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Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:38:27 GMT

Harriet Beecher Stowe was a critically acclaimed woman in the 1850s for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin which attacked the cruelty of slavery; reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential, even in Britain. It made the political issues of the 1850s regarding slavery tangible to millions, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North. It angered and soured already poor relations with the South. The impact is summed up in a commonly quoted line most likely attributed to Abraham Lincoln. When he met Stowe, it is claimed that he said, "So you're the little woman that started this great war!"1
Stowe was a highly influential woman and her work was able to impact both the North and the South (even to go as far as Britain as well), achieve higher standings for fellow abolitionists, and strike a blow to current enforcement of slavery.
Originally a serial for the Washington anti-slavery weekly, the National Era, it focused public interest on the issue of slavery, and was deeply controversial, to the point where her previous and at times, future work was passed on and pushed aside. Like many abolitionists, in order to make her points accurate (and seemingly retold) Stowe drew on her personal experience: she was familiar with slavery, the antislavery movement, and the underground railroad because Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnatti, Ohio, where Stowe had lived, was a slave state.2
What had started the inspiration for such an impacting piece of literature?
When living in Cincinnati, a border city, was at the time torn with abolitionist conflicts. Harriet's brothers were violently opposed to slavery, and she had seen its effects in Kentucky and had aided a runaway slave. However, it was not until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) that she was moved to write on the subject. Add in the fact her youngest child dieing of Cholera gave her the ability to sympathize slave mothers who had their children sold from them.3 Uncle Tom's Cabin, as mentioned previously, was first published serially (1851-52) in an abolitionist paper, the National Era, however, was not intended as abolitionist propaganda, nor was it directed against the South, although slaveholders condemned the book as unfair; indeed, it presented some of the favorable aspects of slavery, but it also crystallized the sentiments of the North. In one year over 300,000 copies were sold, and its dramatization by G. L. Aiken had a long run. The book was translated into many foreign languages, helping to reach even farther than Britain.
Stowe's book had an astounding effect on the northern states of America. Thousands more flocked to the abolitionist side. However, the rift dividing the north and south deepened. Many in the south denied that the book was a true account of southern life, and took it as a slanderous accusation. The book was banned in southern states, and anyone in possession of it could be arrested.4 In their defense, southerners wrote mocking books praising the good of slavery such as Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or Southern Life as it is. In response, Stowe gathered all her information and wrote, A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, written to prove she had researched her topic. Yet it was not read as widely in the south as elsewhere.5
From the second it was published, the book also stimulated anti-slavery opinion in the north and angered readers in the South. The book endured its share of critical drubbings as well, including a review from The London Times that claimed the book would only appeal to readers with strong hearts and weak intellects.6 But the book's impact was immediate and astonishing, creating a public reaction that cemented the book's status in American literature as a work that would endure and survive as far more than mere anti-slavery propaganda. The book's success was so surprising to Stowe, she claimed that she did not write the book so much as take dictation from God.
Despite her clear anti-slavery position, Stowe and her novel continue to draw intense criticism for the novel's condescending portrayal of blacks. While some educators have stressed the importance of understanding the time period in which the novel was written (when views toward racial equality were not nearly as progressive as they are today), others have been unable to forgive her simplistic and often startlingly insulting portrayals of black characters. The book's literary merits have also been debated from the time it was first published; it received several negative reviews, and many critics today do not consider the novel to be a remarkable aesthetic achievement.7
Furthermore, across the Atlantic in Great Britain, the message of Uncle Tom was also embraced, supported from its beginnings by the powerful advocate Rev. James Sherman in London. In 1853 Harriet went on a visit to Europe, in London she was a guest of Sherman at Surrey Chapel, who assisted her arrangements for a speaking tour to promote the book. Upon her arrival in England she was given a warm welcome and was presented with an address, known as the Affectionate and Christian Address, from the Anti-Slavery Society, with over half a million signatures from women of all classes. This was given to her in 26 volumes; her reply was printed in the Atlantic Monthly.8 The head of the Anti-Slavery Society, the Duchess of Sutherland, became close friends with Harriet as well.9
At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Great Britain's thoughts of joining with the South moved Stowe to reply to the British people reminding them of their commitment to the slaves. Britain remained neutral throughout the war. In her journal Stowe wrote about her feelings about the War. She said, "It was God’s will that this nation—both North and South—should deeply and terribly suffer for the sin of consenting to and encouraging the great oppressions of the South... the blood of the poor slave, that had cried so many years from the ground in vain, should be answered by the blood of the sons from the best hearthstones through all the free states."10 In 1862, Stowe even went to see Lincoln to pressure him to free the slaves faster.
Overall, Harriet Beecher Stowe was able to achieve a reaction from the entire countries and responses from several outsiders as well. Although her books brought her financial success and travels to foreign countries, she focused more on her abolitionist efforts to make slavery and its evils known.

1 Sigerman, Harriet. An Unfinished Battle: American Women v.5 (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1994) 92

2 Sigerman, Harriet. The young Oxford history of women in the United States; v.11 (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1995) 158

3 Sigerman, Harriet. An Unfinished Battle: American Women (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1994) 92

4 Wagenknecht, Edward. Harriet Beecher Stowe: The Known and Unknown (New York: Oxford University Press) 3

5 Wagenknecht, Edward. Harriet Beecher Stowe: The Known and Unknown (New York: Oxford University Press) 5

6 Adams, John R. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1963) 4

7 Adams, John R. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1963) 6

8 Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn. Encyclopedia of Women’s History (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000) 243

9 Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn. Encyclopedia of Women’s History (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000) 244

10 Sigerman, Harriet. The young Oxford history of women in the United States; v.11 (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1995) 158

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