Category: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Although Connecticut has a lot of amazing history to it, it is one of those small states that sometimes gets lost behind the larger ones. Connecticut is known for its rough and cold winters, but it should also be known for those now well-known citizens who grew up here and got their inspiration for creating better lives for all Americans by living in Connecticut. For example, Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up here in Connecticut and was one of a few inspirational writers who helped lead our nation out of slavery. To determine exactly how Harriet Beecher Stowe got to the influential status she has, even after her death, we need to examine what occured in her childhood and the life she lived as a child. Beecher (before she became Stowe) was one of eight children born to a Calvinist minister. Calvinism is the Protestant religious conviction that popularized the belief in the sovereignty of God in all areas of life, as well as the doctrine of predestination. Although Beecher’s family believed so much in God, that was not the key to happiness. When Harriet was only four years old, her mother passed away from tuberculosis, leaving her father a widower.

At the age of 21 Beecher moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her father became the director of the Lane Theological Seminary, and Beecher began to teach at an institution her eldest sister formed, the Western Female Institute. Beecher began studying Latin and working on her “romantic” novels. This is where her love for writing finally took off, even though it is nothing like the marvelous work that is yet to come from young Beecher. Roughly two years after moving to Ohio with her family, Beecher started writing for Western Monthly Magazine. During this time, Harriet Beecher became Harriet Beecher Stowe after marrying Calvin Ellis Stowe and the two started a family; from then on she was only writing on and off due to her demands as a wife and mother. Most women of this time were only considered successful or powerful if their husbands were. This was not the case for Harriet Beecher Stowe. In fact, she created her own fame by becoming a very influential woman who spoke about the appalling conditions of slavery, a subject about which she was very passionate, and letting the world know how traumatizing and inhumane slavery was. Her fame came as a result of the first novel she wrote, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It is said that Stowe did not write that novel for political reasons (which was a factor at the time) but for religious and emotional reasons that she faced by her knowledge of slavery (which not everyone in the United States was aware of).

Stowe and her husband had seven children during a very rough financial era. During this time, she visited the South and saw the terrible conditions of slavery that were not experienced in the same way in the North. This experience is what triggered Stowe to start a movement that would change history.The year is 1852 and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published and sold around the United States. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a fictional novel about the struggle of one slave named Uncle Tom and his journey as a slave to three different types of Southern slave owners. The last slave owner was brutal and ended up killing Uncle Tom, but this was the harsh reality to some slaves in the South; others in the Northern states did not know how bad these circumstances were. The amazing outcome of the book was that it sold more than 300,000 copies in the first year it was published and it wasn’t just read by those living in the United States, but was also read by those around the world; the truth finally broke free. When the book was published and was read by hundreds of thousands, of course it was going to cause controversy and change others’ opinions. Uncle Tom’s Cabin opened the eyes of many Northerners since slavery was not as common or used in the same way as it was in the South. This led a lot of Northerners to be against slavery and started anti-slavery, or abolitionist, protests. The South was not that easy to convert to an anti-slavery movement; perhaps because this was the way they had lived for generations. That, however, led to resentment and resistance of the book in the South. In most newspapers in the South, there was talk of how misrepresented slavery was and how enraged with anger the owners were because of how poorly they were presented.

The novel brought forth stronger attitudes and judgement against slavery. This novel is what caused a commotion and what led to more powerful anti-slavery movements. In a way, the novel written by a young white woman impacted so many different individual’s ideas about slavery that it, in fact, helped the President of The United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, and his movement against slavery. This opened people’s eyes to the fact that slavery is inhumane and we as a nation needed to reexamine this institution. That is when the Civil War, Confederates versus the Union, began. The Civil War didn’t occur directly because of the novel written by Stowe, but had a tremendous influence on Americans at home and led them to see how awful slavery really was. The novel enlightened people to the shocking conditions of slavery, especially in the South, and changed some people’s views so that they were in agreement with President Lincoln. As it is a part of history, we know that slavery was abolished because the North beat the South in The Civil War.

“So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war?” is the first thing former President Abraham Lincoln said to Stowe when they first met. This is because the novel she wrote helped Lincoln get citizens on his side to start more powerful anti-slavery measures that would lead to the Confederates versus the Union and the Civil War. Although the war was influenced by Stowe’s novel about slavery, that is not the reason she wrote the novel nor the outcome she intended. The reason this book was written was because when living in Cincinnati, Stowe and her family visited the town over in Kentucky and saw what slavery was really like. She learned from runaway slaves about the underground railroads, which were secret roads and houses that were used by abolitionists to help slaves escape from the south and from their owners and move to Canada or states where they could be free. However, it was not until her one-year-old son was on his deathbed and she thought that was what it must feel like for a slave mother when her child is taken away from her to be sold off and never to be seen again that she understood the horrific lives that slaves lived. A year after her son’s death and this thought, Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was the conversations she had with the former slaves that inspired her novel, and many of the characters in the book were based on the lives of real slaves that she had met.

