{"id":1586,"date":"2017-07-11T02:46:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T02:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ushistory1os\/chapter\/primary-source-harriet-beecher-stowe-uncle-toms-cabin-1852\/"},"modified":"2017-07-11T02:46:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T02:46:40","slug":"primary-source-harriet-beecher-stowe-uncle-toms-cabin-1852","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-tc3-ushistory1os\/chapter\/primary-source-harriet-beecher-stowe-uncle-toms-cabin-1852\/","title":{"raw":"Primary Source: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin, 1852","rendered":"Primary Source: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin, 1852"},"content":{"raw":"In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published her bestselling antislavery novel, <\/em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin. Sales for <\/em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin were astronomical, eclipsed only by sales of the Bible. The book became a sensation and helped move antislavery into everyday conversation for many northerners. In this passage, a senator and his wife debate the Fugitive Slave Law.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said his wife, after the business of the tea-table was getting rather slack, \u201cand what have they been doing in the Senate?\u201d\n\nNow, it was a very unusual thing for gentle little Mrs. Bird ever to trouble her head with what was going on in the house of the state, very wisely considering that she had enough to do to mind her own. Mr. Bird, therefore, opened his eyes in surprise, and said,\n\n\u201cNot very much of importance.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell; but is it true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks that come along? I heard they were talking of some such law, but I didn\u2019t think any Christian legislature would pass it!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, Mary, you are getting to be a politician, all at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, nonsense! I wouldn\u2019t give a fig for all your politics, generally, but I think this is something downright cruel and unchristian. I hope, my dear, no such law has been passed.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere has been a law passed forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky, my dear; so much of that thing has been done by these reckless Abolitionists, that our brethren in Kentucky are very strongly excited, and it seems necessary, and no more than Christian and kind, that something should be done by our state to quiet the excitement.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what is the law? It don\u2019t forbid us to shelter those poor creatures a night, does it, and to give \u2019em something comfortable to eat, and a few old clothes, and send them quietly about their business?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, yes, my dear; that would be aiding and abetting, you know.\u201d\n\nMrs. Bird was a timid, blushing little woman, of about four feet in height, and with mild blue eyes, and a peach-blow complexion, and the gentlest, sweetest voice in the world;\u2014as for courage, a moderate-sized cock-turkey had been known to put her to rout at the very first gobble, and a stout house-dog, of moderate capacity, would bring her into subjection merely by a show of his teeth. Her husband and children were her entire world, and in these she ruled more by entreaty and persuasion than by command or argument. There was only one thing that was capable of arousing her, and that provocation came in on the side of her unusually gentle and sympathetic nature;\u2014anything in the shape of cruelty would throw her into a passion, which was the more alarming and inexplicable in proportion to the general softness of her nature. Generally the most indulgent and easy to be entreated of all mothers, still her boys had a very reverent remembrance of a most vehement chastisement she once bestowed on them, because she found them leagued with several graceless boys of the neighborhood, stoning a defenceless kitten\u2026.\n\nOn the present occasion, Mrs. Bird rose quickly, with very red cheeks, which quite improved her general appearance, and walked up to her husband, with quite a resolute air, and said, in a determined tone, \u201cNow, John, I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and Christian?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou won\u2019t shoot me, now, Mary, if I say I do!\u201d\n\n\u201cI never could have thought it of you, John; you didn\u2019t vote for it?\u201d\n\n\u201cEven so, my fair politician.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It\u2019s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I\u2019ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall<\/em> have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can\u2019t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, Mary, just listen to me. Your feelings are all quite right, dear, and interesting, and I love you for them; but, then, dear, we mustn\u2019t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it\u2019s not a matter of private feeling,\u2014there are great public interests involved,\u2014there is such a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, John, I don\u2019t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut in cases where your doing so would involve a great public evil\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cObeying God never brings on public evils. I know it can\u2019t. It\u2019s always safest, all round, to do as He<\/em> bids us.\n\n\u201cNow, listen to me, Mary, and I can state to you a very clear argument, to show\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cO, nonsense, John! \u2014you can talk all night, but you wouldn\u2019t do it. I put it to you, John,\u2014would you<\/em> now turn away a poor, shivering, hungry creature from your door, because he was a runaway? Would<\/em> you, now?\u201d\n\n\u2026 Mrs. Bird, seeing the defenceless condition of the enemy\u2019s territory, had no more conscience than to push her advantage.\n\n\u201cI should like to see you doing that, John\u2014I really should! Turning a woman out of doors in a snowstorm, for instance; or may be you\u2019d take her up and put her in jail, wouldn\u2019t you? You would make a great hand at that!\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, it would be a very painful duty,\u201d began Mr. Bird, in a moderate tone.\n\n\u201cDuty, John! don\u2019t use that word! You know it isn\u2019t a duty\u2014it can\u2019t be a duty! If folks want to keep their slaves from running away, let \u2019em treat \u2019em well,\u2014that\u2019s my doctrine. If I had slaves (as I hope I never shall have), I\u2019d risk their wanting to run away from me, or you either, John. I tell you folks don\u2019t run away when they are happy; and when they do run, poor creatures! they suffer enough with cold and hunger and fear, without everybody\u2019s turning against them; and, law or no law, I never will, so help me God!\u201d\n\n\u201cMary! Mary! My dear, let me reason with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI hate reasoning, John,\u2014especially reasoning on such subjects. There\u2019s a way you political folks have of coming round and round a plain right thing; and you don\u2019t believe in it yourselves, when it comes to practice. I know you<\/em> well enough, John. You don\u2019t believe it\u2019s right any more than I do; and you wouldn\u2019t do it any sooner than I.\u201d\n\nHarriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly <\/em>(Boston: 1852), 120-123.\n\nAvailable through the University of Virginia<\/a>\n\n\u00a0","rendered":"

