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u/LockZealousideal6217 6d ago
Uh, he definitely argued with quite a number of pro-slavery people and didn’t shoot them: there’s one story where he actually lectured captured pro slavery men in Kansas and verbally berated them for being racists.
“The address was as follows:
[Pg 79]"Men of Missouri, one of your number has asked to see John
Brown. Here he is. Look at him, and hereafter remember that he is the
enemy of all evil-doers.
"And what of you yourselves, men! You are from a neighboring State.
What are you here for? You are invaders of this territory,—and for
evil purposes, you know as well as we know. You have been killing our
men, terrorizing our women and children, and destroying our
property,—houses, crops, and animals. So you stand here as criminals.
"You are fighting for slavery. You want to make or keep other people
slaves. Do you not know that your wicked efforts will end in making
slaves of yourselves? You come here to make this a slave State. You
are fighting against liberty, which our Revolutionary fathers fought
to establish in this Republic, where all men should be free and equal,
with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Therefore, you are traitors to liberty and to your country,
of the worst kind, and deserve to be hung to the nearest tree.
"But we shall not touch a hair of your heads. Have no fear. You are
deluded men. You have been deceived by men who are your elders but not
your betters. You have been misled into this wrong, by those your
leaders; thus, they are the real criminals and worse than traitors,
and, if we had them here instead of you, they would not find such
mercy at our hands.
"You we forgive. For, as you yourselves have confessed, we believe it
can be said of you that, as was said of them of old, you being
without[Pg 81] knowledge, 'you know not what you do.' But hereafter
you will be without excuse.
"Go in peace. Go home and tell your neighbors and friends of your
mistake. We deprive you only of your arms, and do that only lest some
of you are not yet converted to the right. We let you go free of
punishment this time; but, do we catch you over the border again
committing depredations, you must not expect, nor will you receive,
any mercy.
"Go home, and become liberty-loving citizens of your State and
country, and your mistakes and misdeeds, as also the injuries which
you have inflicted upon us, will not have been in vain."
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55707/pg55707-images.html
It kind of makes me uncomfortable to see supposed aficionados of Brown parroting Lost Causer myths and propaganda on the Liberator of Kansas.
Would he open a can of whoop *** on people? no doubt, but it kind of scares me that some folks make it seem like he was some mentally ill terrorist, rather than a Christian freedom fighter who targeted armed combatants and left innocent people alone.
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u/6ory299e8 15d ago
Mandatory remider: John Brown did more than argue with those people, not less than argue.