Harriet Beecher Stowe's Influence On American Culture

From its origin, America’s structure, growth, and culture have been deeply rooted in the novel. Our founding fathers drew inspiration from the works of countless western philosophers while drafting the Constitution and wove ideas from Locke, Hobbes, Marx, and others into the very fabric of our society. American culture is built upon the pages of the novel and its influence extends into every aspect of development throughout American history. In its lengthy relationship with the American people, the novel has instigated a multitude of sweeping social and political changes, but the most notable remains the Civil War. Long before the first bullet of the war had been fired, novelists had begun to fight for the abolitionist cause in the pages of their works, a conflict that eventually overflowed the pages and spilled out onto the battlefield, creating the nation we know today. In the years preceding 1861, the anti-slavery literature gained a firm foothold in America, solidified by the elevated sense of morality brought about by the Second Great Awakening. In response, countless authors took up their pens in what was seen as the “noble pursuit” of inciting social and political change in America. Slavery had always been seen as a cancer of sorts by northerners, slowly eating away at the very principles America stood for, but writers did not focus so narrowly on it until the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the British anti-slave-trade treaties of the 1830s, which brought the issue into the spotlight. From this period onwards, novelists began to write passionately for the abolitionist cause, each focusing their lenses on this region of immorality until it burst into the flames that were the Civil War. Perhaps the most famous novel contributing to the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is recognized today as one of the greatest elements in the arousal of public opposition to slavery and support for the abolitionist cause. In the North, the novel’s immense popularity helped to make the abolitionist movement seem less radical and more respectable, changing the attitude of northerners who had previously been indifferent to slavery or suspicious of the abolitionist cause. Upon meeting her in 1862, Abraham Lincoln greeted Harriet Beecher Stowe by stating, “so you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” While her work was masterfully crafted and had long-lasting effects on the future of the nation, it was no …show more content…
An abolitionist herself, she once said, “Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!” Statements like this coupled with Stowe’s frequent utilization of pathos in her delineation of the horrors experienced by slaves, including one slave’s decision to commit suicide when her child is sold, another’s choice to kill her baby to prevent it from having to endure a life of slavery, and a third’s painful death from lashings, permit an intimate relationship between the characters and the reader seldom seen in other literary forms. The novel gained its notoriety as the most effective means of altering public sentiment because of its ability to occupy the position of a spokesperson addressing a divided American public. Its form invites readers to overcome various ideological biases such as their own, “privileged whiteness,” and to empathize with those different from