h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: John Brown, Anti-Slavery Zealot - A3808352
Author: Not Banned Yet - U180337

His body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.

Nice!

I this you did a great job at presenting "just the facts, ma'am", makes you think a LOT about whether bad means justify a good end.

A very good Entry indeed, and Lady B's right : the balanced telling makes it all the more thought-provoking. There are echoes in modern America and elsewhere, wherever moral conviction is invoked as a justification of intolerant behaviour.

We might need a judgement on American spelling in American quotations! (eg 'labor').

Using both quotes and italics (as, say, in your references to the 'Secret Six') has been deemed excessive in other Entries. You might like to reduce it to just one or the other, and save the Sub-Ed the trouble...

...Since Sub-Ed there will certainly be, for an Entry as good as this one

Great entry. Well written and, to echo Pinniped and Lady B, wonderfully balanced.

You *could* maybe go into a bit more detail about what happened at Harpers Ferry. There's quite a lengthy build-up to it, but then not that much about what actually happened there.

Good job!

Just a quickie on the quote at the start....

Try formatting like this:

His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him.- Frederick Douglass

Just the standard way of quoting

Other than that, good work

theLadyBrianna,

Thank you! If it makes people think, it's accomplished what I wanted it to accomplish.

Pinniped,

Regarding the use of American spelling in American quotations: I'm of the opinion that British spelling is appropriate when quoting the spoken word, but the original spelling must be retained when quoting the written word.

Aside from that, the quotation marks have been removed and the italics remain. (Natalie and the other italics will be relieved to hear that, I'm sure.)

Aina,

First, my apologies for not spelling your name correctly. I don't know how to produce the correct character for the second letter.

Second, the detail of what went on at Harpers Ferry is an entry all by itself. I should know. I wrote it and linked to it in this entry. I think I've reached the balance between giving enough information for a person to get a basic understanding of what happened and not duplicating, at too much length, an already existing entry. I'm open to input in this area though, if you or anyone else has more to offer.

Skankyrich,

The blockquotes at the beginning and end of the entry are now formatted as you suggested. It's been a while since I've submitted an entry to Peer Review, and that formatting is a change.

NBY

Nice job!

Nice article...The last time I remember reading about this strange man of conscience, was in the context of a Robert E. Lee history book...Lee captured Brown. I wonder if it would be presumptious to request a little more detail on the botched Harper's ferry raid and Brown's subsequent execution? All high drama, it seem to me.

oops...failed to read your post above about Brown's Ferry carefully enough.

Nice entry - I think I'd prefer campaigner to zealot in the title, though the label's undoubtable justified.

Zealot is justified, given the extent to which he was willing to go for his cause. I think I'll keep it. If a sub-ed or editor doesn't like it, either of them can change it.

"Campaigner" just doesn't feel like a strong enough word to me.

NBY

"Brown was not as successful at running businesses as he was at fathering children."

20 kids. Wow!

"From where he was sitting in the back of the church, Brown raised stood, raised his right hand and spoke the words that cemented his mission in life from that point forward."

Maybe 'raised, stood...' instead of 'raised stood'. Maybe not.

Dates should be like 12 March, 1859, not March 12, 1859
because the British prefer them that way.

"John Brown was directly responsible for the murder of five unarmed men near that town in 1856"

No period there.

"The pro-slavery forces within the United States succeeded in getting the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850."

That's not an incorrect sentence, but it's misleading. As I recall, the pro-slavery forces didn't actually get the Act through on its own merit, but got passed because of a compromise between the North and South. Compromise of 1850, from what I remember.

"Kansas ultimately joined the Union as a free state, in 1861, after several Southern States had succeeded."

Perhaps they succeeded in seceding, but they definitely seceded.

I don't understand why Brown wasn't arrested after Osawatomie.