Many things were a part of the onset of the Civil War. The lead up to the civil war lasted many years until the war started in 1861. Some of the important events that lead up to the war is The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Novel in 1852, and the John Brown Raid of 1857. Each of these acts was a very big contributor to the war. They all caused tension between the North and the South and they all caused civilians too make their side more opinionated after each of these events.

In 1850 The Fugitive slave Act was instituted. This law was different from the laws in 1793 and 1824 because this one eliminated jury trials for people who were alleged fugitives. So anyone could be names a fugitive and without any trial they would be sent back into slavery even if they were freee before. The law also made it swo that not only state officials would report fugitives but individual people would also. People in the North were very angered by this becasue they believed the Government was going to far in trying to keep and widen slavery. This aroused the abolishment cause from the Northerners who then thought that slavery was even more wrong than they did before because of the new law. After this law was enacted many many more people were hired as slave catchers to catch and return alves to their owners. There was even a reward for people who brought back slaves. $10 if they reported them fugitives and brought them back and $5 if they only reported them as fugitives but did not return them to their master. Along with the increase of slave catchers there was also an increase of Northerners who would help the slaves escape and hide from the Southern slave catchers. A growing amount of Northerners were challenging the federal government about this law that wasn’t only affecting slaves but it was affecting free blacks also because no one knew if there was a slave hiding amongst them. Many free blacks were sent back into slavery becasue people reported them as fugitives, and without the right to t a trial they were sucessfully sent back. The northerners thought this absurd. Many protests broke out over this law. This law also cause the initial debate on weather or not slavery should be abolished or not. Thus showing the rising tension that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

In 1852, after the Fugitive Slave Act Northern civilians were concerned about thier role in getting ride of slavery. They felt like they were not doing enough to end it. This feeling was even more elevated after Harriet Beecher Stowe published the novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin which was inspired by the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act. This novel was based on former slaves stories and abolitionist’s thoughts. The novel became popularized in the north along with other forms of abolitionist press (which were becoming more widely known at this time). However none of that press was as widely known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin was. It was read by millions and it affected millions. The book portrayed the slaves as innocent and the masters as cruel overseers with many punishments. Which made it easy for white Northerners to relate with the slaves. Even though the real stories of slaves surpassed the fictional ones the subtext was still there. This book brought attention to the issue of slavery. Which added more awareness to the widening problem of it. This caused more people to start fighting for slave freedom. Therefore giving more things to protest about which ended up leading to a war.

To end, an act was made by a man who was an abolitionist of slavery and an equal rights fighter. This man was John Brown. He was a deeply religious man who believed deeply that slavery should be stopped. Brown decided that direct action was the only thing that was going to make a difference. He asked many people to follow him in his journey to hope to abolish slavery. He even asked Frederick Douglass, but he decided against it. His plan was to kidnap the arsenal and then hand out weapons to the slaves so they could fight back.This he had hoped would end the slave plantation system. So, on October 16th of 1859 Brown and his small circle of followers headed out. They successfully kidnapped some men and the arsenal but soon the militia was in Harpers Ferry and Brown and his followers were taken. 14 rebels were killed during this event and some of them were even Browns own sons. Word spread about the raid and Brown was considered both a hero and a madman. By Northerners he as called a hero and by Southerners he was called a madman. After this raid many southern planters were sure this was a federal government led by abolitionists. He was hanged on December 2nd 1859 and many people were outraged at this. The raid was seen as many different things across the North. From the abolitionists they organized parades and parties and bonfires to celebrate and pay tribute to Brown and his Rebellion. From the Quakers, and other pacifists they also thought Browns a hero as he gave his life for his beliefs of abolishing slavery. However northern politician thought it was a rash act that would only make the tension worse. All of these groups were correct. INcluding the politicians because after the raid the southerners were starting to fight back and protest against the north, which did cause a lot more tension. By now the North and the South were on the edge of war, and all of these events helped lead up to the final emergence of the Civil War.

