A Disease in the Public Mind

By the time John Brown hung from the gallows for his crimes at Harper's Ferry, Northern abolitionists had made him a holy martyr” in their campaign against Southern slave owners. This Northern hatred for Southerners long predated their objections to slavery. They were convinced that New England, whose spokesmen had begun the American Revolution, should have been the leader of the new nation. Instead, they had been displaced by Southern slavocrats” like Thomas Jefferson. This malevolent envy exac