John Brown, Time-Traveler
If anyone's ever done it, I suspect it was him
John Brown tried to start a slave rebellion in 1859 and failed. 16 months later, the American Civil War began.
Many historians think this is causal.
I think this is causal, and suggest that he was a time traveler. Hear me out, it’s not good evidence, but still, I challenge you to name anyone better.
1. It Could’ve Been Really Bad Without Him
You might be saying, why didn’t he go back and kill Hitler? Isn’t that what time-travelers are supposed to do? Yeah, that’s what you do in this timeline, because Hitler is the worst guy we have. But in John Brown’s timeline, there could have been somebody even worse.
For example, if the US had never gotten into the Civil War, maybe it never would have ended slavery. Slavery just keeps going, and the US still becomes the world’s superpower, but the entire southern half owns slaves.
This would be really bad. It would mean millions more enslaved people in the US, but maybe other countries would never have abolition either, like Brazil (1888 ), China (1910), or Saudi Arabia (1962). Worse, the southern US may have even pressured places to maintain it for ideological reasons, much like the US did with Capitalism during the Cold War.
So now imagine you’re John Brown and you’ve got a time machine. Slavery still exists in much of the US. The country is in a terrible equilibrium, it’s spread to the rest of the world, and over time it’s become too calcified to dislodge.
Now there’s a chance to travel back to a time when the question was still unresolved and prevent centuries of suffering. A brave man would take it.
2. He Thought Like a Modern Person
There were many opponents to slavery, long before it came to a head during the Civil War. The difference was that it was a debate, or a political fight, or, if you were especially dedicated, a religious struggle that warranted non-violent resistance.
John Brown was the guy who said, “I need guns.”
I have only a short time to live – only one death to die, and I will die fighting for this cause. There will be no more peace in this land until slavery is done for.
Though people are, on average, far less violent today, most agree that slavery is worth fighting to end. On some level, we’re sad that there isn’t anything so obviously evil to really fight over, and instead have to settle for getting mad on the internet.
John Brown had what was considered an insane and fanatical position for his time, but is a mainstream position today: that slavery must end, violently if necessary.
3. He Was Right
Here’s the thing: it actually freaking worked.
His plan of arming slaves to start a rebellion didn’t work, and he was hanged, but his overarching goal of ending slavery in the US happened less than a decade later.
American slavery really was as bad as he thought, violence to end it really was justified, and his raid on Harpers Ferry really would bring it to an halt.
As expected from good time-travel, we’re in a post-Brown world and hardly even know it.