John Brown

When the abolitionist John Brown seized the largest Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), on October 16, 1859, he forced the citizens of the United States to reconsider the immorality of the institution of slavery and the injustices enforced by the government. He was trying to start a slave rebellion. The raid on Harper's Ferry and the resulting execution of Brown was a major turning point in the American abolitionist movement, causing many peaceful abolitionists to accept more militant measures to push for the end of slavery.