Bleeding Kansas | John Brown's Crusade | 1
American History Tellers
Audible
4.6 • 19K Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2021
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 1850s, the United States was lurching toward a crisis over slavery -- and abolitionist John Brown stepped into the fray. Brown believed it was his God-given destiny to destroy slavery. His crusade took him from abolitionist meetings in the Northeast, to the Underground Railroad in Ohio, to the bloody plains of Kansas.
In 1854, a fierce conflict erupted over whether the territory of Kansas would join the Union as a free state or slave state. As tensions escalated, Brown would rush to the center of the gathering storm and hatch a violent plan for striking back against proslavery forces.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music, |
| 0:05.6 | download the app today. |
| 0:09.0 | Imagine it's December 1837, just before dawn on a bitterly cold night in Hudson, Ohio. |
| 0:24.8 | Three weeks ago, you and your little brother escaped the Virginia plantation where you spent |
| 0:29.4 | your entire life. |
| 0:30.4 | You're making your way north via the underground railroad and you spent the past day and night |
| 0:35.6 | hiding here in the hay loft of a barn. |
| 0:39.1 | Your brother calls and shifts uncomfortably. |
| 0:42.3 | How much longer do you think we'll have to wait? |
| 0:44.2 | Hard to say, hopefully we'll get moving soon. |
| 0:47.3 | You shiver and wrap your arms around yourself. |
| 0:50.1 | You're chilled to the bone after spending days outside. |
| 0:52.9 | A chill made worse by constant fear of being captured. |
| 0:57.1 | You've seen what happens for runaways when they're returned, they get flagged, shackled, |
| 1:01.5 | branded, and beaten. |
| 1:03.5 | Your brother's been fighting a cough since you crossed the Ohio River. |
| 1:07.3 | You reach over and adjust the scratchy wool and blanket that covers his shoulders. |
| 1:11.2 | Thanks, I'll show a wish we could have done this in summer. |
| 1:14.2 | You know we couldn't have. |
| 1:15.6 | We need the shorter days and longer nights. |
| 1:17.6 | You can cover more ground in the dark. |
| 1:20.0 | Shh, I think I hear the station master. |
... |
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