Radical white abolitionist John Brown was executed by hanging after his failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October 1859. His goal was to ignite a widespread slave uprising. Though the raid failed and Brown was captured, his actions and trial intensified national tensions over slavery.
Brown was seen as a martyr by many in the abolitionist movement and had support from both Black and white allies, including Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman (who was invited to join the raid but declined). His death helped further polarize the nation, hastening the onset of the American Civil War.
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