There were many things that led up to the Civil War. The three that I believe to be the most impactful were the Fugitive Slave Act, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and John Brown’s raid. All of these things happened bewteen 1848 and 1860, and all of them led to a further acknowlegement or conversation about the issue of slavery. They also added much tension between the North and the South each time an event like any of these broke out. In conclusion, the cause of the Civil war was a collection of events that led to protests fighting and opinions that they believed could only be solved by the butal battles of war.

The book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe has a strong thematic concern of antislavery with regards to compassion, inhumanity, and cruelty. The story puts its focus on a black slave who suffers for quite a long time due to his ethnic background. Uncle Tom faces life’s reality in a harsh environment where slaves are seen as mere losers. He is an intelligent man and his honesty cannot be overlooked.

Tom is bought as a slave by Mr. Shelby in Kentucky who is kind-hearted and treats him well. He is entrusted with many responsibilities such as finances and house dealings by Mr. Shelby, his master which he does not misuse or violate as Mr. Shelby states “…Tom is an uncommon fellow; he is certainly worth that sum anywhere-steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock” (Stowe 3).

Uncle Tom’s Christian morals are evident which gains him favor from the master including freedom to be with his family in his cabin.

Tragically, Mr. Shelby owes the slave trader Haley, a debt which he has to clear. The only solution left is to render Uncle Tom as a ransom to clear his debt. Harley insists that he also has to take Eliza’s (Shelby’s maid) son Harry, with him. Irrespective of Mr. Shelby being an affluent person as he owns estates and many horses, he chooses to sell Uncle Tom to settle debt.

The issue of giving out Harry and Uncle Tom triggers a controversy. Eliza opposes his son’s departure and runs away with harry where she hooks up with George, who is her husband owned by a separate master.

George had escaped hard work he was being subjected to. Harley puts effort to gain hold of Eliza it is fruitless as other slaves of Mr. Shelby sabotage and confuse him the direction to follow in order not to get hold of Eliza. Meanwhile, she has managed to evade Harley by disappearing on the other side of the river and to Canada with the help of strangers.

This is in the pursuit of freedom which is the right of every individual irrespective of his or her ethnicity. Harley re-strategize by sending slave catchers to look for Eliza and his son as he goes back to Mr. Shelby to take uncle Tom who follows submissively due to his Christian morals and since he is aware that the other slaves might also be sold if the debt is not settled.

Harley has plans to sell him at the far south away from his family which suffer due to his departure because they are aware that he will end up dying of being overworked.

All the same, he might be bought by a good master who would appreciate his intelligence and award him for it. Together, they navigate the Mississippi river to New Orleans where they along the way, they witness a mother who commits suicide by jumping overboard due to his son’s departure with slave traders.

It is through the journey that Eva, a daughter of a rich man (Augustine St. Clare) is saved by Uncle Tom when she drops overboard where he gains a favor and is acquired to become a horse-driver. Augustine St. Clare dislikes slavery although he cannot openly oppose it alone not even with the help of his wife who despises slaves.

He has a wife whom they don’t get along well as he got her after facing denial from the family of the one he loved. Following Augustine St. Clare and his daughter’s death, Tom is sold to a cruel, master fiendish Simon Legree the owner of a cotton plantation where he is brutally beaten and eventually dies (Stowe 411).

In conclusion, the book portrays the immoral attributes that arise as a result of slavery, Christianity as a source of consolation and the relevance of the right to motherhood.

The slaves are treated as having no feelings but the book points out that they are capable of having those feelings when they suffer and should therefore not be mistreated just as Christianity points out. The author emphasizes the relevance of personal freedom which is denied to the slaves and therefore discusses slavery from an abolitionist perspective.

Works Cited

Stowe, Harriet. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. 2003. Print.

Introduction

Ranked among the all-time famous female American writers, Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. The platform for her literary achievements was laid by Stowe’s interaction with her learned aunt Harriet Foote who instilled in her ward the value of deep thinking and cultural beliefs. It was the combination of two events that led to Stowe’s everlasting fame as a writer. Both took place in 1850. The first was Stowe’s first-hand interaction with African American slaves in Cincinnati. After several visits to them Stowe witnessed with her own eyes the abysmal plight of the slaves and the grossly unfair treatment meted out to them by Southern whites.

Main text

The second event was the Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress in 1850 that criminalized harboring or assisting runaway slaves; even to an impartial bystander the Act denoted a stamp of approval by Congress for the ongoing cruel and barbaric practice of slavery festering in the South. Both events combined to spark off tumultuous reactions in the creative writer that resulted in her publishing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852.

