John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom

John Brown and Abraham Lincoln stood on the same side of the fight against slavery, but Brown and Lincoln’s respective approaches to the fight could not have been more different. By his own admission, Brown was willing to tear up the Constitution if it extended the practice of slavery. He was backed by "armchair abolitionists" who were unwilling to participate in his violent protests but quietly supported him. Lincoln initially thought that violence would cause Southerners to dig in their heels and ultimately be counterproductive. Guest: H.W. Brands, Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom"