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Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America

von Evan Carton

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1573172,767 (4.03)5
John Brown is a lightning rod of history. Yet he is poorly understood and most commonly described in stereotypes -- as a madman, martyr, or enigma. Not until Patriotic Treason has a biography or history brought him so fully to life, in scintillating prose and moving detail, making his life and legacy-and the staggering sacrifices he made for his ideals-fascinatingly relevant to today's issues of social justice and to defining the line between activism and terrorism. Vividly re-creating the world in which Brown and his compatriots lived with a combination of scrupulous original research, new perspectives, and a sensitive historical imagination, Patriotic Treason narrates the dramatic life of the first U.S. citizen committed to absolute racial equality. Here are his friendships (Brown lived, worked, ate, and fought alongside African Americans, in defiance of the culture around him), his family (he turned his twenty children by two wives into a dedicated militia), and his ideals (inspired by the Declaration of Independence and the Golden Rule, he collaborated with black leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Delany, and Harriet Tubman to overthrow slavery). Evan Carton captures the complex, tragic, and provocative story of Brown the committed abolitionist, Brown the tender yet demanding and often absent father and husband, and Brown the radical American patriot who attacked the American state in the name of American principles. Through new research into archives, attention to overlooked family letters, and reinterpretation of documents and events, Carton essentially reveals a missing link in American history. A wrenching family saga, Patriotic Treason positions John Brown at the heart of our most profound and enduring national debates. As definitions of patriotism and treason are fiercely contested, as some criticize religious extremism while others mourn religion's decline, and as race relations in America remain unresolved, John Brown's story speaks to us as never before, reminding us that one courageous individual can change the course of history.… (mehr)
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"For Thoreau, the most spiritual corrosive life is lived by relatively privileged members of democratic societies who know in their hearts that their elected government is doing great wrong in their names, who derive personal and national benefit from that wrong, and who--out of convenience, conformity, cynicism, or dispair-- do nothing to stop or correct it." (pg 344)

This book is an excellent launching ground for anyone wanting to start understanding John Brown, and the consequence of his actions. Written in a narrative-style, it is engaging throughout. I would rate it the the best book I read all year. I am thankful I stumbled on it.

I have mixed emotions on John Brown, his means to achieve his goals, and his mindset. He was a very complex man, and it's difficult to render an unequivocal moral verdict on his actions. Was he simply a religious zealot? Insane? A cold blooded murderer? A saint? A patriot?

I think in some ways he embodies all of those things. The raid at Harper Ferry may of been the tipping point for our nation, forcing the North and South to truly and completely reckon with the crime of slavery. In that sense, I think he was a success. How one judges the rightousness of his actions that brought the country there, will forever be debated.

Mr. Carton seems to favor Brown and his actions, and he offers defense to some of his actions in Kanas. He also appears one who elevates Brown's ultimate importance in the abolitionist movement of the time.

In the final chapter, Mr. Carton discusses how until recently, historians have basically dismissed Brown as a religious zealot. For me, Carton's book definitely takes the alternate view. I doubt the debate will ever be settled, but in the end, I am glad a brave, bold man named John Brown existed, and I think it was something that was a ticking time bomb - Mr. Brown was simply swept up in the troubled times, and was one of a few brave souls who through their relentless efforts forced America to finally confront it's greatest sin. ( )
  Mitchell_Bergeson_Jr | Aug 6, 2017 |
What are we to make of John Brown and his impact on the tensions between North and South that led to secession and war? The conceptions of him held by historians are far from alike. Was he a madman whose fanaticism on the issue of slavery culminated in his ill-conceived, suicidal raid on the Harper’s Ferry Armory? Was his belief that the raid would spark a general uprising of slaves completely delusional? In light of the growing rancor between the North and the South was Brown and his action just a bizarre footnote to the major events of the time? Or, was he a calculating strategist who knew that no matter how the raid turned out its consequences would bring the continuation of slavery to the boiling point? Did his plan, whether he intended it or not, actually hasten the South to the brink of dissolving the union?

The acrimonious sectional issues confronting the free and slave states were manifold and complex. It would be a mistake, I think, to consider Brown’s actions to be the spark that lit the tinder of discord. But it would be equally wrong to consider him a half-crazed fanatic whose wild schemes, which were largely viewed with disdain both North and South, had inconsequential impact on pushing the sides further apart.

