John Brown, Slavery & The Civil War

[b***@aol.com]

Since we've changed topics several times, I decided to begin a fresh
topic from the final posting about Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat.

FROM PREVIOUS POSTING:

I liked how Lincoln dismissed any idea that John

Brown's actions reflected him being a Republican.
Lincoln insisted that he was not!
Any right thinking middle-of-the-road candidate who
wanted to appeal to the broadest constituancy would
have to condemn John brown. He was not just an
insurrectionist, but an anarchist, a terrorist, and cold
blooded murderer...

John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the
Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights (Hardcover).
The author of this (effort?) tries to justify John Brown and
enshrine his efforts as being worthy. According to reviewers, every
time he tries to make this point, even his own writing usually reveals
the inaccuracy of that concept. (This book is not on my must read
list, but it illustrates my point.)

Just like this current book, in Lincoln's time, there were those
who wanted to credit John Brown with being the instrument of change
that would eventually bring about the end of slavery. They even sang
songs about him. Lincoln didn't believe that, and set out to expose
Brown for who he was in the Cooper Union Speech. He further used the
example of his hanging as a warning to the South that the Union would
not tolerate rebellion of any kind, and would answer them in the same
way as they had dealt with John Brown.
I imagine that a great many radical Republicans (back then) did
not share Lincoln's opinion of John Brown because of their total
contempt for the South. Like the book's title above, they were
blinded to who he was because they were opposed to slavery anywhere in
the Union.

Rich Wagner

[Whistler]

Post by b***@aol.com
The author of this (effort?) tries to justify John Brown
and enshrine his efforts as being worthy.

And what was the name of that old movie which tries to
paint John Brown as some kind of saint? The rewriting of
history is something you have to watch out for, especially
with the stuff that comes out of Hollywood...

[b***@aol.com]

� � The author of this (effort?) tries to justify John Brown
and enshrine his efforts as being worthy.

� And what was the name of that old movie which tries to
paint John Brown as some kind of saint?

Maybe "Santa Fe Trail" (1940) where Dark Haired (?) Ronald Regan
played George Custer. In the film, he's with Robert E. Lee where the
are chasing John Brown together. As I remember, there was lots of
kind words said about him in that film

The rewriting of
history is something you have to watch out for, especially
with the stuff that comes out of Hollywood...

Agreed. It's also become clear to me that much of what I learned in
school was not accurate. An interesting quote I read once was,
"Without theory, there can be no history; but the truth is in the
details."

What do history books teach about what happened during
Reconstruction? Wilson's five volume text has 100 pages on that
subject. What does history say about the intent of Lincoln's
Emancipation? Why was it sent to the Southern leadership 100 days
prior to it's proclamation. Wasn't it actually an offer to the South
to return to antibellum by ending the conflict? It says that it
applies only to "those States still in rebellion." Today, whites more
than educated blacks praise this document as bringing an end to
slavery, even when it did nothing of the sort. Yet that's the common
opinion. Remember Bush when he praised the document?

I've learned very interesting facts from the strangest places.
President Andrew Johnson personally asked Fredrick Douglas to head the
Freedmen Bureau. After thinking it over, he refused, yet, just a few
years later he would head a committee for President Grant,
investigating relocating Negros away from America. I learned all of
this in my studies of Fredrick Douglas, along with his solution to the
race problem. Douglas, whose wife and mistress were both white,
suggested inter-racial marrage so that some day we would really be
homogenized.

None of this would be believed by most today, but it's all available
on the Martin Luther King Site.

History can become really exciting when you learn the facts.

Rich Wagner

[Whistler]

Post by b***@aol.com

Post by b***@aol.com
The author of this (effort?) tries to justify John
Brown and enshrine his efforts as being worthy.
And what was the name of that old movie which
triest to paint John Brown as some kind of saint?

Maybe "Santa Fe Trail" (1940) where Dark Haired (?)
Ronald Regan played George Custer. In the film, he's
withRobert E. Lee where the are chasing John Brown
together. As I remember, there was lots of kind words
said about him in that film

The one I'm thinking of, the closing scene shows him
with a light from the heavens beaming down on him, that
leads up to the sky, with a heavenly choir singing in the
background. You would think it was a film on
Christ's resurection.
There are paintings which show him as a hero to blacks
along with books and articles about how he laid down
his life for his cause.
John Brown, even after his hanging was well thought
of as a anti-slavery martyr by alot of people. Which is
all fine and good for that cause, but they completely
ignore his brutal, murdurous ways of attracting
attention for his cause.