The Influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe´s Novel: Uncle Tom´s Cabin

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.

Web. 10 Apr. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19407/American-Civil-War Hassler, Jr. Warren W. "American Civil War (United States History)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.

Harriet being a sworn abolitionist, her views and comments written in the book helped start the Abolitionist Cause in the 1850’s. The book also spread many stereotypes about African-Americans, such as Mammy (slang for mother), Pickaninny (slang for a black child), and Uncle Tom (slang for a black servant faithful to his white master or mistress). The impact of the book was so great, that before the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to meet Harriet. When he finally met her in 1862, he said, “So you’re the little woman that wrote the book that made this big war!”. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, however, had a greater impact in England than it did in America.

Stowe, who had learned from former and fugitive slaves, wrote her novel about the atrocities they endured. Many say that this controversial novel aided the abolitionist cause and started the American Civil War before it even began. Stowe’s mid-19th century novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, changed the way many Americans thought about slavery and its evils through the use of her own background

Stowe's novel was a bestseller and sold over 300, 000 copies in its first year and over 1 million copies in Great Britain. Its selling record was second to only the Bible. In 1855 it was credited with being "the most popular novel of our day." In the colonial era tobacco was the number one produced cash crop in the New World. Virginia and Maryland had the largest producing plantations and the biggest importers of slave labor.

Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was her greatest accomplishment selling over thousands of copies nation-wide at the time. Historians claim that this novel was one of the numerous contributes to the beginning of the civil war. Stowe came from a

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. In the novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe introduces a housemaid slave, Eliza, who was promised her son would not be sold, however, when the poor economic conditions had hit her slave owners, they did not keep up with the promise of keeping Eliza’s son. One night she overheard them planning to sell her son, so Eliza escaped to help her son.

“So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!” is one of the most famous quotes said by President Abraham Lincoln to Harriet Beecher Stowe regarding the Civil War and her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But was she really an abolitionist? Uncle Tom’s Cabin brought about great social change. With harsh visions of brutal slave beatings, it is hard to not feel compassion for the slaves. Uncle Tom’s Cabin became extremely popular in the North.

Stowe and her husband both shared a belief in abolition (Bio.com). While living in Maine, Harriet Beecher Stowe began to write her most famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The first installment of this novel was published in the National Era in 1851. It was eventually published as a novel in 1852. This novel quickly became a bestseller, capturing the Nation’s attention, with more than three-hundred-thousand copies sold within the first year of publication.

The novel is a realistic, although fictional view of slavery with the images of brutal beatings and unfair slave practices. After reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin thousand of northerners became impassioned for the anti-slavery cause. Uncle Tom's Cabin helped eventually to turn the tide of public opinion against slavery in the 19th century( Taylor 1). This controversial novel was initially written to question slavery, convince people of its immorality and to promote the abolitionist cause. The novel’s rendering of the slave holding south is not entirely an accurate interpretation of what it was like though.