EOTO: Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe on June 5th, 1851. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman who was an abolitionist. She wrote this book against slavery. This novel she wrote helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. She wrote this book based on a slave, “Uncle Tom” and the stories of his time as a slave.

 This was the best-selling novel during this time period, following the bible. Throughout her book, she focuses on this slave's life, which leads her to expose false stereotypes against African Americans. This novel was so powerful it not only helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War but also assisted in forming the new Republican Party which opposed slavery.

This novel was actually first published in a magazine in 1852, and later converted into a novel. When the book first started selling, Stowe sold nearly 300,000 copies in one year. If you think about how many people read that book and told other people a general idea of what the book was about, this is what led to such an impact on society. This novel actually was said to have pushed many Pro-Slavery states away from the Union, breaking off from the pack.

This novel was an extreme part of Abraham Lincoln as well. This book paved the road to Lincoln winning the election for President. There is a story told when Stowe went to see Lincoln, he said to her “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” Lincoln had said this because of how impactful her novel was. Stowe's writing was influenced by the 1850 Fugitive Act, which inspired most of her ideas. The book of 1849 “The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada” was known as her primary inspiration, and this sparked her entire novel. Store's novel led to a worldwide controversial concept and changed many perspectives of blacks.

Her writing was said to have altered the way many of her readers, pro or against slavery, view society as a whole. Her writing allowed African Americans to have a voice. This novel was one of the first steps for blacks to come out of the shadows. Another concept shown throughout the novel that many readers often misunderstood was, the novel displayed how Christian love can overcome slavery. This is why her novel was such a huge seller because it focused on so many different important ideas. Stowe was able to grasp the anti-slavery, some of the pro-slavery, and even the religious audiences all at the same time.

Throughout her novel she explained many of the hardships slaves went through, this allowed for many eye-openers. This is why it is said that this “little woman” helped cause the Civil War. Throughout the Civil War, many of the slaves often tried to escape. When a slave tried to escape and if they were caught it was their demise. Slaves caught escaping were tortured, beaten, sometimes killed, whipped, etc. Throughout Stowe's novel, she explained many of the hardships they faced like these.

The slave she based most of her novel off of was able to give first-hand insight into how they were treated. Especially throughout the Civil War later on after her novel, it was told many slaves were inspired to escape to freedom. Many of them also were loyal and listened to their masters during the war so they could survive.