Harriet Beecher Stoowe Uncle Toms Cabin Summary
Two years ago in 1852, a novel written by female abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was published and quickly became a bestseller worldwide that has been translated in up to 60 languages. The book has been rumoured to be the cause of the Civil War due to the effect it had on nation’s view of slavery and the awakening of the ignorant-minded. The author, Stowe, resided in the city of Cincinnati with her single mother and six other siblings. Their home happened to be near the Ohio River which beholds the slave state of Kentucky right across from it, allowing Stowe to catch glimpses of the slave’s misery. Originally, the story was meant to be short snippets but was drawn out to become the nationally acclaimed novel, which
her abolitionist family supported. When the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Stowe was furious. Despite the strict regulations of the Fugitive Slave Act, Stowe rebelled by concealing runaway slaves in her home in Cincinnati. Using their stay as an opportunity to collect information, she took the details of the slaves’ reports of mistreatment and utilized them in her writing. The main purpose of the novel was to subtly educate (or at least provide implications) to those not aware of the upsetting results and factors of the enslavement of African Americans. In the first week of publication, Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold up to 10,000 copies in North America and 300,000 copies in the first year. The impact of the novel was so great that most of Stowe’s readers would not contribute the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act which added fuel to the dispute between the Confederate and Union states. It has been reported that the president himself, Abraham Lincoln, has said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,” when he met her in person ten years after her novel was published. Whether or not Lincoln had literally said that, there is no doubt that the tale of one man’s life and death impacted the the lives of others.
her abolitionist family supported. When the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Stowe was furious. Despite the strict regulations of the Fugitive Slave Act, Stowe rebelled by concealing runaway slaves in her home in Cincinnati. Using their stay as an opportunity to collect information, she took the details of the slaves’ reports of mistreatment and utilized them in her writing. The main purpose of the novel was to subtly educate (or at least provide implications) to those not aware of the upsetting results and factors of the enslavement of African Americans. In the first week of publication, Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold up to 10,000 copies in North America and 300,000 copies in the first year. The impact of the novel was so great that most of Stowe’s readers would not contribute the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act which added fuel to the dispute between the Confederate and Union states. It has been reported that the president himself, Abraham Lincoln, has said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,” when he met her in person ten years after her novel was published. Whether or not Lincoln had literally said that, there is no doubt that the tale of one man’s life and death impacted the the lives of others.