Yeah, we are all familiar with the official sanitized version of history. Northern support for John Brown’s terrorism somehow never gets mentioned. But then that would push the start of the war inconveniently earlier.
But you know perfectly well that Northern support for John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry was minimal at most.
Nearly all of Brown's direct supporters fled the country to avoid prosecution -- one even committed himself to an insane asylum!
Northerners generally, and the US Federal Government specifically fully understood that Brown's raid was lawless and they supported actions of the US Army under Col. Lee in bringing Brown's raiders to justice.
Sure, a small minority of Northern abolitionists cheered Brown on, however, Brown's raid was certainly not an act of war by "the North" any more than serious violence in "bleeding Kansas" represented movements by Northern & Southern armies.
Yes, Southern Fire Eaters' De Bow's Review claimed: the North "has sanctioned and applauded theft, murder, and treason," but that was pure political hyperbole.
In fact, Northerners generally condemned any actions which might weaken the bonds of Union.
So Brown's 1859 raid is in no way comparable to the dozens of provocations for war committed by Confederates in early 1861, or the Confederacy's starting war at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 or the Confederacy's formal declaration of war on May 6, 1861, or the simultaneous sending of military support to pro-Confederates fighting in Union Missouri.
*Snicker* Are you suggesting that the feckless Buchanan administration was complicit?