HANG HIM!!!
John Brown
On December 1859, the state of Virginia hanged abolitionist John Brown. This execution profoundly affected American history. In the short term, it created one more crack in the growing rift between the North and the South. In the longer term, though, it set a precedent that likely extended the Civil War. Before Brown’s execution, Americans had never defined the punishment for treason. By sentencing Brown to death, Virginia leaders established that the appropriate punishment for treason was death. That precedent likely caused southerners uneasiness when they, themselves, turned traitors to the U.S. Government a year later. While President Lincoln took pains to promise leniency, fears of execution surely motivated some Confederates to keep fighting.
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