14623 - ams - commemoration #1 - The book that launched a civil war - 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' remembered

 

Abraham Lincoln greeted Harriet Beecher Stowe with these words: "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’ touched the hearts of northerners and forced them to fight against the Southerners and slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe is recognized as a writer who played an important role in changing history with her book. She published the book in two volumes in 1852. Within the first year of publication, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ sold 300,000 copies. ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’ has now been published in over 75 languages and is still an important text used in schools all over the world. This book was written at a time when women did not have a right to vote, have legal rights, or the right to speak in public meetings. One year after the publication of the book, she wrote another one titled ‘A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. This was done to defend her novel against her critics, who accused her of falsifying and exaggerating the novel’s representation of slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe House is a project aimed at preserving the legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher family home in Cincinnati, Ohio.