people including a free black man working as a baggage handler (John Brown and Harper’s Ferry Raid 6). The killing of a free black man, the race he was trying to save by raiding Harper’s Ferry shows Brown’s complete disregard for the lives of other people. This is also shown in his address to the...