Harriet Beecher Stowe Humanizes Slavery Page 397 Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter of Lyman Beecher, a well-known New England clergyman active in many antebellum reform movements. Stowe was driven by a deep religious conviction that slavery was morally wrong. She was outraged by the Fugitive Slave Act, which she called an “abomination.” In 1851, she began writing a book to expose the horrors of slavery. The chapters were first published in an abolitionist newspaper. In 1852, Stowe published her stories as a novel titled Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book sold more than 300,000 copies in its first year of publication. Translated into many languages, it went on to sell more than 4 million copies worldwide by 1861. From her quiet life in Maine, Stowe was thrust center stage as an overnight hero of the abolitionist movement. Southerners were outraged by Stowe’s writings and insisted that she had exaggerated the brutality of their labor system. With its vivid portrayals of the evil slave master, Simon Legree, and the kind-hearted slaves, Eliza and Uncle Tom, the novel was a powerful piece of antislavery propaganda. For millions of readers, it transformed slavery from an abstract issue into a vivid picture of human suffering. Intro to Uncle Tom’s Cabin Page 398 Legend has it that in 1862, a year into the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln, who greeted her by saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!” Even if the exchange is not factual, it does convey how powerfully Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best-selling book shaped the popular imagination of slavery in antebellum America. In the following brief selection from the book, Simon Legree, the cruel slave master, commands the old slave, Tom, to whip an ailing female slave. The characters speak in a dialect that represents Stowe’s effort to capture realistic speech, although she herself had never visited the South. Novel Passage Pages 398-399 Slowly the weary, dispirited creatures, wound their way into the room, and, with crouching reluctance, presented their baskets to be weighed…. Tom’s basket was weighed and approved; and he looked, with an anxious glance, for the success of the woman he had befriended. Tottering with weakness, she came forward, and delivered her basket. It was of full weight, as Legree well perceived; but, affecting anger, he said, “What, you lazy beast! short again! stand aside, you’ll catch it, pretty soo
What is the title of the novel this passage is taken from?
@Bearclaws72
Easy Uncle Toms Cabin
MERRY CHRISTMAS
ho ho ho
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When was this novel published
March 20 1852
Who wrote this novel?
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Is this a primary or secondary resource?
Primary
Why did Harriet Beecher Stowe began writing her novel, what was her purpose?
To highlight and look back on some of the key events that happened during the times of slavery
any examples to add
That would be your department XD
lol okie
How many copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabins had been sold by 1861, what does that imply about the book’s popularity?
Gimme a sec Rootbeer
take ur time :]
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