Uncle Tom's Cabin as written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin as written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in the United States in 1852. The novel depicted slavery as a moral evil and was the cause of much controversy at the time & long after. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had impact on various groups & publics. It caused outrage in the South and received praise in the North. It is in opinions and historical movements that the impact of this novel can be justified and shows how its publication was a turning point which helped bring about the Civil War.
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 after the beginning of the American Civil War, he supposedly said to her, “ So you’re the little woman that wrote the book that started this Great War.” Lincoln was referring to Stowe's novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It recounts the struggles of several African American slaves to preserve their families and survive the experience for slavery. This quote immediately implies that even the President of America had recognised and emphasised the impact of the novel on American Society as being the key cause to something as important as the Civil War.
When Stowe began working on her fictional account of slavery, it was published in 1851 in weekly instalments in an anti-slavery newspaper. This meant that primarily it did not reach all types of audiences, it would at first only be read by abolitionist groups and Northern publics. It was primarily a morality tale meant to sway public opinion in the North. The character Uncle Tom is an African American who retains his integrity and refuses to betray his fellow slaves at the cost of his life. His firm Christian principles in the face of his brutal treatment made him a he...
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...act that the war was needed to end all conflict.
In Conclusion, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate documentation the tragic break-up of black Kentucky families “sold down the river.” Its political impact was immense, and its emotional influence immeasurable. In a time when most people sat back and accepted slavery as a way of life, Harriet Beecher Stowe portrayed it as a long slow death. Because she dared to be different, her fame will eternally endure. Like most white writers of her day, Harriet Beecher Stowe could not escape the racism of the time. Further divisions in opinions were therefore perpetuated by the book, as it was a turning point in the sectionalism of the North and South of America. She was scorned in the South because of her protestations of slavery, yet it pleased the North and in the long run, that is its significance.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the most famous and popular pieces of Civil War literature. It was drawn from selected pieces of a real life memoir done by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book that drew many people into the fight over the institution of slavery. Northerners hailed the book saying it exposed the truth, while southern slaveholders and plantation owners claimed that it had many falsehoods in it. President Lincoln, when he met Stowe called her, "the little lady who started this big war."
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an amazing read that was truly inspiring. It was evident to me and clearly evident to others as well, that the book was written for a specific purpose. This purpose was to inform the American public of the horrors of slavery. The novel was set in the early 19th century. During this time period, slaves took up approximately 13% of the American population and for the most part worked on large plantations. Since very few people were plantation owners, or owned slaves for personal use, most of the American public did not have a great understanding of the hardships that an average slave had to go through. Through her writing, Harriet Stowe managed to illustrate perfectly what the American people had been unable to see. Stowe’s novel inspired people to push for the end of slavery in a way that debates and speeches could not have. The response from the novel was so incredible that it has been considered by many to have caused or at least influenced the American Civil War. This novel shows that the power of literature can be used as a weapon. It’s up to the author to decide if they want to use this power for good or for bad. Harriet Stowe decided to use her power for good by attempting to convince people to join the abolitionist movement. This can be shown through Tom’s characteristics, religion, the response the novel received from the north and south and through the historical facts(generally one sided) shown through Stowes writing.
I never thought that I would read a book over the summer, but over the course of these past two months, that changed. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” forever changed how I view slavery. I loved reading it. Throughout the whole novel, Stowe uses her experience and knowledge to portray the terrible hardships and struggles that slaves endured everyday. Not only does this book express the thoughts of the slaves and their faith in God, but also of the people around them. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” wanted so badly for America to give freedom and equality for all people, and that is what I enjoyed most while reading.
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852. This anti-slavery book was the most popular book of the 19th century, and the 2nd most sold book in the century, following only the Bible. It was said that this novel “led to the civil war”, or “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. After one year, 300,000 copies were sold in the U.S., and over 1 million were sold in Britain.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” opened the eyes of millions of people worldwide. The book portrayed the brutal life of the black slaves. It went on to sell millions of copies and was given the title “The Greatest Book of the Age”. (pg. 616) It is had been commented that this book had helped “lay the groundwork for the Civil War”, according to Will Kaufman, and is widely regarded to one of the reasons of the Civil War. Langston Hughes refers to this book as a "moral battle cry for freedom." The characters in her book debated the causes of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the future of freed persons, individualism and racism. The Civil War arose from a combination of causes counting regional conflicts between the Southern and Northern states, economic forces, and humanitarian concerns for the welfare of enslaved people. The four year war opposed one section of the country against each other and nearly rescinded the United States of America. It is no wonder why when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, he responded that she was “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war” and I would agree with that statement of his. Whether this is true or not, the gush highlights the public linking between Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Civil War.
