During the 1840’s and 1850’s, the United States was on the brink of a Civil War. Ever since Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas in 1492, slavery has been a consistently viable source of labor. After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, the use of slave labor exploded in the United States, which was predominately used in the South. Although slavery was not very common in the North (as many states abolished it after the Revolution), many Northerners still supported it, slaves harvested cotton, which fuelled the North’s economy. However, with the publication of anti-slavery works and the spread of anti-slavery fervor during the Second Great Awakening, many people (mostly in the North) came to the realization that slavery was …show more content…
Before this point, Northerners were brainwashed by Southerners into thinking that their peculiar institution treated slaves almost like family. Many Northerners believed that white Southerners treated their slaves well (feeding them an adequate amount, clothing them, etc). Therefore, many Northerners did not really have a problem with the institution. However, once they read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, many Northerners were shocked, as Stowe characterized slavery as being cruel and inhumane, as many were whipped, separated from their families, and not fed a lot of food. Basically, through this book Northerners realized that the relationship between the slaves and their master was not familial as they once thought. As a result of this discovery, many Northerners believed that they needed to step up and help the slaves. To erase the cruelties in which slaves were treated was a fundamental reason for why the North decided to fight the South in the Civil War, as they believed that no human being, regardless of their race, such be dehumanized and treated as if they are