JOHN BROWN AND THE CIVIL WAR

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING :

• Students will use a KWL chart to engage prior understanding of John Brown.
• Students will analyze images associated with John Brown’s Raid.
• Students will identify and describe the events related to John Brown’s Raid

Standard and Learning target:

8.RL.1 - Analyze what the text says explicitly as well as inferentially; cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports the analysis

Students will determine a theme or central idea from evidence in the text, or provide an objective summary of the text

What does the word Abolitionist mean?

a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery.

KWL

• What did you already know?
• What do I want to know?
• What did I learn?

Untitled Slide

John Brown Timeline

• 1800 John Brown born in Connecticut.
• 1833 John Brown married his second wife, who took care of his five children and later bore him thirteen of her own. Finances got harder as he attempted to provide for his large family.
• 1837 November 7: John Brown vowed to end slavery when he learned that an abolitionist newspaperman was killed.
• 1842 John Brown went bankrupt. Lost almost everything.
• 1842 John Brown went bankrupt. Lost almost everything.

John Brown Timeline

• 1855 John Brown followed his sons to Kansas as Free-Soilers.
• 1856 May 24: Brown went to nearby Pottawatomie Creek and directed his men in the murder of five proslavery settlers.
• 1859 October 16: John Brown attacked the armory at Harpers Ferry with 21 men (16 white, 5 black). Within 36 hours, they were almost all captured or killed. Two of John Brown’s sons were killed. November 2: A Virginia jury found John Brown guilty of murder, treason, and inciting a slave insurrection. December 2: John Brown was hanged. 1860 November: Abraham Lincoln elected President.
• 1861 April 12: The South seceded, and the Civil War began. 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished

John Brown Timeline

• 1861 April 12: The South seceded, and the Civil War began.
• 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished

Read Document A and B

ANSWER QUESTION ON A

• John Brown delivered this speech on the last day of his trial, after hearing the jury pronounce him ‘guilty.’ He knew he would be sentenced to die. Given that context, what does this speech say about him as a person?
• Based on this document, do you think John Brown was a “misguided fanatic”? Why or why not?

ANSWER QUESTION ON B

• 1. What are two reasons why Douglass opposed John Brown’s plan to raid Harper’s Ferry?
• Douglass’s account is written in 1881, twenty-two years after the raid. Do you trust his account? Why or why not?
• 3. Based on this document, do you think John Brown was a “misguided fanatic”? Why or why not

After reading about both documents compare and contrast how each person viewed the raid?

Closing:
On your KWL Chart, what did you learn about John Brown?