13.5 Doing History: Making an Argument

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Doing History: Making an Argument 

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her antislavery novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Stowe’s book was fictional, but based on stories about escaped slaves she had read and heard about. While the book was fiction, it was the first time many northerners had read about the horrors and indignities of slavery. The book was an instant sensation, by the end of the year, more than 300,000 copies had been sold, making it the second most read book in the United States, the first being the Bible. 

The book also ignited further controversy over the issue of slavery in the United States. It also highlighted how northerners and southerners were increasingly living in different worlds, reading different newspapers, and ascribing to a different reality. We can see this fact in the different reviews of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which are available below:

William Lloyd Garrison in The Liberator

In the execution of her very difficult task, Mrs. Stowe has displayed rare descriptive powers, a familiar acquaintance with slavery under its best and its worst phases, uncommon moral and philosophical acumen, great facility of thought and expression, feelings and emotions of the strongest character …. 

The appalling liabilities which constantly impend over such slaves as have “kind and indulgent masters” are thrillingly illustrated in various personal narratives; especially in that of “Uncle Tom,” over whose fate every reader will drop the scalding tear, and for whose character the highest reverence will be felt. No insult, no outrage, no suffering, could ruffle the Christ-like meekness of his spirit, or shake the steadfastness of his faith. Towards his merciless oppressors, he cherished no animosity, and breathed nothing of retaliation. Like his Lord and Master, he was willing to be “led as a lamb to the slaughter,” returning blessing for cursing, and anxious only for the salvation of his enemies. His character is sketched with great power and rare religious perception .. It triumphantly exemplifies the nature, tendency and results of CHRISTIAN NON-RESISTANCE. We are curious to know whether Mrs. Stowe is a believer in the duty of non-resistance for the white man, under all possible outrage and peril, as well as for the black man …. That all the slaves at the South ought, “if smitten on the one cheek, to tum the other also”-to repudiate all carnal weapons, shed no blood, “be obedient to their masters,” wait for a peaceful deliverance, and abstain from all insurrectionary movements-is every where taken for granted, because the VICTIMS ARE BLACK. They cannot be animated by a Christian spirit, and yet return blow for blow, or conspire for the destruction of their oppressors. They are required by the Bible to put away all wrath, to submit to every conceivable outrage without resistance, to suffer with Christ if they would reign with him …. Is there one law of submission and non-resistance for the black man, and another law of rebellion and conflict for the white man? When it is the whites who are trodden in the dust, does Christ justify them in taking up arms to vindicate their rights? And when it is the blacks who are thus treated, does Christ require them to be patient, harmless, long-suffering, and forgiving? And are there two Christs? 

John R. Thompson, Southern Literary Messenger 

We have devoted a much larger space to the plot of”Uncle Tom’s Cabin” than we designed … ; it only remains for us to consider briefly those points upon which the authoress rests her abuse of the Southern States, in the book as a whole. These may be reduced to three-the cruel treatment of the slaves, their lack of religious instruction, and a wanton disregard of the sacred ties of consanguinity in selling members of the same family apart from each other. 

… [M]any of the allegations of cruelty towards the slaves, brought forward by Mrs. Stowe, are absolutely and unqualifiedly false. As for the comfort of their daily lives and the almost parental care taken of them on well-regulated plantations, we may say that the picture of the Shelby estate, drawn by Mrs. Stowe herself, is no bad representation. The world may safely be challenged to produce a laboring class, whose regular toil is rewarded with more of the substantial conflicts of life than the negroes of the South. The “property interest” at which the authoress sneers so frequently in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” is quite sufficient to ensure for the negro a kindness and attention, which the day-laborer in New England might in vain endeavor to win from his employer … 

The lack of religious instruction for slaves is a charge against the South, in great favor with Northern fanatics, many of whom are deplorably in want of “religious instruction” themselves, and vastly beneath the pious slave in that love for their neighbor which is the keystone of the Christian arch. Yet never was there a charge more extravagant. We can tell these worthies that throughout the Southern States a portion of every house of worship is set apart for the accommodation of slaves; that upon very many plantations, may be seen rude but comfortable buildings, dedicated to God, where stated preaching of His Holy Word is ordained; that Sabbath schools for negroes are established in several of the Southern cities; and that in every Southern family, almost without an exception, where morning and evening prayers are held, the domestics of the household are called together to unite in them …. Writers like Mrs. Stowe, in treating of this subject, assume that there can be no acquaintance with gospel truth among a class who are not permitted to learn to read. But how many of the early Christians were ignorant and illiterate persons? The fishermen of Galilee were men without instruction when they first followed the fortunes of the lowly Nazarene. As for Mrs. Stowe, she is answered upon this point in her own pages. Uncle Tom was no scholar, and after many years of diligent application could at last read his bible with difficulty. Yet where shall we find a nobler and purer exemplification of the “beauty of holiness” than in him? It is, indeed, a triumphant vindication of the institution of slavery against Mrs. Stowe’s assaults, 

that in a slaveholding community, a character so perfect as “Uncle Tom” could be produced … 

The sundering of family ties among the negroes is undoubtedly a dreadful thing as represented by Abolition pamphleteers. Nor have we any desire to dose our eyes to the fact that occasionally there do occur instances of compulsory separation involving peculiar hardship. But … in the very State which Mrs. Stowe has chosen for her most painful incident of this character, there are statutory regulations mitigating very much the severity of this condition of affairs, and we may add that every where the salutary influence of an enlightened public opinion enforces the sale of near relatives in such manner as that they may be kept as much as possible together. We are of opinion too that heart-rending separations are much less frequent under the institution of slavery than in countries where poverty rules the working classes with despotic sway. But admit the hardship to its full extent, and what does it prove? Evils are inseparable from all forms of society and this giant evil (if you will call it so) is more than counterbalanced by the advantages the negro enjoys. 

Instructions:

Using these two reviews of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, make an argument about slavery in the United States by the 1850s? For full credit, complete your own post and comment on another student’s post.