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John Brown's Birth
In Torrington, Connecticut, the future abolitionist John Brown is born. John is son of Owen Brown, a Calvinist. Owen hated slavery and believed holding humans in bondage was a sin against God. Being born to Own Brown greatly affects John's future. -
The War of 1812
The 12-year-old John Brown travels through the wilderness in Michigan to deliver a herd of cattle. While delivering this cattle, he stays with a man who owned a slave boy. This slave boy is beaten in front of John with an iron shovel. This is a significant event because the slave being harshly beaten in front of John Brown could have caused the start of his hatred towards slavery. -
John's First Marriage
John Brown marries a woman named Dianthe Lusk. in 1826 John and his wife move to the Pennsylvania wilderness, where John builds a tannery. In 1832 Dianthe dies, causing what could possibly be the start of John Brown's craziness. -
Second Marriage
A year after John's first wife Dianthe dies, John Brown marries 16-year-old Mary Day. Mary takes care of the five children from John's previous marriage as well as the thirteen of her and John's own children. Economic hardships prove to be getting worse and worse, and John Brown struggles to support his large family. These hardships are important in John Brown's life because they build his character and further define his future. -
Elija Lovejoy Death
Elijah Lovejoy, publisher of an antislavery newspaper, is shot and killed by a mob of proslavery people. John Brown speaks at Elijah's memorial service and vows to end slavery. This event is extremely important because it is the first time John Brown is noted to speak publicly about ending slavery. -
Bankruptcy
John Brown officially goes bankrupt. Creditors took all but life essentials from the Brown family. This event causes more desperation in John Brown, furthering his anger which is later violently released. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska act enacts the idea of popular sovereignety in the slavery-undecided states of Kansas and Nebraska. This act ends the old way of deciding slave territories, the Missouri Compromise. By using popular sovereignety, both northerners and southerners rush to Kansas and Nebraska to illegally vote on the state either being slave or free. This is significant to John Brown's life because it angers him even more on the idea of slavery, and causes him to enter Kansas and commit crime. -
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
John Brown led a group of men including his sons on an attack on dedicated proslavery settlers in the Pottawatomie Creek area. By leading this attack, John meant to send a message to all that were proslavery. He delivered this message especially by chopping off the heads of the five men that he killed. This event is important because it is John Brown's first violent attack on slavery. The north thought positively of this attack, supporting John. The south thought the exact opposite. -
"Secret Six"
John Brown is introduced to a group of Boston abolitionists by Franklin Sanborn. These abolitionists all hope to further the antislavery fight in Kansas. This meeting is important because some of these members become apart of a group of abolitionists called the "Secret Six". -
Harper's Ferry
After renting a house outside of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, John Brown takes a group of men and raids the armory at Harper's Ferry. Prior to the attack, John had tried to convince Frederick Douglass to join him. Brown had been hoping that the slaves near Harper's Ferry would join him in the uprising, but none of them had gotten word of it. Robert E. Lee led the marines that took back Harper's Ferry. This event is extremely important because of the way it leads to and affects the Civil War. -
John Brown's Death
John Brown is tried for treason, murder, and inciting slaves to insurrection, and found guilty. On death row, Brown is transformed into what the north thought to be a martyr. In a speech to the court before his sentencing, Brown stated his actions to be just and God-sanctioned. On December 2nd, John brown is hanged. The north and south had opposite opinions on the hanging of John Brown, and this division shows the future for America.
