Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel by American abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. The work was first published on March 20, 1852. The novel soon became the best-selling novel of the 19th century (and the second best-selling book of the century after the Bible)http://www.enotes.com/uncle-toms/ and is credited with helping to end slavery in the United States. Despite this, the book also helped create and spread common stereotypes about African Americans, many of which endure to this day.

Origins

Stowe wrote the novel as an angry response to the 1850 passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which punished those who aided runaway slaves and diminished the rights of fugitives as well as freed slaves.

Related Topics:
1850 - Fugitive Slave Act

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The story was first published as a 40-week serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly published in the National Era, an abolitionist (or, more precisely, a Free Soil) periodical, starting in the 5 June 1851 issue, and was published in book form March 20, 1852. Because the copyright laws of the time did not place any limits on stage dramatizations of fictional works, stage dramatizations, soon known as "Tom shows", began to appear during the period while Stowe's original work was still being published serially.

Related Topics:
National Era - Abolitionist - Free Soil - 5 June - 1851 - March 20 - 1852 - Copyright

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Many writers have credited this novel with inflaming the passions of residents of the northern half of the United States to work towards the abolition of slavery, though the novel's historical influence has been disputed. When Abraham Lincoln met Stowe after the beginning of the American Civil War, he reportedly said to her, "So you're the little lady whose book started this great war." In addition, some have claimed that the book so affected British readers that it kept Britain from joining the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy.

Related Topics:
Abolition of slavery - Abraham Lincoln - American Civil War

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