The book was such a tremendous success that Stowe was emboldened to write “The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1853, and another anti-slavery novel “Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp” in 1856. Harriet Beecher Stowe died in 1896, 6 years before the first film adaptation of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was made (Kirjastoc.sci.fi).

The basic theme of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is the evil of slavery. The novel concentrates on the character of protagonist Uncle Tom, an African-American slave. The tales of the novel’s other characters, ranging from his fellow slaves to slave owners, slave hunters and other white people, revolve around him. Against the background of buying and selling of slaves, the hard work they are forced to do, the inhuman, degrading treatment meted out to them, and the riches made from them by most of the whites in Southern United States, Stowe’s portrayal of slaves reveal the evil practice of slavery in all its harsh reality. Uncle Tom is a long-suffering but dutiful servant, loyal to those who own him.

He is a good and pious man, “honest and faithful and Christian” (Stowe, 406). Tom’s wife Chloe is a hard-working, jovial simpleton. Mammy {“the best creature living” (Stowe, 157)} constantly brims with kindness and affection. Sexual misconduct with female slaves is depicted by young black women Cassy and Emmeline, sex slaves of their white owner Simon Legree; Cassy, having being bought and sold several times earlier, was also sexually used by previous owners to bear children.

Slave children are mercilessly separated from their parents and sold to the highest bidder – like the many children of Cassy who becomes so distraught that she poisons one of her children rather than having to undergo the pain of separation again. Some slaves dare to undertake heroic deeds for the sake of their fellow slaves such as Eliza Harris who flees with her son Harry, making “desperate leaps on blocks of ice” (Stowe, 57) to cross River Ohio, her husband George Harris who shoots Tom Loker when he endangers his family, and Uncle Tom who prefers to die from merciless beating by Simon Legree and his overseers Sambo and Quimbo (Stowe, 383), rather than reveal the escape route of Cassy and Emmeline.

The barbarity of slavery is well depicted in events featuring slave traders, slave hunters and slave owners. Slave traders like Mr. Haley and slave hunters like Tom Loker are ruthless individuals who have a simple motto: “Treat ‘em [blacks] like dogs” (Stowe, 100). The remorseless cruelty of most slave owners is epitomized by Simon Legree, the “glaring, greenish-eyed” (Stowe, 314) vicious master of Tom whose barbaric treatment of slaves spawns violence and hatred among them.

The callousness of most white women is depicted in the character of Marie St. Claire, shown as a self-centered, petty and foolish woman who haughtily declares: “[As if} Mammy could love her dirty little [black] babies as I love Eva” (Stowe, 162). The hypocrisy of several whites who sympathize with blacks but are hesitant to air their views openly for fear of endangering businesses and high-profile jobs is depicted by Arthur Shelby and Augustine St. Claire who hesitate because they run lucrative slave plantations, and Senator John Bird who hesitates because “there are public interests involved” (Stowe, 75)}.

Stowe also shows true sympathizers of the suffering slaves among the Southerners. Emily Shelby is a morally virtuous woman who does her best to help her husband’s slaves. Mary Bird is another virtuous woman who tries to better the lives of slaves, even daring to go against the law by “aiding and abetting” the escaping Eliza and her son (Stowe, 74), defiantly declaring: “Nobody shall hurt you here, poor woman” (Stowe, 77).

Ophelia St. Claire overcomes her initial prejudice against blacks, and eventually looks upon them as equal human beings, even going to the extent of teaching the slave girl Topsy to read (Stowe, 244). Eva is an angelic child, a totally moral human being who in her innocence sees no difference between whites and slaves. George Shelby has a kind heart and steely determination, who acts on his principles. After the death of Uncle Tom, George grants freedom to all the slaves on his Kentucky plantation: “You are now free men and free women. I shall pay you wages for your work, such as we shall agree on” (Stowe, 406).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the impact of the novel’s basic theme was so pronounced that the book is credited with having a huge effect on the existing attitude towards slavery in the U.S., not only among non-slave owning Northerners, but also among abolitionist Southerners .

Stowe’s book is widely credited with having fuelled sectional conflict that ultimately culminated in the American Civil War. This view was vindicated when U.S. President Abraham Lincoln famously commented upon meeting Stowe: “So this is the little lady who made this big war” (Kirjasto.sci.fi).

In my opinion, Stowe’s novel ranks among the all-time great anti-slavery books ever published. Not only does it lays bare the stark realities of slavery at its barbaric worst, but the manner in which this is done – with poignant simplicity and down-to-earth realism – contributes hugely to the novel’s unprecedented appeal to readers of all ages and in different time periods. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is one of the rare ‘evergreen’ books that will never lose its appeal.