Carton’s excellent history of John Brown – aptly subtitled “John Brown and the Soul of America” – gives insights into these questions. Brown’s views on slavery stemmed from his deeply held religious sensibility that human bondage was morally corrupt and completely contrary to biblical and Christian principles. Brown believed that the only proper solution to slavery was its complete abolition and the immediate freeing of those held in it. Brown knew all the leading lights of the abolitionist movement. Most of them shared with Brown that abolition was morally imperative for the nation (and that dissolving the union if this did not occur was warranted), but Brown held the view that action – even violent action – was the justifiable, and only possibly effective, path to take. Brown had little sympathy for the notion that moral reprobation could ever bring about the end of slavery. Brown was respected by abolitionist leaders, if somewhat uneasy about his advocacy of extreme action. One characteristic of Brown not always shared his contemporaries opposed to slavery was his genuine belief in the equality of the races; many who wished slavery to end were quite racist in their social attitudes toward blacks (e.g. Abraham Lincoln, for one).

In the years leading up to Harper’s Ferry, Brown took actions that affirmed his approach to freeing the slaves. He established and supported an inter-racial community in the Adirondack Mountains where blacks and whites cooperated in farming ventures. He had many meetings and interactions with abolitionist leaders in Massachusetts and New York, including Frederick Douglass, Franklin Sanborn and Gerrit Smith. He was active in the Underground Railroad, aiding many runaway slaves on the route to Canada. He organized free blacks into a defense league to protect escaped slaves from the bounty hunters that came into being after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

It was in the Kansas Territory where Brown gained national notoriety. Kansas was a hotbed of Free State and pro-slavery contention among its settlers. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 stipulated, in repeal of the provisions of the Missouri compromise of 1820, that the settlers of federal territories could decide through popular vote whether a newly-admitted state would be slave or free. This brought on a bitter and bloody fight between the factions, including frequent violent incursion from pro-slavery “ruffians” from neighboring Missouri. Brown followed several of his sons who had moved to Kansas and soon became a leader in counter attacks against the ruffians and pro-slavery settlers. He gained wide attention after a midnight raid where he and his sons slaughtered several of their pro-slavery neighbors. He also gained press attention for his defense of Free State settlements, earning the sobriquet “Osawatomie Brown” and a reputation for fierceness. Incredibly, despite being a wanted man for his acts in Kansas he continued to move about the country without being apprehended, often making public appearances, giving lectures and meeting with abolitionist leaders.

There are several important aspects of his Kansas experience that inform thinking about his later actions. He was largely successful in his use of violence to thwart proponents of slavery; in other words, he found that this tactic worked. He gained public attention that helped raise funds for subsequent endeavors against slavery. While in Kansas and Missouri he freed a number of slaves through force and spirited them to freedom in the North. All this reinforced his sense that violent action could successfully end slavery, that the slave holders would capitulate when confronted with more than words.

Brown concluded that slaves were willing, even eager, to rise up against their masters. He had seen that violence could break slavery’s proponents so he concluded that slaves would march to this cause given the occasion and leadership to do so. For this to happen he determined to take the fight to the heart of slavery – the slave states, not territorial peripheries like Kansas. While he was able to raise a moderate amount of money to support a campaign (he was vague about what and where) he was largely unsuccessful in recruiting a significant number of adherents. A recruiting foray into free black communities in Canada produced no results. He attempted to recruit Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman into active participation, but both demurred.

The seizure of the armory was over within hours, its failure hastened by significant tactical mistakes and stimulating no uprising of slaves in the region.

How do all of these events suggest interpretation of the ultimate impact of Brown on the North-South rift? In my view his insurrection created reverberations that inflamed the simmering hostility of the South and advanced the budding notion that disunion was an attractive solution. The South had been moving ever stronger to the idea that there were powerful elements in the North determined to interfere with or eliminate slavery, despite its Constitutional protections. The political bickering over the expansion of slavery into the territories suggested to Southerners that the North was intent on strangling slavery in its existing states. Moreover, despite the slave owners’ paternalistic portrayal of slaves content with their lot, the specter of slave revolt was a deep fear among slave holders. The 1831 uprising of Nat Turner when dozens of whites were slaughtered lingered long in Southern memory. The successful slave rebellion in Haiti evoked fear that the same could happen in the United States.

Into this atmosphere of hypersensitivity stepped John Brown whose intention, and action, to incite a slave revolt confirmed Southerners’ fears. In the inquiry that followed the failed raid documents revealed that Brown had written a constitution that would establish a new and free country within the South as an autonomous entity. He clearly was linked to abolitionists whose avowed aim was to deprive Southerners of their lawful property. Brown used the period of his incarceration and trial to make public impassioned statements of the immorality of slavery and its demise being achievable only through violence. It is clear from his statements that he believed that attention to the anti-slavery cause was greatly enhanced by his raid on Harper’s Ferry even though the raid utterly failed. The notoriety of the event certainly reinforced Southern notions that the impingement of the North on their institutions was malevolent and inevitable, that political reconciliation was unlikely. There was widespread public condemnation of Brown’s insurrection throughout the country, but the sense that slavery’s continued existence was the root cause and only its elimination would resolve the conflict took hold, especially in the thinking of Southern leaders.

