<Dd> The fight must go on . The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one or even 100 defeats . </Dd> <P> The debate took a new, violent turn with the actions of an abolitionist from Connecticut . John Brown was a militant abolitionist who advocated guerrilla warfare to combat pro-slavery advocates . Receiving arms and financial aid from a group of prominent Massachusetts business and social leaders known collectively as the Secret Six, Brown participated in the violence of Bleeding Kansas and directed the Pottawatomie massacre on May 24, 1856, in response to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas . In 1859, Brown went to Virginia to liberate slaves . On October 17, Brown seized the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia . His plan was to arm slaves in the surrounding area, creating a slave army to sweep through the South, attacking slaveowners and liberating slaves . Local slaves did not rise up to support Brown . He killed five civilians and took hostages . He also stole a sword that Frederick the Great had given George Washington . He was captured by an armed military force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee . He was tried for treason to the Commonwealth of Virginia and hanged on December 2, 1859 . On his way to the gallows, Brown handed a jailkeeper a note, chilling in its prophecy, predicting that the "sin" of slavery would never be cleansed from the United States without bloodshed . </P> <P> The raid on Harper's Ferry horrified Southerners who saw Brown as a criminal, and they became increasingly distrustful of Northern abolitionists who celebrated Brown as a hero and a martyr . </P> <P> The Democratic National Convention for the Election of 1860 was held in Charleston, South Carolina, despite it usually being held in the North . When the convention endorsed the doctrine of popular sovereignty, 50 Southern delegates walked out . The inability to come to a decision on who should be nominated led to a second meeting in Baltimore, Maryland . At Baltimore, 110 Southern delegates, led by the so - called "fire eaters," walked out of the convention when it would not adopt a platform that endorsed the extension of slavery into the new territories . The remaining Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency . The Southern Democrats held a convention in Richmond, Virginia, and nominated John Breckinridge . Both claimed to be the true voice of the Democratic Party . </P>

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