Uncle Tom’s cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It is an anti-slavery book that shows the reader the many sufferings endured by slaves in the period before the civil war. To the people of the modern day generation, these acts of slavery are unbelievable but the reader has to realize the fact that in those years, people suffered, to the point where they were just treated as property, where owners can do whatever they like and be disposed of or traded as if they were just material possessions and not even human. The book talks about the relationship between slaves and their masters as well as the role of women. As slavery was practiced during such times, Stowe tries to expose the difficult life people had in the past and how their faith in God helped them to endure all there hardships.
When one of Stowe’s child died a few months after his birth, she despaired over him and thought she knew what a slave mother would feel like if her child was taken away from her(Haugen 38). She used those feeling and wrote the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book was written when the Fugitive Slave Act was known to public(Harriet Beecher Stowe). The book was based on her experiences, the underground railroad, and also the antislavery movement(The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center). Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a huge hit among Americans(Harriet Beecher Stowe). It was originally supposed to be just three to four sections in an antislavery newspaper. Eventually, the story got extended to more than 40 sections in the newspaper(Uncle Tom’s Cabin). When it was made into a book, stores ...
Nineteenth century America was in need of a courageous man or woman who would stand up for those who did not have a voice. Slavery was ruining the lives of thousands, yet nobody cared to do anything about it. Harriet Beecher Stowe rose up to meet this need by writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that clearly outlined its intended audience, the reason it was needed, the faults of slavery, and the effect of this information on the reader.
...away slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe published a book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was the most influential document of the abolitionist literature. The book showed emotions of slaves that were treated cruelly by Uncle Tom. Although abolitionism was dividing both sides knew the amount of damage slavery was doing by dividing America. They knew slavery had to be extinguished.
Harriet drew on her passionate anger at this unjust law, the death of her child and the personal accounts of former slaves to write her novel. The first installment of Uncle Tom 's Cabin appeared on June 5, 1851 in the anti-slavery newspaper, The National Era. “Stowe enlisted friends and family to send her information and she scoured freedom narratives and anti-slavery newspapers for first hand accounts as she composed her story” (Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 2015). In 1852, the series was published as a two volume book. Uncle Tom 's Cabin was a best seller in the United States, Britain, Europe, Asia, and translated into over 60 languages. “The heart-wrenching tale portrays slave families forced to cope with separation by masters through sale. Uncle Tom mourns for the family he was forced to leave” (Stowe, 5). The novel also takes the perspective that slavery brings out the worst in the white masters, leading them to carry out cruel acts that they would otherwise never commit. “The Fugitive Slave Law could hardly be enforced by any of Stowe 's readers. Although banned in most of the south, it served as another log on the growing fire” (US History, 2014). The book sold even more copies in Great Britain than in the United States. This had an immeasurable appeal in swaying British public opinion. “The strength of Uncle Tom 's Cabin is its ability to
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, has had a tremendous impact on American culture, both then and now. It is still considered a controversial novel, and many secondary schools have banned it from their libraries. What makes it such a controversial novel? One reason would have been that the novel is full of melodrama, and many people considered it a caricature of the truth. Others said that she did not show the horror of slavery enough, that she showed the softer side of it throughout most of her novel. Regardless of the varying opinions of its readers, it is obvious that its impact was large.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, a northern abolitionist, published her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. Uncle Tom’s Cabin contracts the many different attitudes that southerners as well as northerners shared towards slavery. Generally, it shows the evils of slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the peculiar institution, in particular how masters treat their slaves and how families are torn apart because of slavery.
Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but it introduces us to the hearts, minds and souls of several remarkable and unprecedented characters.
Rarely is one work of literature so significant that it has the ability to change a society or cascade it down a path of ruinous conflict. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is a work that provided such a catalytic occurrence. To this day, this work of fiction brilliance is considered one of the most instrumental American works to ever be published. Selling over a million copies in its first two years and being the second bestselling book next to the Bible, what makes this accomplishment even more incredible is the fact that a woman wrote this book during a period in history when women were not granted the ability to have roles of influence or leadership, in any society1. In 1852, when the book was published, women were nonetheless confined to domestic obligations. With the help of the books, Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice written by Joe Holland, one is able to understand how much of an impact Stowe had on America’s history with the way people viewed slavery. The percussion of Uncle Tom’s Cabin caused much conflict between the abolitionists and the antislavery citizens. This work is important to history because it created the idea of finding a place for religion in society, shone a light on how African American slaves were treated, pushed the United States to a realization with the idea of whether slavery could continue to be a cornerstone of American life and how it contributed to the beginning of the Civil War. As Abe Lincoln said of Stowe, “the little woman who started the Great War1.”
“So this is the little lady who made this big war.” Abraham Lincoln’s legendary comment upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe demonstrates the significant place her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, holds in American history. Published in book form in 1852, the novel quickly became a national bestseller and stirred up strong emotions in both the North and South. The context in which Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, therefore, is just as significant as the actual content. Among other things, Stowe’s publication of her novel was stimulated by the increasing tensions among the nation’s citizens and by her fervent belief that slavery was brutally immoral.