Throughout the 1700s and 1800s
Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, the Middle Passage was part of the Triangle Trade that took and traded goods for slaves by ship. Britain and America had various methods on abolishing slavery, some were peaceful and others were violent. To abolish means to permanantely put an end to something. Although many saw different views on these methods. Some may have thought of peaceful approaches not being enough action taken to stop slavery and some saw it being enough and necessary. The same goes for violent approaches.
Violent approaches, like John Brown’s was seen as either a heroic and necessary action or unnecessary and wrong. John Brown was an American abolitionist that was anti-slavery. Although his belief that slavery should be abolished was good, he was a very belligerant man. His way of fighting against slavery was through murder and agression. In the 1850s, “five men were dragged out of their cabins and hacked to death by Brown and his sons.” This action was his way of getting justice for slaves by taking it out on slaveholders. October 16, 1859 is where he took 60 men as hostages hoping that “escaped slaves would join his rebellion, forming an army of emancipation” which would help other slaves escape to freedom. Throughout the following day he fought against a local militia but ended up surrendering the next day. It was said that he was wounded but two of his sons and eight of his followers were killed. He ended up being tried and convicted “for murder, slave insurrection, and treason against the state” and was then was hanged for his crimes. Despite the way he fought for what he believed in, many people saw his actions as almost a blessing and praised him for what he did.
Nathaniel Turner, an African American slave, was also a very belligerent man and took a violent approach against slavery. He is famous for leading a sustained slave rebellion in August of 1831, which was before John Brown’s action against slavery. Nat Turner was also an educated slave which brought fear in the South, which led to the prohibiting of “education, movement, and assembly of slaves throughout the South.” After seeing an eclipse, he believed that the time has come for slaves to rise and stop being looked down upon. On August 21st, he and six other slave murdered the family that owned him and went on to recruit 75 other slaves which resulted in 51 more white people being killed. After six weeks of hiding, he was later found and like John Brown, was convicted for murder and then hanged.
