Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
New York: Harper & Rowe, 1852 (original
copyright)
There is probably no novel in the history of the United States that affected the course of our history as this remarkable book. Abraham Lincoln upon meeting the author greeted her by saying "So this is the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war." Lincoln may have been exaggerating, but it is fair to say that the novel helped galvanize anti-slavery opinion in the early 1850s both at home and abroad. Bitterly resented in the South, Stowe further divided the North and South and help contribute to the polarization that culminated in the outbreak of war less than ten years after the book was published in 1852.
Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of several Kentucky slaves owned by a "kind" owner. But alas, in order to pay his debts, he is compelled to sell several slaves including Tom and Harry, a young boy black boy. To avoid separation, Eliza flees with her son and heads north to Canada to escape slavery and protect her son. Meanwhile, the deeply religious Tom chooses not to resist, and while the slave trader who initially buys him sells him to another "kind" master, the untimely death of this new master ultimately places Tom in the hands of the brutal Simon Legree.
Comment
Uncle Tom's Cabin is surprisingly timeless. Written on the heels of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, one can sense the anger felt by anti-slavery proponents in the North who bitterly resented the law's requirement forbidding them from aiding slaves seeking freedom in the North and Canada. It is fascinating to read the book today understanding its consequences, and knowing what Harriet Beecher Stowe didn't know at the time - the great Civil War would explode less than a decade after the book's completion.
The book, or portions of it, can serve as the centerpiece of lessons dealing with slavery and the causes of the Civil War. Used in conjunction with the University of Virginia's Web site on "Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture, A Multimedia Archive". This Web site enables students to read reviews and other articles regarding the book, both pro and con, written soon after the book was released. It also includes a number of the illustrations used in the book you may use for teaching purposes..
You and your students may access the Web site at: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/.Reading Level: 9.3
Interest Level: 9 - Adult
451 pagesSupports the Following Instructional Objectives:
Analyze the way in which the issue of slavery influenced the population and economy of the United States.Evaluate the causes and impact of the issues that led to the Civil War.
Excerpt
"You see, George, you know, now, I have always stood your friend; and whatever I've said, I've said for your good. Now, here, it seems to me, you're running an awful risk. You can't hope to carry it out. If you're taken, it will be worse with you than ever; they'll only abuse you, and half kill you, and sell you down the river."
"Mr. Wilson, I know all this," said George. "I do run a risk, but -" he threw open his overcoat, and showed two pistols and a bowie-knife. "There!" he said, "I'm ready for them! Down south I never will go. No! if it comes to that, I can earn myself at least six feet of free soil,-the first and last I shall ever own in Kentucky!"
"Why, George, this state of mind is awful; it's getting really desperate, George, I'm concerned. Going to break the laws of your country!"
"My country again! Mr. Wilson, you have a country; but what country have I, or any one like me, born of slave mothers? What laws are there for us? We don't make them, we don't consent to them, - we have nothing to do with them; all they do for us is to crush us, and keep us down. Haven't I heard your Fourth of July speeches? Don't you tell us all, once a year, that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed? Can't a fellow think, that hears such things? Can't he put this and that together, and see what it comes to?"
"Legree Beating Tom" used with permission from Stephen Railton and the University of Virginia at:
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/uncletom/illustra/53illf.html
Accessed January 21, 2004.Historical Fiction and Idaho U.S. History Curriculum
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E-mail Blaine Davies at blainedavies@cableone.net