ABSTRACT
Journalism historian John Stevens once noted that sensationalism, which may be identified by its hyperbolic language and/or exaggerated details, deals with excess. Citing Frank Luther Mott, Stevens wrote, in relation to journalism, sensationalism appeals to our fundamental and primitive human desires. John Brown's raid occurred at a pivotal moment in US history, a moment when the fiercest of sectional arguments over slavery, especially in the South, superseded more collective thoughts of national unity. By 1859, Brown and men like him embodied the abolition movement's most dangerous and radicalized faction to slave owners. Some Northern newspaper editors thought unjustifiable the panic taking place in Virginia along with Wise's heavy-handedness, accusing the Southern slave establishment of perpetuating fears of slave uprisings and abolitionist invasions for political leverage. New York newspaper editors were also keeping a vigilant eye on the border cities. Finally, an editorial remark in Toronto's The Globe makes a salient final point about the language choices.
