Why was John Brown sometimes called the avenging angel?

Answer 1

John Brown was an white abolitionist (of slavery) during the mid 1800s. He advocated violence, and participated in violence, against the pro-slavery factions, mostly from Missouri, that committed election fraud in the election that determined if Kansas would be a slave state or a free state. That effort culminated in the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856. Later, he was executed for trying to start a slave insurrection at Harpers Ferry in 1859. The notion of an avenging angel is one of a being that enacts vengeance on the unrighteous. The act of vengeance is often seen as being the death of said unrighteous. So, the term avenging angel can be associated with people that kill others that are seen to be deserving of death due to acts considered evil or anti-society. John Brown advocated for the end of slavery. He took his convictions to a point of violence on many occasions that led to the death of people that espoused the practise of keeping slaves. The era in which John Brown lived was one where violence was common. Killing of others in the name of abolition or slavery was not unusual. Many times the issue of slavery led to heightened emotional outbursts where people would get seriously injured or killed. In that respect, John Brown can be seen as just using the tactics common at the time instead of as a mass murderer that he would be considered now.