Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

by Colleen Vorst

Not many people are credited with single-handedly starting a war! When President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, he allegedly commented, ‘So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!’ Although anecdotal, this greeting shows the importance of Stowe’s most famous work of literature. After the bible, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the best-selling book of the 19th century. As Thomas’s Paine’s Common Sense dramatically turned American public opinion, so too did Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was the most influential anti-slavery book in the history of America.

Harriet Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1811. She was one of 11 children born to Protestant evangelical minister Lyman Beecher and his wife Roxana. Stowe’s mother died while she was still young, so she grew close with her siblings, including her brother Henry Ward Beecher-who later became a famous abolitionist- and her sister Catharine. Because of their father’s influence, many siblings grew up to take important roles in the culture as ministers, reformers, and educators. When her sisters established a women’s seminary in 1824 in Hartford, Connecticut, Stowe went there, first as a student, then as a teacher. In 1832, Stowe moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to join her father, who had been offered the presidency of Lane Theological Seminary. While here, she became involved in an intellectual and literary group called the Semi-Colon Club. It was here that she met her future husband Calvin Stowe, a strong critic of slavery and professor of biblical literature at the seminary. The two married in 1836 and eventually have seven children together, one of whom died very young. This death greatly influenced Stowe’s writing and filled her with sympathy for the suffering of others.

Stowe’s career as an author began in 1834, when we started to write short stories for money. Her first book was a collection of stories called The Mayflower. Growing up in Connecticut, Stowe had had little exposure to slavery, but this increased when she moved to Ohio. Her interest in the topic resulted in her first abolitionist sketch entitled, “Immediate Emancipation,” in 1845. She went on to produce many other essays, short stories, and sketches, which were published in magazines. In 1850, the Stowe family followed Calvin to Maine, where he had accepted a job, then again to Massachusetts.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was among the many northerners outraged by the Fugitive Slave Act (passed in 1850) because it made the institution of slavery- more prominent in the south- one in which the whole country was responsible for enforcing. Because of this, she began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the abolitionist journal The National Era and it was eventually published in book form in 1852. The book instantly sold thousands of copies (three hundred thousand by the end of the year) and was reprinted in twenty-two different languages. Her graphic depictions of the horrors of slavery helped push the abolitionist movement to the forefront of American consciousness. She became an immediate celebrity and traveled nationally and internationally, where she was received and welcomed by many famous abolitionists, including Fredrick Douglass.

With the success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the the approach of the Civil War, Stowe wrote one other abolitionist work (Dred; A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, 1856), but then moved on more local and regional novels. These pieces of fiction include The Ministers Wooing (1859), The Pearl of Orr’s Island (1862), and Oldtown Folks (1869.) Stowe eventually wrote over 30 books, including memories, letters, essays, and novels. The family moved back to Connecticut when Calvin Stowe retired in 1863. Stowe lived a decade longer than her husband, who died in 1886, but was sadly outlived by only three of her children.

The impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is due, in part, to Stowe’s style of writing. Throughout the novel, she directly addresses her audience as “Dear Reader.” Her characters openly discuss slavery and whether they are personally culpable for the enduring system. Many southern characters, such as Mr. Haley and Augustine St. Clare, are not seen as evil people but their character is inevitably affected by the evils of slavery and they are therefore responsible. Haley becomes hardened by slavery and see a woman’s suicide as a simple loss in his ledger while St. Clare’s failure to free his slaves causes them all to go to the auction block upon his unexpected death. In addition, many characters and plots in the novel are based on Stowe’s experiences as well as true events. Through vivid imagery, language, and characterization, she exposes the abhorrent evils of the institution of slavery. A modernist movement in literature soon brought criticism of the novel. There was also a backlash in southern states. Many “Anti-Tom” novels were published in the south, such as The Swords and the Distaff by William Gilmore and The Planter’s Northern Bride by Caroline Lee Hentz. Yet the novel remained a part of the American experience as numerous musical and theatrical productions of the book (“Tom Shows”) traveled the United States.

The influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin cannot be understated. Stowe’s work as an abolitionist, a woman, and an author brought slavery to the frontline of American awareness and allowed for dialogue that changed the course of history.

As you read, analyze the impact of Stowe’s direct addresses to her audience. How might you read the literature differently if these addresses were not present? Look for arguments for and against slavery as presented by characters. What overall significance to these have? Lastly, watch for how the author presents the horrible cruelty and violence towards slaves. How does this influence you as a reader? How might it have influenced a reader (northern and southern) at the time it was written?

Text included with the permission of the author.

Portrait of Harrier Beecher Stowe: Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons