The novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was the most influential in starting the Civil War. Stowe’s anti-slavery novel was an attention grabbing book that also delivered a political point. After it was published, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was both praised and laid into as false and counterfactual. The novel opened the eyes of northern states to the horrors of slavery and triggered the Civil War.
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is an anti-slavery novel that was written from 1850 to 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Brunswick Maine, U.S.A. Stowe’s most famous book was published in 1852 and a whopping 300,000 copies were sold within 3 months. The story starts with a slave owner who is compelled to sell two of his slaves due to financial tribulations. The plot then follows the two slaves; Uncle Tom and Harry through their stories of long suffering and persecution. A quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe sums up the general message in her book perfectly, “Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!”. The story delivered it’s point to readers at a personal level and was known as the most read book at the time.
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Both extremes were presented when reviewing the book, some praised the novel and some said it was just a “pack of lies”. An article titled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Michael Bullion states, “In her book, issues such as the Fugitive Slave Law, the future of an enslaved people and general racism were freely discussed.” As a result of this the book received drastic responses, positive from the north and negative from the south. A quote from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is similar to the reason the south reacted the way they did, calling the novel a lie, it follows, “Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to