John Brown isn’t often seen as an economist, but his plan to end slavery was rooted in economic disruption. He aimed to bankrupt the Southern elite by making their biggest investment—enslaved people—worthless. With the average enslaved man costing $1,600, mass escapes would trigger financial panic and collapse the system.

Brown organized a guerilla force to protect escapees along the Appalachian Mountains, creating a new, armed version of the Underground Railroad. His vision? To make slavery unprofitable by destabilizing its value.

He tested this in 1858, freeing 11 enslaved people and guiding them to Canada. The panic that followed confirmed his theory. Frederick Douglass agreed: nobody wanted to invest in property that could run away.

In 1859, Brown struck Harpers Ferry to seize weapons for his movement. The raid failed, but his execution made him a martyr—and proved that economics could be a weapon against slavery.