John Brown's Push for Secession

On 16 October 1859 John Brown and a small band of men invaded the town of Harpers Ferry Virginia, took over the federal armory and attempted to stir up a revolt among the slaves of the surrounding plantations. Brown easily took the armory for it was not heavily guarded but a slave revolt was virtually non existent. C. Van Woodward tells that the South's initial reaction to the raid was rather mild for it was suppressed rather …

…a Country where their liberty and Constitutional rights were being infringed upon? It didn't and it had been pushed into a corner long enough, secession was the only choice. John Brown's raid alone did not cause the South to secede, it was the outcome. Through Northern and Southern opinion, Southern journals exploiting the raid as a need for secession, and Fire Eaters using the event as Propaganda for secession it lead the South to secession.