It played into the hands of extremists in both sections.

On one side, Brown was at once made a martyr and a hero; on the other, his acts were accepted as a demonstration of Northern malignity and hatred, whose fitting expression was seen in the incitement of slaves to massacre their masters.
The distinctive contribution of John Brown to American history does not consist in the things which he did but rather in that which he has been made to represent.

He has been accepted as the personification of the irrepressible conflict.
Of all the men of his generation John Brown is best fitted to exemplify the most difficult lesson which history teaches: that slavery and despotism are themselves forms of war, that the shedding of blood is likely to continue so long as the rich, the strong, the educated, or the efficient, strive to force their will upon the poor, the weak, and the ignorant.

Lincoln uttered a final word on the subject when he said that no man is good enough to rule over another man; if he were good enough he would not be willing to do it.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Among the many political histories which furnish a background for the study of the anti-slavery crusade, the following have special value: J.F.Rhodes, "History of the United States from the Compromise of 1860," 7 vols.

(1893-1906).