I.

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry caused the civil

war.
A. “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you
equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”
-Malcolm X

B.Effects of the raid

1.Southerners associated the raid with all northerners

2.The South withdrew even farther into its defense of

slavery

3.Thousands of northerners gathered to honor Brown’s

martyrdom.

4.Violence against abolitionists increased in the south.

5.Southerners linked Brown to northern republicans

which inspired secession.

6.Emerson gave a lecture about Brown 6 days after his

death

7.Thoreau wrote “A Plea for Captain John Brown”

II.John Brown’s life before the raid.

A.“The Jesus Christ of the 19th Century” – Robert Purvis

B.Before the raid

1.Brown was a “Conductor” on the Underground
Railroad.

2.Attacked plantations with his followers

3.Saw slavery as a sin against God.

4.Radical Abolitionist

5.Used alias “Shubel Morgan”

III.John Brown’s Life before and during the Raid on
Harper’s Ferry
A.During the Raid
1.Raid was set up as a place for slaves to flee to.

2.The “Secret Six” organized the raid financially

3.The Raid took place on October 16, 1859

4.Became a Pro-Slavery hate figure

IV.John Brown after the raid.

A.Effects on John Brown
1.Hanged at Charlestown on December 2, 1859

2.One of the main causes of the civil war.

3.Gave a powerful courtroom speech before he was

hanged.

4.All black businesses closed on his execution day.

5.Martyr in the North during the war.

V.Harper’s Ferry
A.Details of the raid
1.Harper’s Ferry located at the confluence of the Potomac
and Shenandoah Rivers in Northern Virginia.

a)Vital arsenal location

2.Brown rallied at Adam Kennedy’s farmhouse, 5 miles
from Harper’s Ferry.

3.Brown led 21 men including 5 blacks

a)The First of Brown’s men to die was a freed slave

 b)10 of Brown’s Men were killed and Brown was
hanged.
4.Nobody found out about the raid until 9 hours after it
occurred.

a)Robert E. Lee attacked the morning after the Raid.

5.Brown’s men went through the town freeing slaves.

a)Brown’s men captured the rifle works, arsenal and

railroad.

VI.Effects of Harper’s Ferry on the Country

A.Cause of the Civil War
1.Brown’s Raid intensified sectional bitterness

2.Stands out as a critical episode in the sequences

leading up to the civil war

3.Tremendous effect on the thinking of the times

4.Forced people to radical ends