Causes of Civil War

John Brown Martyr or Terrorist?

 

       While tensions were running high during Bleeding Kansas, one man
decided to take violent actions which were unquestionably wrong. John
Brown, an abolitionist, brutally murdered five innocent pro slavery
southerners. After getting away with murder, John Brown then took
twenty men to Harpers Ferry in order to secure the arsenal by force.
By doing this, he killed seven innocent men and attempted to wage war
on the South causing Northerners to view him as a martyr and
Southerners to view him as a terrorist. Previous Southern fear of
losing their way of life only increased due to Northern support of
John Brown's actions. Although both North and South had opposite views
of John Brown, all can agree his violent actions, whether justified or
not, marked the beginning of the end of compromise.
         After John Brown got away with murder, abolitionists claimed his
actions were justified. They also called some rifles Beecher Bibles
because they would be used to stop the evils of slavery in the name of
God and "there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so
far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a hundred
Bibles" http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/beecher-bibles/11977. All this
aggression toward Southerners' peculiar institution made them feel
threatened. Following John Brown's execution for attempting to wage
war on the southern half of the United States, Northerners viewed him
as a martyr. At this time the South had not yet seceded, and waging
war on the South was considered waging war with the entire United
States in the eyes of Southerners. Just as the violent protesting in
Ferguson was supported by many, the violent actions taken by John
Brown were also supported by many Northerners even though in reality
both of these actions were indisputably wrong.
         Because so many Northerners supported these actions and viewed them
as martyrdom rather than terrorism, the South felt it had been
abandoned and it's way of life threatened. Southerners already
experienced fear of slave revolts such as Denmark Vesey's attempted
slave rebellion, and now the South felt they had experienced the first
attack from abolitionists. Perhaps the Confederates attacked Fort
Sumter because they believed John Brown and the North already attacked
them. The previous uneasiness in the South only intensified into
terror after the events at Harpers Ferry and caused the South to
enforce slave codes and night patrols in order feel safe. This might
be viewed as an overreaction but in times of fear people use emotions
rather than logic and intuition.
       Before Harpers Ferry, some southern legislatures still desired to
keep the union together but Brown's action at Harpers Ferry was the
tipping point for moderate southern legislatures. These once moderate
people were overcome with terror and afraid of the abolitionists. Fear
led to suspicion which caused Southern legislatures to support
Breckenridge rather than Douglas. This uneasiness helped break apart
the Democratic Party, the last national political party and one of the
few instruments used to hold the union together. With no glue to hold
the Union together as one piece, secession was inevitable.
         Whether John Brown's actions were justified or not, it is the point
of no return for keeping the union together. Once it was done,
secession from the Union was inevitable for the South. Although the
South's actions appear irrational today, the reason they acted in this
way was because of fear. Losing their way of life can be compared to
losing our right of expressing  religious beliefs. Some public schools
no longer allow God to be said in the pledge of allegiance yet America
was founded by Christians fleeing religious persecution. Many people
already feel threatened by this and if it continues, there could be
violence, secession, or even civil war in the future due to fear. For
southerners, their peculiar institution was a right and being forced
to give it up struck enough terror in them to cause them to secede.

American Renaissance

The Scarlet Letter

 Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, although difficult to read more than a few pages without putting it down, clearly shows the ideas of the American Renaissance. Specifically, it focuses on Romanticism. This novel even contains Transcendentalism, a branch of Romanticism, and some of it's ideas within the text. Although the novel takes place in Puritan times, Hawthorne still manages to express his Romantic ideas to the audience.
 Romanticism focused on emotion and morality, and transcendentalism also focused on human connection to nature. This new way of thinking was much different from other period in American history. Before Romanticism, writing focused on religion and then science. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne used good and evil to show the contrast in different ideas, and even to criticize the old American ways. This criticism is important because it shows the Romantic ideas of change or reform.