In October of 1859, John Brown a revolutionary abolitionist, planned an attack on the Harpers Ferry armory in West Virginia. Brown led 21 men including five African Americans across the covered B&O Railroad bridge hoping that other slaves would join him. Brown figured, if he could gain the weapons from Harpers Ferry, slaves from the area would join him, and he could create a stronghold of armed and freed slaves in Maryland and Virginia. When Brown and his men reached the Ferry on October 17, they became trapped in side by the local Militia. The following day, a group of 90 U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee arrived from Washington and stormed the Ferry, capturing John Brown and his men. In all, 10 of Browns men along with 5 Militia and one Marine were killed. Brown and five of his men were captured tried and convicted of treason against the state of Virginia, along with murder and attempt to incite a slave insurrection. Even though size of the raid, and even the number of deaths was much smaller than earlier rebellions, it fanned the fears of white Southerners because the majority of the men participating were white abolitionists from the North including John Brown himself. The South had for some time now, feared slave rebellions, but now they added to that the fear of future invasions from abolitionists of the North. To many in the South, John Brown was considered a terrorist, while for many abolitionists in the North, he was a martyr.
The stories of John Brown spread like wild fire, with the newspapers and leaflets peddling fear of widespread slave rebellions and invaders from the North. It was seen as a flash-point in American history when heated, often shrill debate heaped fuel on the embers of disunion. Chief among the peddlers of these fears was President James Buchanan himself. In his last address to congress, James Buchanan raised the warning flag: "I have long foreseen and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger." This impending danger was not the result of fights over constitutional rights to own slaves in U.S. territory, nor was it a fight over the fugitive-slave act. No this danger, in Buchanan's words was caused by "the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions of freedom." Yes, James Buchanan was blaming the abolitionist and their "vague notions of freedom" for bringing the country to the brink of war.
"I have long foreseen and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proceed solely from the claim on the part of Congress or the Territorial legislatures to exclude slavery from the Territories, nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the execution of the fugitive-slave law. All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South without danger to the Union (as others have been) in the hope that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises not so much from these causes as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile insurrections. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall pervade the masses of the Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and has been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest purpose; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long continue if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later the bonds of such a union must be severed."Later in his state of the Union address, James Buchanan doubled-down on his support to allow for slavery in the South by invoking State Sovereignty. And, "As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible and have no more right to interfere than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2017). James Buchanan: Fourth Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29501 [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
Brown, J. (2017). John Brown’s Harpers Ferry - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com. [online] HISTORY.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/harpers-ferry [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
Cs.cornell.edu. (2017). John Brown painting at Harper's Ferry. [online] Available at: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/nystrom/images/antietam/pages/page_17.html [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
The Odyssey Online. (2017). The Significance of John Brown's Raid. [online] Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-significance-of-john-browns-raid [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
Cs.cornell.edu. (2017). John Brown painting at Harper's Ferry. [online] Available at: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/nystrom/images/antietam/pages/page_17.html [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
The Odyssey Online. (2017). The Significance of John Brown's Raid. [online] Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-significance-of-john-browns-raid [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].
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