Racial Tensions In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Americas Wakeup Call
When people describe the racial tensions that were occurring before the civil war one can only feel appalled at how some people still manage to justify slavery. Things such as the Fugitive Slave Act deeply affected the north by hearing stories of many African Americans being taken without trial deeply angered and increased the North's negative view on Southern Slavery. The thing that lead to the civil war was the Uncle Tom's Cabin that was the match to ignite the increased tensions into war. Just as Abraham Lincoln stated that Uncle Tom's Cabin managed to start the war by letting people of the North get easy access to the atrocities that occurred in the South. Right before the Uncle Tom's Cabin became published in 1852

She describes the beating of a weak Mss Cassy about to be flogged for not making the limit of the daily workload. Legree the slave owner orders Tom to “Take this gal and flog her” (351) in an effort to turn him into a slave driver yet when Tom refuses he gets whipped instead by trying to protect her by stating that it is inhumane to be whipping those who are already weak. Beecher brings light on the cruelty that many slaves had to go through such as whippings. In addition she also brings to light other despicable actions such as mothers having to be separated from their children and not being able to stop their owners from separating a mother and her children. She also hints at how women would often be sexually abused by their owners and not being able to resist without having to be physically punished. All these atrocities were brought to life to the North that made these dark truths available for everyone to read about in Uncle Tom's