Reactions of Northerners
"Slavery, anti-slavery in the North was a very unpopular topic. She brought it to the hearts of millions of northerners and at the same time, she made southerners come to the defense of slavery to a degree they never had before, so she sharpened the debate. She crystallized that debate that led to the Civil War …" (Source: Reynolds, Mightier)
Uncle Tom's Cabin produced a growing sense of responsibility among Northerners, especially those who had been indifferent observers to the system of slavery. Many began to realize that they needed to play a part to abolish slavery by joining the abolitionist movement or by exercising their right to vote for candidates who opposed slavery.
Whites' Responses
Many people of the time charged Harriet Beecher Stowe with having created the dramatic shifts in popular attitudes toward slavery that lay behind the Civil War. The claim has substance. Uncle Tom's Cabin shaped the political scene by making the North, formerly largely hostile for the antislavery reform, far more open to it than it had been. The novel ... directly paved the way for the public's openness to an antislavery candidate like Lincoln."
(Source: Reynolds, Mightier)
North American Review, Oct. 1853
"The negro is naturally the servant of the white man, because all mental inferiority is naturally the servant of mental superiority ... But the negro, though inferior to the white is still a man ... A slave is not, and cannot be, property." |
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"A year and a half after Uncle Tom’s Cabin published, Stowe wrote a friend, 'The effects of the book so far have been, I think, these; 1st to soften and moderate the bitterness of feeling in extreme abolitionists. 2nd to convert to abolitionist views many whom the same bitterness had repelled. 3rd to inspire the free colored people with self-respect, hope and confidence. 4th to inspire universally a kindlier feeling toward the negro race.'" (Source: Reynolds, Mightier)
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It brought slavery to life for many Northerners. It did not necessarily make these people devoted abolitionists, but the book began to move more and more Northerners to consider ending the institution of slavery."
(Source: Uncle, Ohio)
Blacks' Responses
"Historically, when the book was published, African American abolitionists were supportive of any efforts ... they knew that slavery was not going to end by black hands alone. So when white abolitionists supported their efforts, they were very appreciative of that." ~Prof. Turner, Interview
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Frederick Douglass's Paper
Frances E. Watkins (Harper)
Rochester: 27 January 1854
Frances E. Watkins (Harper)
Rochester: 27 January 1854
TO MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
BY FRANCES E. WATKINS
BY FRANCES E. WATKINS
"I thank thee for thy pleading
For the helpless of our race; Long as our hearts are beating In them thou hast a place. I thank thee for thy pleading For the fetter'd and the dumb; The blessing of the perishing Around thy path shall come. I thank thee for the kindly words That grac'd thy pen of fire, And thrilled upon the living chords Of many a heart's deep lyre. |
For the sisters of our race Thou'st nobly done thy part; Thou hast won thyself a place In every human heart. The halo that surrounds thy name Hath reached from shore to shore; But thy best and brightest fame Is the blessing of the poor." |
Negative Responses
"Black people feel that there are two things about Uncle Tom's Cabin that are very disturbing. The first is that Uncle Tom is a hero but is very passive and noble. And more people want to be like George Harris than they want to be like Uncle Tom -- someone who is proud, and militant, and articulate, and who runs away. And Uncle Tom gives his life to protect the two black women slaves, who were hiding in the attic in Simon Legree's house.
And the second is Mrs. Stowe, essentially, advocated the colonization movement. And Frederick Douglass wrote to her a stern letter in which he said 'Madam, we are Americans. We are not going back to Africa. Though I like your book, I don't like this part of your book..' Frederick Douglass reviewed it in his newspaper, and he praised it, but he didn't like those two aspects of her book. And he wrote to her privately and told her that." ~Prof. Gates, Interview |
In the North, the novel aroused antislavery feeling among many who had previously disliked abolitionists or cared little about enslaved blacks. Frederick Douglass emphasized that Stowe's novel won over the indifferent. 'The touching, but too truthful tale of Uncle Tom's Cabin,' he wrote, 'has rekindled the slumbering embers of anti-slavery zeal into active flame.'"
(Source: Reynolds, Mightier)