While it is no coincidence that the book earned the formidable reputation as the best selling novel of the 19th century, as well as the best selling book of the same century, it certainly is a coincidence that there is such a close link with the Bible because Stowe has gone on record to declare that she got divine inspiration to write her record-breaking book: “I could not control the story, the Lord himself wrote it” (Kirjasto.sci.fi).

References used

• “Harriet Beecher Stowe (1891-1896).” Kirjasto. 2002. Web.
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” U.K: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 1999.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the most popular books that were written in the eighteenth century. The book was authored by Harriet Beecher Stowe and it addresses the issue of slavery. It has been speculated that Stowe’s book was responsible for provoking the American Civil War. This claim is fuelled by fact that Lincoln himself met Stowe and supposedly credited her with triggering the Civil War.

The author of the book was a known abolitionist herself. The book’s main character is Uncle Tom and the actions of all other characters revolve around him. This book was authored in the period before the Civil War and the consequent abolishment of slave trade. The book details various issues pertaining to Christianity, slavery, and human rights. This paper will address the main arguments brought forth by the author through this book.

One of the most apparent issues in this book is the author’s wish to portray slaves as human beings. During the slavery period, the slave owners considered African American slaves as part of their possessions. In the slave owners’ view, there was no difference between owning an ox and a slave.

Stowe presents the argument that the slaves have feelings just like those of their masters. The author seems to take issue with the practice of separating members of one family and selling them differently. Most sellers do this under the assumption that these African Americans are not like regular white people.

Uncle Tom has been in the Shelby’s household for so long such that he feels like part of the family. However, when his time to be sold comes, his feelings of attachment are utterly disregarded. In addition, throughout the story several women are separated from their kin. Those responsible for these separations overlook the fact that by doing this, they put these women through difficult emotional turmoil.

The other argument that can be deduced from this book is that Christianity is a strong tool for overcoming the shackles of slavery. The main character in the book is a staunch Christian. The role of Christianity against slavery is also explored through the portrayal of slave owners. Moreover, Stowe suggests that those slaves who are Christians have an easier time than those who are not.

Those slaves who have not embraced the faith like Topsy are seen to struggle more than the faithful ones. It is clear that the author considers Christianity a major tool in the fight against slavery. Her portrayal of Simon Legree the non-Christian slave master sheds more light into this view. Legree is portrayed as a heartless slave owner who brutalises slaves and proclaims war against their Christian faith. Stowe seems to hint that the enemies of freedom are also enemies of Christianity.

Uncle Tom is able to meet and connect with several people of all races courtesy of his unwavering faith. His faith is so steadfast such that it is instrumental in converting two of Legree’s most notorious stalwarts, Sambo and Quimbo. It can be argued that Stowe is of the opinion that the fight against slavery cannot be won without the direct influence of Christianity. That is why whenever a character in the book converts to Christianity; it somehow translates into a victory against slavery.

As a known activist for the abolishment of slavery, Stowe does not waste the chance to outline the evils of slavery. The book was written just after the government had passed a law that prohibited citizens from assisting run-away slaves. Therefore, Stowe’s goal was to get through to her audience and ensure that the citizens disregarded this new law. To achieve this goal, the author employs a sentimental style of writing that she uses to outline the evils of slavery.

In addition, the author chose to use illustrations to add on this sentimental value. All the slaves in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” suffer in one way or another. This includes those working in households with “kind masters”. For instance, Mr Shelby is intent on separating Eliza and her son just to settle a debt (Stowe 37). By portraying slavery in such different settings, the author makes it clear that there is no justification for slavery. Therefore, the only solution is freedom for all slaves.

The author of this book highlights the role played by women in this struggle. Even though the book predates the rise of feminism, the women in this book are portrayed as more courageous, morally upright, and committed than men. Among the slave owners, the women seem more ready to abandon slavery than their men counterparts do.

As another group that faces oppression, the author suggests that the womenfolk support abolishment first and then fight for their own cause later. For instance, Legree’s mother is not supportive of his son’s actions, but as a woman, she has no say on the matter (Stowe 78). The author also portrays the enslaved women in a very positive light.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was undoubtedly one of the most significant tools against slavery during its time. The author explores slavery from all angles and manages to highlight its evil nature. She achieves this by putting forward various arguments pertaining to slavery. Some of these are exhibited in a very sentimental nature that is characteristic of this book. The book was a true revelation and it remains an informative tool when it comes to the nature of life in the eighteenth century.

Work Cited

Stowe, Harriet. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Boston: John P Jewitt, 1852. Print.