[Proverbs 3-5]

The notion that John Brown served as a justification, much less initiation of the war is ridiculous, and is the sort of thing that all men of good conscience and reasonable intellect ought to quash as nonsense. The raid demonstrated nothing but the swift and urgent response by the union to a menace to a soon-to-be-confederate state.

Perhaps you're right, I've been misinformed...

Brown was executed December 2, 1859.
Brown’s wife, Mary, took his body home to North Elba, New York for burial.
A contemporary newspaper account foretold a grim future. “The Harpers Ferry invasion has advanced the cause of disunion more than any other event that has happened since the formation of the Government.”
Hope of compromise between the North and South slipped into oblivion.
Civil War was inevitable.
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/historyculture/upload/John%20Brown's%20Raid.pdf

Brought to trial at nearby Charles Town, Brown was found guilty of treason, of conspiring with slaves to rebel, and murder. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. John Brown's short-lived raid failed, but his trial and execution focused the nation's attention on the moral issue of slavery and headed the country toward civil war.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/history.htm

John Brown, still recovering from a sword wound, stood trial at the Jefferson County Courthouse on October 26. Five days later, a jury found him guilty of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. Judge Richard Parker sentenced Brown to death and he was hanged in Charles Town on December 2. Before walking to the scaffold, he noted the inevitability of a national civil war: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
http://www.wvculture.org/history/jnobrown.html

Gerrit Smith
- Harper's Ferry and the Aftermath
...The Harper's Ferry raid has been described as the act that lit the fuse on the start of the American Civil War...
http://www.nyhistory.com/gerritsmith/harpers.htm

John Brown's 1859 Raid on Harpers Ferry
A century and a half after his death, John Brown remains one of the most controversial figures in American history. On October 16, 1859 Brown, along with 21 followers came to Harpers Ferry, Virginia to strike a blow against slavery. The raid failed and Brown was hanged in December of 1859, but sixteen months later, the country erupted in civil war.
http://www.harpersferryhistory.org/johnbrown.htm

The raid on Harpers Ferry 1859
Brown, who was seriously wounded, was taken to Charlestown, Virginia (now Charles Town, West Virginia), along with the other captives. There they were quickly tried, sentenced, then executed. John Brown's statements during his trial reached the nation, inspiring many with his righteous indignation toward slavery. The raid ultimately hastened the advent of the Civil War.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2940.html

Again, I didn't say it was THE cause but a contributory event... and it was not in SC...

[dangus]

I’m quite aware the assertion has been made; And although it’s commonly repeated by people with no such malice, I’m countering it by calling it an inane, prepostrous assrtion borne (originally) of desperate justification of profound evil. But yes, the precedents predated Ft. Sumter by enough that an violent, adulterous criminal like Joseph Smith could read the tea-leaves fifteen years earlier.