1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
By: Kathryn Poslusny and Miles Roberts

2. Who was Harriet Beecher Stowe?
Born June 14, 1811 in Connecticut
Preacher and activist in antislavery movement
1836 married Calvin Ellis Stowe
Opposed Fugitive Slave Act
First publication in antislavery journal National
Era
Caused a national debate and possibly the
start of the war
Died at 85 on July 1, 1896
Litchfield
Opposed fugitive slave act b/c she or anyone else couldn’t help badly treated slaves
Abraham Lincoln when met Stowe during the Civil War said, “So this is the little lady who made the big war.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe

3. What was Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
From memoirs of Reverend Josiah Henson that helped story line of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
Published in 1852
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe- expressed
hatred of slavery through writing
Bestseller in 1853
Caused strong reactions about slavery in North and
South
Many of his accounts of slavery were used as the story line for her book
4. Over 1 million copies sold by the middle of 1853
Reverend Josiah Henson

4. Plot Slave owner sells Uncle Tom and Eliza to keep land
Eliza runs away with son -- escapes capture by crossing the frozen Ohio River
Uncle Tom is taken on riverboat down Mississippi River
Tom bought and taken to New Orleans
Tom is beat to death just as one of his previous owners come to buy him back
New family moves to France then Liberia
Loses farm because of debts
Only way to keep her only surviving child
To get to slave market
Saves girl named Eva and her father buys him in gratitude….Tom and Eva relate to each other though Christianity—Eva dies and Tom is taken to a new plantation
He wouldn’t tell where a fellow slave had escaped to, so they beat him, and he dies a martyr---Slave Tom helped to freedom finds her long-lost daughter in Canada, Eliza…
Cassy and Eliza’s families
SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Retrieved October 20, 2010,

5. Increased tensions between North and South
Increased protests in North
Attack on South as a whole
Pushed more people into abolition-
care about slavery
Showed how badly slaves were
treated in the South
Increased protests against Fugitive Slave Act
Southerners critized book as attack on South as a whole
MADE PEOPLE CARE!!!

6. Bibliography For more information see:
Cook, S. (n.d.). Uncle tom's cabin historic site. Retrieved from
Danzer, G.A. et al.(2003). The americans. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell Inc.
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from: .
Reverend Josiah Henson. Retrieved October 21,2010 from:
SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Retrieved October 20, 2010, uncletom/summary.html
Stowe, H.B. (2003). Introduction: harriet beccher stowe. In A. Claybaugh (Ed.),
Uncle tom's cabin (pp. 1-2). New York, NY: Barnes and Noble Books.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (July 2009). Retrieved October 21, 2010 from:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin poster. (2010). Retrieved October 24, 2010 from:
-and-Canada-Modern/Ontario/The-Little-Lady-Who-Started-the-Big-War.
For more information see:
Stowe, H.B. (2003). Uncle tom's cabin. New York, NY: Barnes and Noble Books.