Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Civil War

The anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written at a time when slavery was a largely common practice among Americans. It not only helped lay the foundation for the Civil War but also contained many themes that publicized the evil of slavery to all people. The book contains themes such as the moral power of women, human right, and many more. The most important theme Stowe attempts to portray to readers is the incompatibility of slavery and Christianity. She makes it very clear that she does not believe slavery and Christianity can coexist and that slavery is against all Christian morals. She believes no Christian should allow the existence or practice of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe for the first time. The book that the former president is referring to is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a 1850s book about the moral wrongs of slavery. It has been said to be the most influential anti-slavery book that has ever been written. Harriet Beecher Stowe is an effective author. She uses numerous literary devices such as facile characters, character foils, and symbolism to highlight her abolitionist views and constructs a persuasive argument against slavery.

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published the startlingly truthful and heart-wrenching novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She was angered by the new and stricter Fugitive Slave Law and created this novel, emphasizing the cruel separation of families in order to inflame the North. She owed the creation of it to God and said “her anti-slavery sentiments lay in the evangelical religious crusades of the Second Great Awakening.” Stowe’s novel sold millions of copies, transformed into plays and opened the eyes of American people, to the injustice of slavery. Arguably, this novel even helped the North win the Civil War: It was read by a profuse amount of youth in the 1850’s who would inspired to fight because what Uncle Tom’s Cabin portrayed. Additionally, it was an impetus for people up North to not enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. Five years later to when this novel was published Hinton Helper’s novel, The Impending Crisis of the South made its debut. Helper was a non-aristocratic white in the South and his novel utilized statistics in order to help prove that the non-slaveholding whites were the real victims of the Peculiar Institution. This novel was banned from the South, however countless copies were sold in the North. This novel, as did its former, reduced the South’s ability to live under the same roof as their anti-slavery brothers up North.

Women in the civil war era. What image comes into your mind? A nurse? What about a nobel spy, or a leader to many? Even an abolitionist, a soldier, or maybe even a civil rights activist. Many women wanted to speak out for their beliefs, but remained quiet, for they feared it would not have a good outcome. But, some didn’t stay quiet. Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of those women who was not scared to speak for her, and many others, beliefs. Harriet was a passionate abolitionist, and her book ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ made her an international celebrity. She is even considered one of the causes of the Civil War. Her book personalizes the political and economic arguments about slavery. President Abraham Lincoln greeted her in 1812 and proclaimed, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started the great war.” Harriet Tubman was a hero. She was a runaway slave who became a conductor in the

When Harriet Beecher Stowe published her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in 1852, the Southerners reacted by defending their way of life. They claimed that Stowe was exaggerating, and that the way they were portrayed in the book was false. “Didn’t I pay down twelve hundred dollars, cash, for all there is inside yer old cussed blackshell? An’t yer mine now body and soul?... we’ll see-we’ll see!... give this dog such a breakin’ in as he won’t get over this month!” (Doc C). Over 300,000 copies were sold in the first year of circulation, proving to be the most popular book in the 19th century. Abraham Lincoln greeted Stowe, the first time they met in 1862, by saying there is “the little women who wrote the book that made this great war.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin unveiled all the details that the South tried to cover up, and just added fuel to the abolitionist’s claims and protest.

In conclusion, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass were both writers during the abolitionist movement. They both touched the lives of many and gained support from people all

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which brought up the horrible aspects of slavery into many Americans minds. She brought up many horrifying points about slavery and it is said to have inspired Northern abolitionists to protest against the Fugitive Slave act.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin may never be seen as a great literary work, because of its didactic nature, but it will always be known as great literature because of the reflection of the past and the impact on the present. Harriet Beecher Stowe seemed destined to write great protest novels like Uncle Tom’s Cabin: her father was Lyman Beecher, a prominent evangelical preacher, and her siblings were preachers and social reformers. Born in 1811 in Litchfeild, Connecticut, Stowe moved with her family at the age of twenty-one to Cincinnati. During the eighteen years she lived there she was exposed to slavery. Although her only personal contact with the south was a brief trip to

Harriet Beecher Elisabeth lived a great life and she fought so hard to end slavery and for everybody to be equal. She influenced her son he fought into war and he passed. She influenced all her children and her brothers and sisters were helping to put a stop in slavery. The Person that really got her going was her father. He reinforced his abolitionist’s views on her and she carried that throughout her life. She lives a wonderful life after she dies in Hartford Connecticut July 1, 1896. Still to this day school still touch upon what she did and how she helped put a stop to

Have you ever heard of Harriet Stowe? Harriet was a Social Activist, author, teacher and supporter of the Underground Railroad. She wrote one of the most influential books in history, that made an enormous impact on civil rights.

     Published in the early 1850’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge impact on our nation and contributed to the tension over slavery. It was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman who was involved in religious and feminist causes. Stowe’s influence on the northern states was remarkable. Her fictional novel about slave life of her current time has been thought to be one of the main things that led up to the Civil War. The purpose of writing it, as is often said, was to expose the evils of slavery to the North where many were unaware of just what went on in the rest of the country. The book was remarkably successful and sold 300,000 copies by the end of its first year. It is even rumored that

When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe after the beginning of the American Civil War, he supposedly said to her, "So you're the little woman that wrote the book that started this Great War" ("Harriet's Life"). Lincoln was referring to Harriett Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin. The quote implies that even the president of America had recognized and emphasized the impact of the novel on American Society as being the key cause to something as important as the Civil War.

HARRIET: Hello, my name is Harriet Beecher Stowe and I was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14, 1811 into a family whose patriarch was committed to social justice (Editors, Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography, 2016). My parents had high expectations of my brothers, sisters and me; they believed we should help change the world for the greater

As many people say history was written by the victors, we need to remember there would be no victors without the struggle and turmoil of those that lost. This is what Harriet Beecher Stowe’s compelling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin has taught us in regards to the war on slavery. In the midst of the 1800’s, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to address the various issues regarding race during this century. Throughout her novel, readers learn the lives of slaves, slave masters, and their families, which leads to the understanding of a unique lifestyle among the characters. As her novel is important in today’s society, it made an even greater impact during the nineteenth century as it portrays the ideology of the Civil War and the abolitionists.

For the most part, the North took a laissez faire approach to slavery that it would figure itself out eventually. However, there was a population of people who wanted to end slavery at all cost and they were called abolitionist. Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and she published one of the best books in American history, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in 1852. The book detailed the poor treatment of slaves and the depicted their everyday life. This depiction enraged many Northerners who were unaware of the horrible treatment slaves endured daily. Stowe based her depiction off runaway slaves who ran to the North and told their story as a slave. Runaway slaves were another inevitable aspect of the Civil War (Roark 481,484-485).