I think it is fair to conclude John Brown gave the ball already rolling down the slope toward disunion a shove that increased its speed. ( )
  stevesmits | May 20, 2015 |
John Brown must be a tricky subject for any biographer. In Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America, Evan Carton (professor of English and director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Texas at Austin) has created a visionary Brown, whose "'madness' and 'treason' remain necessary" even today. Because Brown's "vision" was rooted in what Carton sees (and Brown saw) as the lessons of Scripture (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) and the Declaration of Independence (all men are created equal), Carton excuses his attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and his calls for a violent slave as the actions of a man ahead of his time, seeking to fulfill American ideals of social justice and equality that remain elusive to this day.

In his afterword, Carton writes that many people with whom he had casual conversations in the course of writing this book believed Brown was black, and that many others thought he was crazy ("mentally unbalanced, a religious fanatic, a violent sociopath, or all three"). He takes previous biographers to task for their judgements of Brown, and adds "The historical misconception of Brown as a madman and the popular misconception of him as a black man, proceed from a common source: the stunted moral imagination and the incomplete embrace of democratic principles of the society that shapes the conventional assumptions of its historians and its ordinary citizens alike."

Well, I can't speak for the people who thought Brown was black, but as for the conclusion that he was more than a little bit off his rocker in one way or the other, that's frankly hard to escape. Brown refused to listen to wise counsel from, well, just about everyone that his foolhardy raid on Harpers Ferry was sure to be a disaster. He drew up a bizarre "Provisional Constitution and Ordinance for the People of the United States", which he intended to promulgate after his show of force. His religious fundamentalism and marytr complex are well known and documented, even by Carton. Sure, with the benefit of hindsight and our twenty-first century ideas, Brown's actions can seem less fanatical (or rather, more justifiable, perhaps) than they were in 1859 ... but I am hard pressed to think that we today would view a similar action in a positive light (in fact, such an action today would almost certainly be considered terrorism, whatever its object).

For its flawed interpretation, Carton's book is still a fairly good outline of Brown's life, particularly for the Bloody Kansas period. I would have liked more on the Harpers Ferry conspiracy, particularly on the involvement of key Northern abolitionist figures, but on the whole the biographical work was well done (aside from Carton's habit of adding dialogue and sketching in unknown details, which I found unnecessary). Of course, the perennial footnote problem was present here; while some quotes were sourced, they were not indicated in the text.

This new account of John Brown's life and activities, while interesting and an intriguing read, was just a bit too admiring for my taste.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2006/09/book-review-patriotic-treason.html ( )
  JBD1 | Sep 26, 2006 |
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John Brown is a lightning rod of history. Yet he is poorly understood and most commonly described in stereotypes -- as a madman, martyr, or enigma. Not until Patriotic Treason has a biography or history brought him so fully to life, in scintillating prose and moving detail, making his life and legacy-and the staggering sacrifices he made for his ideals-fascinatingly relevant to today's issues of social justice and to defining the line between activism and terrorism. Vividly re-creating the world in which Brown and his compatriots lived with a combination of scrupulous original research, new perspectives, and a sensitive historical imagination, Patriotic Treason narrates the dramatic life of the first U.S. citizen committed to absolute racial equality. Here are his friendships (Brown lived, worked, ate, and fought alongside African Americans, in defiance of the culture around him), his family (he turned his twenty children by two wives into a dedicated militia), and his ideals (inspired by the Declaration of Independence and the Golden Rule, he collaborated with black leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Delany, and Harriet Tubman to overthrow slavery). Evan Carton captures the complex, tragic, and provocative story of Brown the committed abolitionist, Brown the tender yet demanding and often absent father and husband, and Brown the radical American patriot who attacked the American state in the name of American principles. Through new research into archives, attention to overlooked family letters, and reinterpretation of documents and events, Carton essentially reveals a missing link in American history. A wrenching family saga, Patriotic Treason positions John Brown at the heart of our most profound and enduring national debates. As definitions of patriotism and treason are fiercely contested, as some criticize religious extremism while others mourn religion's decline, and as race relations in America remain unresolved, John Brown's story speaks to us as never before, reminding us that one courageous individual can change the course of history.

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