Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin

In the early 1850’s, one event hastened the coming of the Civil War and emancipation (unlike any other), and that was the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe writes and publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel that, for the first time, exposed the harshness and cruelty of slavery. This book immediately became a best seller, selling over 300,000 copies in the first year. Queen Victoria is said to have wept when she read it. It was the most popular novel of the nineteenth century, and the second best selling book overall (second only to the Bible). This book helped to fuel the abolitionist movement during its final stages---- leading up to the Civil War. Incidentally, the character Uncle Tom (who has come down in history to be regarded as a “racially spineless” character) was, in fact, a very heroic character in the actual novel. 

 

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)