3. (Contextualization) Below are four facts related to Brown's raid. Evaluate whether each fact would affect your explanation (from Question 2). Does it make your
case stronger or weaker?

Explain.

Fact 1: Brown had developed plans to transport enslaved people to freedom for
decades and had helped eleven
people escape in Missouri the year before.

Fact 2: Brown took over the federal armory in Harper's Ferry but made no major efforts
to secure or transport the thousands of guns stored there.

Fact 3: Brown had ordered hundreds of pikes (a type of spear used in war) from a
blacksmith and had been storing them at his farmhouse outside Harper's Ferry.
However, he did not bring the pikes with him on the raid,

Fact 4: Brown made no systematic attempt to spread the word of his raid to enslaved
people.

STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP