General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are you glad that John Brown was hanged? [View all]Martin Eden
(12,864 posts)His plot to instigate a slave rebellion by siezing the armory at Harpers Ferry never had a chance. If he was killed in that incident John Brown would be a lesser foot note in our history. But the trial and the national attention that led up to his hanging helped to fulfill his prophecy that "the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood."
From my perspective, "glad" doesn't enter into it. The institution of slavery was a horrible stain on our nation and had to be abolished, but who knows what would have happened if John Brown never lived of died? Speculating about an alternative history is interesting, but can never be proven. However, IMHO the Civil War would likely have run its course pretty much the same -- as long as Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860.