Fugitive Slave Act Research Paper

The Fugitive Slave Act | The Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

On September 8th, 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was created as a compromise. It stated to capture any fugitive/ runaway slave and to be returned to their owner because they considered slaves as their property. If anyone in the North were to be aiding a fugitive, they would be fined and imprisoned for about six months. Sometimes, slaves would escape by a secret system called the Underground Railroad. Later, the North passed a law saying that any escaped slave who came to the North should at least have a trial to be free. The Fugitive Slave Act angered the North greatly because they were responsible, which made them more determined to end slavery. During
this situation, the states were beginning to split apart, and eventually, getting closer to Civil War. It was then all up to Abraham Lincoln to make a decision of the outcome of our country. Born on June 14th, 1811 at Litchfield, Connecticut, Harriet B. Stowe was the daughter of a New England minister. She was brought up on loyalty, stories of Christianity, charity, and brotherhood. After her father moved the family to Cincinnati, she was revealed to slavery, abolitionism, race riots, stories of fugitives, and helping a fugitive slave from the South. After getting married to Calvin Stowe and moving to Maine, she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. At first, she published it in an abolitionist paper, but then, it was later published as a novel from a Boston publisher. However, she didn’t stop writing; instead, she kept on going and she wrote novels almost every year. Some of these books include: A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Minister’s Wooing, The Mayflower, etc. Because of her early religious training when she was young, Harriet was always an outspoken person, especially with disagreements, self-control, women’s suffrage, and slavery. She eventually passed away in 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut. In the story, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Arthur Shelby was losing his farm because of debts.
Even though he and his wife, Emily, are kind to their slaves, they still had to sell two of them in order to earn money. However, earlier, Millie promised Eliza that she wouldn’t sell her, but then, Eliza overhears Mr. and Mrs. Shelby discussing about selling Eliza and her Uncle Tom. She then decided to runaway with her child. After Uncle Tom was sold, he was placed on a riverboat where he eventually saved and met a girl named Eva. She then told her father, Augustine St. Clare, about Tom and he purchased him from a slave trader. St. Clare promised to free Tom, but before he did, he got murdered; someone stabbed him to death when he was entering a tavern in New Orleans. Uncle Tom and another slave, Emmeline, was later sold to a very vicious slave owner, Legree, at an auction and brought them to Louisiana. Legree hated Tom because he believed in God and confronted slaves kindly. Tom also met another slave named Cassy, who killed her son because he was going to be sold. Afterwards, Eliza and her two sons, Harry and George, gained their freedom when they escaped to Canada. Uncle Tom then tries to convince Cassy, to escape, who eventually took Emmeline with her. When Tom refused to tell Legree where both girls went, he orders someone to execute Tom. Shortly before his death, George arrives to buy Tom’s freedom, but discovers that he’s too late. Cassy and Emmeline later meets George sister and Cassy also discovers that Eliza was her long lost
daughter. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852 and caused some issues during that time. Southern critics disagreed with Stowe’s novel because they believed that she had exaggerated the story; scholars and readers said that the book was racist to the African American characters, appearances, speech, and the way they act. William Gilmore Simms was a southern novelist who thought that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was false. However, he did later write a book about slavery, which was inspired by Stowe’s novel. The narrative caused a change with African Americans and slavery in the U.S. It also caused a large protest of people who defended slavery.