Mixing idealism with violence, abolitionist John Brown cut a
wide swath across the United States before winding up in Virginia,
where he led an attack on the U.S. armory and arsenal at Harpers
Ferry. Supported by a provisional army of 21 men, Brown hoped to
rouse the slaves in Virginia to rebellion. But he was quickly
captured and, after a short but stormy trial, hanged on December 2,
1859.
Brian McGinty provides the first comprehensive account of the
trial, which raised important questions about jurisdiction,
judicial fairness, and the nature of treason under the American
constitutional system. After the jury returned its guilty verdict,
an appeal was quickly disposed of, and the governor of Virginia
refused to grant clemency. Brown met his death not as an enemy of
the American people but as an enemy of Southern slaveholders.
Historians have long credited the Harpers Ferry raid with
rousing the country to a fever pitch of sectionalism and
accelerating the onset of the Civil War. McGinty sees Brown s
trial, rather than his raid, as the real turning point in the
struggle between North and South. If Brown had been killed in
Harpers Ferry (as he nearly was), or condemned to death in a
summary court-martial, his raid would have had little effect.
Because he survived to stand trial before a Virginia judge and
jury, and argue the case against slavery with an eloquence that
reverberated around the world, he became a symbol of the struggle
to abolish slavery and a martyr to the cause of freedom.
General
Imprint: |
Harvard University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2009 |
First published: |
2009 |
Authors: |
Brian McGinty
|
Dimensions: |
210 x 140 x 31mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards / With printed dust jacket
|
Pages: |
384 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-03517-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-674-03517-8 |
Barcode: |
9780674035171 |
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