In this lesson students will investigate the reactions Northerners and Southerners had to John Brown's Raid and create a report that would inform the president about the effects of his raid & execution & recomment whether he should be seen as a hero or a villain.Overview:1. John Brown's Body - Song Analysis2. Background information on John Brown3. Primary Document Analysis4. Presentation to the President

An anti-Lincoln satire, showing the Republican incumbent and his supporters menaced by giant "Copperheads" (Peace Democrats). After a speech on May 1, 1863, asserting that the Civil War was being fought to free blacks and enslave whites, not to save the Union, Clement Laird Vallandigham, leader of the "Copperheads," was arrested and tried for treason. He had defied Union general Ambrose E. Burnside's General Order No. 38, that "the habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy [would] no longer be tolerated" and that offenders would be punished by military procedure. Bowing to Vallandigham's widespread public support, Lincoln reduced the severity of his sentence from imprisonment to banishment behind Confederate lines. Here, three huge copperheads pursue Lincoln, who tears a piece of paper "Constitution & the Union as it was." A fourth snake curls around in front of him. The quotation is from a speech given by Vallandigham in May 1862: "To maintain the Constitution as it is and to restore the Union as it was." Lincoln, who is barefoot and in backwoods dress, drops a paper that reads, "New Black Constitution [signed] A. L. & Co." One of the snakes says, "If you cant read that document drop it." Two others hiss, "Hit him again," and "Ah, you cuss. I thought you had a little nigger on the brain." Lincoln calls to two freedmen who follow him, "Go back to your master, dont think you are free because you are emancipated," but they implore, "Fadderrrr Abrum" and "Take us to your Bussum." A minuscule black man who has fallen from inside Lincoln's hat cries, "Ise going back to de sile." At far left Burnside, who holds a flaming torch, is being choked by a snake representing Vallandigham. The significance of the torch is unclear, although it resembles the lanterns of the Wide-Awakes, active in Lincoln's 1860 presidential campaign. Burnside begs, "Oh, dear Clement you are hugging too tight." Vallandigham responds, "Look here if you think to Burn-my Side you will get foiled." Below, a snake eating a black man comments, "I say, Clement, Shriekers go good Down with him." At right a skeleton has just risen from the grave of abolitionist martyr John Brown, whose tombstone is inscribed "Hung in Virginia by Wise [i.e., Virginia governor Henry A. Wise]." On the ground are the words "Removed to No. 7 Hell Gate." The skeleton is exhorted by Satan, ". . . the Devil is to pay come get up and take your share." The skeleton responds, "Sure enough. Come Father let us start for Canada where it is colder." The "What-is-it" of the title refers to a deformed African man recently featured at P. T. Barnum's Museum on Broadway. (See also "An Heir to the Throne, or the Next Republican Candidate.," no. 1860-33.) |Entered . . . 1863 by E.W.T. Nichols . . . Mass.|The Library's impression of the work was deposited for copyright on June 30, 1863.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 138.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1863-8.

Northern rejoicing at the end of the Civil War often took the form of vengeful if imaginary portrayals of the execution of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Here abolitionist martyr John Brown rises from the grave to confront Davis, although in actuality the latter had nothing to do with Brown's 1859 execution. Brown points an accusing finger at Davis, who sits imprisoned in a birdcage hanging from a gallows. Davis wears a dress and bonnet, and holds a sour apple. Below, black men and women, resembling comic minstrel figures, frolic about. (For Davis's female attire, see "The Chas-ed "Old Lady" of the C.S.A.," no. 1865-11.) Since the beginning of the war Union soldiers had sung about "hanging Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree." Davis's actual punishment was imprisonment at Fortress Monroe after his capture on May 10, 1865.|Entered . . . 1865 by G. Querner . . . D.C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|"Image of America," p. 81.|"The Confederate Image," p. 89.|Weitenkampf, p. 148.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1865-16.

Brown, John. Address of John Brown to the Virginia Court, when about to receive the sentence ofdeath, for his heroic attempt at Harper's Ferry to give deliverance to the captives, and to let theoppressed go free ... Boston. Printed by C. C. Mead, 91 Washin. Boston, 1859. Pdf.https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.06500500/Description: John Brown defends himself before his sentence is rendered

John Brown first made a name for himself as a militant abolitionist in 1854, when Brown traveled to Kansas following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, intent on defending the territory from the scourge of slavery. It was in “Bleeding Kansas,” named for violent conflicts between proslavery and antislavery settlers there, that John Brown led a guerilla warfare campaign against the territory’s proslavery settlers, including a deadly attack against residents of Pottawatomie Creek. By 1859, fueled by donations from wealthy abolitionists, Brown was again ready to strike a blow against slavery and slaveholders—this time in the South.

A DPLA primary Source Set about John Brown that has been imported onto OER Commons.Content Warnings: Old John Brow: A song for Every Southern Man contains slurs, outdated and offensive language is utilized in several other of the primary sources as well.Original primary source set created by Nancy Schurr, Chattanooga State Community College, TennesseeImported into OER Commons by Andrew CharltonJones as part of his capstone for his University of Washington MLIS Degree 

A test of bringing DPLA primary Source Set onto OER Commons. Still in progress!

Thoreau, Henry David. 1906. The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (WaldenEdition) Translated by Bradley Dean (Thoreau Institute) Boston:Houghton Mifflinand Company, 1906 (https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/johnbrown.html)Description:A eulogy on the day of John Brown’s execution

In the Civil War and Reconstruction unit, students engage in contentious historiographic debates about the period--Was Lincoln a racist? Was Reconstruction a success or failure? Was John Brown a "misguided fanatic"? Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did the slaves free themselves? The unit includes two Structured Academic Controversy lessons, an Opening Up the Textbook lesson on sharecropping, and a look at Thomas Nast's political cartoons.

 U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

U.S. History is designed for a two-semester American history sequence. It is traditional in coverage, following a roughly chronological outline, and using a balanced approach that includes political, economic, social, and cultural developments. At the same time, the book includes a number of innovative and interactive features designed to enhance student learning. Instructors can also customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom.

Poster for Federal Theatre Project presentation of "Battle Hymn" at the Experimental Theatre, east of Broadway, showing a silhouette of John Brown.