JOHN BROWN
National Hero or Domestic Terrorist?
A STANDARDS BASED
LESSON USING
LITERACY STRATEGIES
TO TEACH CONTENT
SSUSH9: The student will identify key events,
issues, and individuals relating to the causes,
course, and consequences of the Civil War.
a.Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of
popular sovereignty, Dred Scott case, and John
Brown’s Raid.
COMMON CORE LITERACY STANDARDS:
L11-12RH6: Evaluate author’s differing points of view on the
same historical event or issue by assessing the author’s
claims, reasoning and evidence.
L11-12RH9: Integrate information from diverse sources, both
primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of
an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
L11-12WHST2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including
the narration of historical events.
JOHN STEUART CURRY’S
“A TRAGIC PRELUDE”
3
IN REGARDS TO THE PAINTING…
 What does the artist convey by the title, “A Tragic
Prelude”?
 What evidence of this prelude can be seen in the
painting?
 At what time would you assume this painting was
done?
 Based on what you can see in this painting, how
do you believe the artist would have described
John Brown: national hero or a domestic
terrorist?
4
WHAT DOES THE ARTIST CONVEY BY THE TITLE,
“A TRAGIC PRELUDE”?
5
WHAT EVIDENCE OF THIS PRELUDE
CAN BE SEEN IN THE PAINTING?
6
AT WHAT TIME WOULD YOU
ASSUME THIS PAINTING WAS DONE?
7
BASED ON WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PAINTING, HOW DO YOU
BELIEVE THE ARTIST WOULD HAVE DESCRIBED JOHN BROWN:
NATIONAL HERO OR A DOMESTIC TERRORIST?
8
DISCUSSION
HARPERS FERRY 1859
 John Brown’s attack on the federal arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia was a culmination of his
decades-long fight to end slavery. He expected
that such an attack by a company of both white
and black liberators would incite slaves to escape
from plantations across the South. According to
his plan, the freed slaves would join him in safe
havens in the mountains, where he would arm
and train them for guerrilla warfare. The loss of
slaves and fear of insurrection would destabilize
the South and build political support for abolition
in the North.
Excerpt from: John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York. 2009.
10
COL. ROBERT E. LEE'S REPORT CONCERNING THE
ATTACK AT HARPER'S FERRY – OCTOBER 19, 1859

Lee’s Report
In groups of no more than three, read Col. Lee’s report. As you read,
answer the following questions in the margin.
…
When and where was this report written?
…
What do you know about the author?
…
Who might be reading this report?
…
Why do you think this document was written?
…
Besides the author, what other people are mentioned?
…
Are any casualties mentioned? If so, how many? Who are they?
…
How does the author / speaker feel about John Brown? The other
people involved?
…
Does the author say why John Brown did what he did? If so, what is
said?
…
Is there any part of the document that you have questions about? If so,
highlight or underline that part and write a note next to it to remind
you.
Adapted from The Civil War Trust: John Brown – Hero or Murderer?
www.civilwar.org
11

EXCERPT FROM
LEE’S REPORT
…it appears that the party consisted of
nineteen men- fourteen white and five black.
That they were headed by John Brown, of
some notoriety in Kansas, who in June last
located himself in Maryland, at the Kennedy
farm, where he has been engaged in preparing
to capture the United States works at
Harper’s Ferry.
He avows that his object was the liberation of
the slaves of Virginia, and of the whole South;
and acknowledges that he has been
disappointed in his expectations of aid from
the black as well as white population, both in
the Northern and Southern States. The
blacks, whom he forced from their homes in
this neighborhood, as far as I could learn,
gave him no voluntary assistance. The
servants of Messrs. Washington and Allstadt,
retained at the armory, took no part in the
conflict, and those carried to Maryland
returned to their homes as soon as released.
The result proves that the plan was the
attempt of a fanatic or madman, who could
only end in failure; and its temporary success,
was owing to the panic and confusion he
succeeded in creating by magnifying his
numbers.
JOHN BROWN’S ADDRESS –
NOVEMBER 2, 1859

Brown’s
Address
In groups of no more than three, read John Brown’s address. As you read,
answer the following questions in the margin.
…
When and where was this report written?
…
What do you know about the author?
…
Who might be hearing this testimony or address?
…
Why do you think this testimony given?
…
Besides the author, what other people are mentioned?
…
Are any casualties mentioned? If so, how many? Who are they?
…
How does the author / speaker feel about John Brown? The other people
involved?
…
Does the author say why John Brown did what he did? If so, what is said?
…
Is there any part of the document that you have questions about? If so,
highlight or underline that part and write a note next to it to remind you.
Adapted from The Civil War Trust: John Brown – Hero or Murderer?
www.civilwar.org
13
EXCERPT FROM
BROWN’S ADDRESS
TO THE COURT
 I have, may it please the Court, a few
words to say.
In the first place, I deny everything but
what I have already admitted, of a design
on my part to free slaves. I intended,
certainly, to have made a clean thing of
that matter, as I did last winter when I
went into Missouri, and there took Slaves
without the snapping of a gun on either
side, moving them through the country,
and finally leaving them in Canada. I
designed to have done the same thing
again on a larger scale. That was all I
intended. I never did intend murder, or
treason, or the destruction of property, or
to excite or incite Slaves to rebellion, or
to make insurrection.
DISCUSSION
IF YOU WERE A CONTEMPORARY –
WOULD YOU JUDGE JOHN BROWN A
NATIONAL HERO OR DOMESTIC TERRORIST?
THOUGHTS ON JOHN BROWN
FROM HIS CONTEMPORARIES
 “If John Brown did not end the war that ended
slavery, he did a least begin the war that ended
slavery.” – Frederick Douglass, 1881
 “This old man Brown …was nothing more than a
murderer, a robber, a thief, and a traitor.”
– Senator Andrew Johnson (Tenn.), 1859
 “I find in John Brown…a lover of mankind-not of
any particular class or color, but of all men…He
fully, really, practically and actively believed in the
equality and brotherhood of man”
– Charles H. Livingston, Black Leader in Ohio, 1859
 You charge that we stir up insurrections among your
slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Harper's
Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown was no
Republican...”
– Abraham Lincoln, Copper Union Address, February 27, 1860
17
ASSESSMENT
John Brown’s raid on
Harper’s Ferry further
divided a nation already
marred by sectional
conflict and mistrust. In
the wake of the event,
newspapers anxiously
published stories of the
event and its subsequent
trial . Editorials were
written by northerners
and southerners anxious
to make sense of John
Brown and his raid. It
was the news of 1859 and
would come to shape the
discussion that led a
nation to war. As a
newspaper editorialist,
how would you have
written John Brown’s
story? Was he a murderer
or a hero?
Role:
Audience:
1)You are a northern
Readers of your
newspaper
Republican newspaper editor.
2)
You are a
southern Democratic
newspaper editor
Format:
Task:
Newspaper
editorial
Write an editorial
that addresses John
Brown, the events at
Harper’s Ferry, and
its impact on the
nation as a whole.
DISCUSSION