12. Document Project 12: Visions of John Brown

Quiz for Document 12.7 Reverend J. Sella Martin, Day of Mourning Speech, December 2, 1859

Quiz for Document 12.7: Reverend J. Sella Martin, Day of Mourning Speech, December 2, 1859

Document 12.7: Reverend J. Sella Martin, Day of Mourning Speech, December 2, 1859

Choose the best answer to each question.

Question 1

1. Which of the following statements is consistent with the argument made by Reverend J. Sella Martin to defend John Brown’s tactics?

John Brown attempted to complete the task that the Founding Fathers purposefully avoided.

History has shown that violent means must be employed in the struggle for liberty.

John the Baptist and John Brown suffered the same fate for holding the same beliefs.

Christians should oppose slavery in all of its guises.

Question 2

2. What does it imply about his viewpoints towards the United States that Martin referred to the federal government as guilty in the death of John Brown?

It was not only the South that was responsible for the sins of slavery.

It was a government conspiracy to kill John Brown.

The government made a martyr of John Brown to advance abolition.

Representatives of the government framed John Brown.

Question 3

3. Why did many Americans, even abolitionists, object to John Brown’s actions?

They were not effective.

They were too expensive.

They were too violent.

They were too narrow in focus.

Question 4

4. According to his speech, on what grounds did Martin feel comfortable justifying John Brown’s actions despite the violence?

He believed all slave owners deserved to be killed.

God sanctioned violence in the Old Testament.

Americans have used violence to achieve change before.

John Brown was ordained by God.

Question 5

5. In Martin’s concluding analogy, what does the cancer represent?

Abolitionism

The government

John Brown’s raid

Slavery

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