Even though there's already an entry on the raid on Harper's Ferry which you linked to, the entry read to me like I skipped a section because I didn't go to that link. There's just no sentence that says "Brown raided Harper's Ferry on (date)." Personally, I think such a sentence should be in the second to last section and instead of linking to your excellent Harper's Ferry raid entry earlier on, I would link to it there.


Also, I think a bit of information on his execution would be a good ending. I seem to recall that it was fairly eventful. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else, though. At least a date of when the poor man died.

Good entry, though

Thanks, Jodan.

I've fixed the simple things, like punctuation date formating and misused words.

I'm starting to think about considering contemplating making a few other changes based on your input, as well.

Since you're the third person to suggest that more is needed on Harpers Ferry, or at least a way to more strongly encourage people to actualy follow the link, I will do something about that. I"m just not sure exactly what, just yet.

NBY

"I'm starting to think about considering contemplating making a few other changes based on your input, as well."


That's all one can ask for.

I've clarified the bit about the Fugitive Slave Act, which was part of the Compromise of 1850, and offered some information on how Brown managed to not be arrested after Osawatomie.

I'm still thinking about what to do regarding Harpers Ferry.

NBY

So, I've moved the Harpers Ferry link (good suggestion) and expanded that section of the entry a bit.

"Also, I think a bit of information on his execution would be a good ending. I seem to recall that it was fairly eventful. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else, though."

I don't think you're thinking of someone else. I think you're thinking of something that never happened. The legend is there, though, so I've added a bit about it.

NBY

Excellent work as always, NBY. I knew virtually nothing about Brown apart from the famous song, and this made fascinating and inspiring reading.

Just a few small points:

1) Is the word 'suasion' in the Frederick Douglass blockquote a typo?

2) I'm not wholly convinced by the assertion that: 'Whether Brown and his companions heroically saved the lives and homes of those in the community opposed to slavery that night, or committed cowardly murders, depended entirely on one’s position in regards to slavery.' Did no-one agree with Brown's aims but question his rather drastic methods at Pothawatomie? Also, how could those killings be said to have saved anyone's lives - unless, of course, the pro-slavery forces were thought to have weapons of mass destruction?

3) There's a surplus 'mother' at the end of the sentence in the section about Brown's execution that begins: 'Legend has it that, on his way to the gallows...'

4) Can you really have an Entry about John Brown without discussing 'John Brown's Body'?

"1) Is the word 'suasion' in the Frederick Douglass blockquote a typo?"

Nope.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/05/13.html

suasion \SWAY-zhun\, noun:
The act of persuading; persuasion.

"2) I'm not wholly convinced by the assertion that: 'Whether Brown and his companions heroically saved the lives and homes of those in the community opposed to slavery that night, or committed cowardly murders, depended entirely on one’s position in regards to slavery.' Did no-one agree with Brown's aims but question his rather drastic methods at Pothawatomie? Also, how could those killings be said to have saved anyone's lives - unless, of course, the pro-slavery forces were thought to have weapons of mass destruction?"

I'll agree that my statement didn't include the shades of gray in how people thought of Brown. I've modified that sentence a bit.

"How could the killings could be said to have saved lives?"

Remember, the people he killed were representative of a group that had already destroyed one entire town by fire and were, presumably, capable of doing it again.

"3) There's a surplus 'mother' at the end of the sentence in the section about Brown's execution that begins: 'Legend has it that, on his way to the gallows...'"

One mother eliminated.

"4) Can you really have an Entry about John Brown without discussing 'John Brown's Body'?"


I had hoped so, but aparently not. Section added.

Great entry!

But would you believe I've never heard the song! Perhaps just a mention of the tune to help out the uninformed? Is it the same as the Battle Hymn of the Republic'?

I don't know how I managed to get through two years of military history, three American history courses, and countless other lessons on the Civil War without ever hearing it... Talk about an incomplete education!

Jimi, you obviously never sat around a campfire as a child. At least, I first learned it as a camp fire song.

And yes, it's sung to the same tune as the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I'll add that info.

NBY