Hannah Matlock
November 10, 2016
3rd Block
Uncle Tom’s Cabin The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin covers a very important topic and issue that is known world-wide: slavery. Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the first American settlement, Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 to better the production of crops. The importance of slavery was admired most in the South. This admiration was due to Southerners arguing that slave labor was a large part of the foundation of their economy. While the lives of some slaves were mild and condescending, others were brutal and sadistic. The 1857, Dred Scott Decision ruled that slaves were subhuman property and were not granted any rights of American citizenship. The Underground Railroad was established to help
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was written to invalidate the myth that all blacks were happy as slaves. The story starts out with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby who has a large amount of debt and is faced with the possibility of losing everything he owns. To pay off some of the debt, Shelby decides to sell two of their slaves to a slave trader named Mr. Haley. The two slaves are Uncle Tom, a man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Eliza, Mrs. Shelby’s maid. Mrs. Shelby is in dismay after finding out because she promised Eliza that her son would not be sold. Unfortunately Eliza overheard the conversation and warned Uncle Tom and his wife, Aunt Chloe and then takes Harry and escapes North searching for freedom. After crossing the Ohio River, the boundary separating the North from the South, they find a Quaker settlement to help transport them to safety. During that time, Uncle Tom