Self-Sacrifice for America: The Contentious Martyrdom of John Brown, John Wilkes Booth, and Abraham Lincoln

John Brown, John Wilkes Booth, and Abraham Lincoln were prepared to sacrifice their lives for the United States of America—each in his own way. Each man was also perceived as a martyr by a part of the American people. In this paper, I want to examine and compare Brown’s, Booth’s, and Lincoln’s self-perceptions and the processes of their sanctification by different segments of the American public. First, I will look at their respective spiritual and political worldviews, which were intricately linked, and the roles or callings they perceived for themselves in relation to their worldviews. I will place special emphasis on the Biblical images or religious books and concepts that exercised strong influence on their conception of self-sacrifice.  Second, I will analyze public reactions to their deeds and deaths by examining the beatification and demonization processes that followed in their wake. Here, I will give special attention to the role of the emerging mass media, the interpretative power of intellectuals, and the reactions of the established churches. Finally, I will examine links, patterns, and interactions among the respective canonization processes of Brown, Booth and Lincoln.