It started a war, turned Americans against Americans, and
freed a people from bondage...
Like many 19th century books, Harriet Beecher Stowe originally
published Uncle Tom's Cabin as a
serial in the newspaper The National Era. The novel proved to be so popular that it was
published in book form the following year.
It was the 19th century equivalent of a blockbuster, not only in the
United States, but also in Great Britain, where sales of the book were even greater.
Stowe was an abolitionist, writing anti-slavery pieces for a
number of years. When she put the
movement and the message into a popular format, it brought the cause onto a
national and worldwide stage. The
National Argument began its progression from heated debate to war, and Stowe's
book was right out in front, clearing the path. Pamphlets from both sides of the slavery
issue appeared, either refuting or supporting the content of the novel. With all the controversy, sales continued to
soar. Never before had a piece of
popular literature garnered so much demand.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
had, and still has, its detractors.
There were, of course, the pro-slavery arguments that contended Stowe's
book simplified and demonized the institution, portraying slave owners as cruel,
and slaves as unhappy with their lot in life. This type of rebuttal was patently false,
presenting a "truth" skewed towards justification, but it shows how
the country was being severely polarized around the issue.
Critics of the novel itself maintain that Stowe created
caricatures that stereotyped Blacks. In
some ways they are correct. Popular culture
and media used the images of "Mammy", "pickaninnies", and
the friendly "old Uncle" well into the 20th century. Films like Our Gang, Gone With The Wind,
and Disney's Song of the South meet
this out. Not to mention the derisive
term, "Uncle Tom".
Despite the criticism, Uncle
Tom's Cabin was still a monumental phenomenon. Only the Bible outsold it for much of the
century. It was the only novel, up to
that point in history, to do so. It was
the book that started the Civil War and no other work of popular literature can
claim to have put the first nail into the coffin of American Slavery. Stowe's pen created a storm that would only
subside once the Nation spit itself apart, and bled itself back together again.
The first edition of this work can be acquired here: