Harriet Beecher Stoowe Research Papers

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and American author who is said to be a cause of the Civil War. Harriet Elizabeth Beecher was born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her father, Lyman Beecher, was born in 1775 into a family generation of blacksmith’s. He became a minister preaching Calvinism who wanted to save souls and reform the nation. Harriet’s mother, Roxanna Foote, was born in 1775 whose grandfather was General Andrew Ward who served in the Revolutionary War. She ran a boardinghouse and taught children there until her sudden death from tuberculosis in September 1816. Harriet was only 5 when she died and didn’t get to know much about her mother. Harriet had 7 other siblings: Catharine, Mary, William, Edward, George,

Harriet based the story on her own life experiences and memories. What she put into this book came from the sorrow she felt when her son died. She quickly finished her story, but didn’t know what to do with it so the manuscript just sat there until Calvin found it. He read it with amazement and told her to use it as the beginning of the end to slavery. With the support from her husband, Harriet write the manuscript into episodes. The National Era published the first episode of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 5, 1851, but the people wanted more. On March 20, 1852, John P. Jewett, a Boston publisher, published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 5,000 books sold in 2 days and 300,000 books were sold in 1 year in over 60 different languages. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is about a slave trader who sells slaves in order to clear his debt. A man named Mr. Shelby decides to sell Tom, a very honest man, and Harry, the son of another slave named Eliza. Eliza decides to run away and escape to Canada with Harry before he is sold but Tom stays. When his owner dies, he is sold to Simon Legree who abused him to death. This story made northerners realize the terrible reality of slavery and the southerners fill with