Uncle Tom’s Cabin: An Antislavery Bestseller

An event in 1852 added to the growing antislavery mood of the North. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Knew England woman,         published a novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe wrote the novel too show the evils of slavery and the injustice if the Fugitive Slave Act.

A Powerful Story   Stowe told the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved African American noted for his kindness and piety. Tom’s world is shattered when he is bought by the brutal Simon Legree. When Tom refuses to reveal the whereabouts of two runaways, Legree whips him two death. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had wide appeal among northern readers.
                The first printing sold out in just two days. Eventually, the book sold millions of copies and was translated in to dozens of langages.

Nationwide Reaction  Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin was popular in the North,southerners objected to the book. They claimed that it did not give a true picture of slave life. Indeed, Stowe had seen little of slavery firsthand.
                Despite such objections, Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped to change the way northerners felt about slavery.  No longer could they ignore slavery so a political problem for Congress to settle. More and more northerners now saw      slavery as a moral problem facing every American. For this reason, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the most important books in American History.