In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published her bestselling antislavery novel, <\/em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin. Sales for <\/em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin were astronomical, eclipsed only by sales of the Bible. The book became a sensation and helped move antislavery into everyday conversation for many northerners. In this passage, a senator and his wife debate the Fugitive Slave Law.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said his wife, after the business of the tea-table was getting rather slack, \u201cand what have they been doing in the Senate?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, it was a very unusual thing for gentle little Mrs. Bird ever to trouble her head with what was going on in the house of the state, very wisely considering that she had enough to do to mind her own. Mr. Bird, therefore, opened his eyes in surprise, and said,<\/p>\n

\u201cNot very much of importance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell; but is it true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks that come along? I heard they were talking of some such law, but I didn\u2019t think any Christian legislature would pass it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, Mary, you are getting to be a politician, all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, nonsense! I wouldn\u2019t give a fig for all your politics, generally, but I think this is something downright cruel and unchristian. I hope, my dear, no such law has been passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a law passed forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky, my dear; so much of that thing has been done by these reckless Abolitionists, that our brethren in Kentucky are very strongly excited, and it seems necessary, and no more than Christian and kind, that something should be done by our state to quiet the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what is the law? It don\u2019t forbid us to shelter those poor creatures a night, does it, and to give \u2019em something comfortable to eat, and a few old clothes, and send them quietly about their business?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, yes, my dear; that would be aiding and abetting, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Bird was a timid, blushing little woman, of about four feet in height, and with mild blue eyes, and a peach-blow complexion, and the gentlest, sweetest voice in the world;\u2014as for courage, a moderate-sized cock-turkey had been known to put her to rout at the very first gobble, and a stout house-dog, of moderate capacity, would bring her into subjection merely by a show of his teeth. Her husband and children were her entire world, and in these she ruled more by entreaty and persuasion than by command or argument. There was only one thing that was capable of arousing her, and that provocation came in on the side of her unusually gentle and sympathetic nature;\u2014anything in the shape of cruelty would throw her into a passion, which was the more alarming and inexplicable in proportion to the general softness of her nature. Generally the most indulgent and easy to be entreated of all mothers, still her boys had a very reverent remembrance of a most vehement chastisement she once bestowed on them, because she found them leagued with several graceless boys of the neighborhood, stoning a defenceless kitten\u2026.<\/p>\n

On the present occasion, Mrs. Bird rose quickly, with very red cheeks, which quite improved her general appearance, and walked up to her husband, with quite a resolute air, and said, in a determined tone, \u201cNow, John, I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and Christian?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t shoot me, now, Mary, if I say I do!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never could have thought it of you, John; you didn\u2019t vote for it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven so, my fair politician.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It\u2019s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I\u2019ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall<\/em> have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can\u2019t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, Mary, just listen to me. Your feelings are all quite right, dear, and interesting, and I love you for them; but, then, dear, we mustn\u2019t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it\u2019s not a matter of private feeling,\u2014there are great public interests involved,\u2014there is such a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, John, I don\u2019t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in cases where your doing so would involve a great public evil\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObeying God never brings on public evils. I know it can\u2019t. It\u2019s always safest, all round, to do as He<\/em> bids us.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, listen to me, Mary, and I can state to you a very clear argument, to show\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cO, nonsense, John! \u2014you can talk all night, but you wouldn\u2019t do it. I put it to you, John,\u2014would you<\/em> now turn away a poor, shivering, hungry creature from your door, because he was a runaway? Would<\/em> you, now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 Mrs. Bird, seeing the defenceless condition of the enemy\u2019s territory, had no more conscience than to push her advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should like to see you doing that, John\u2014I really should! Turning a woman out of doors in a snowstorm, for instance; or may be you\u2019d take her up and put her in jail, wouldn\u2019t you? You would make a great hand at that!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it would be a very painful duty,\u201d began Mr. Bird, in a moderate tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuty, John! don\u2019t use that word! You know it isn\u2019t a duty\u2014it can\u2019t be a duty! If folks want to keep their slaves from running away, let \u2019em treat \u2019em well,\u2014that\u2019s my doctrine. If I had slaves (as I hope I never shall have), I\u2019d risk their wanting to run away from me, or you either, John. I tell you folks don\u2019t run away when they are happy; and when they do run, poor creatures! they suffer enough with cold and hunger and fear, without everybody\u2019s turning against them; and, law or no law, I never will, so help me God!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMary! Mary! My dear, let me reason with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate reasoning, John,\u2014especially reasoning on such subjects. There\u2019s a way you political folks have of coming round and round a plain right thing; and you don\u2019t believe in it yourselves, when it comes to practice. I know you<\/em> well enough, John. You don\u2019t believe it\u2019s right any more than I do; and you wouldn\u2019t do it any sooner than I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly <\/em>(Boston: 1852), 120-123.<\/p>\n

Available through the University of Virginia<\/a><\/p>\n

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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