Uncle Tom's Cabin Dbq Essay

Words: 813
Pages: 4

Since the days of our Founding Fathers, slavery has been a controversial topic in the United States. As the country expanded, many Northern abolitionists opposed the “peculiar institution” for moral and political reasons. However, the spread of “King Cotton” continued to dominate the Southern way of life, which contributed to a North-South divide over the issue of slavery. Tensions increased between the years of 1776 and 1852, due to various underlying forces and specific events. The growing opposition to slavery was displayed through religious propaganda, the movement to ban slavery in the new territories, and the debate over the true meaning of the phrase “all men are created equal.” During the nineteenth century, abolitionism was closely tied to religion. The Second Great …show more content…
As a result, there was usually a religious aspect to the abolitionist propaganda. Document J is an advertisement for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which is considered the greatest book of the time period. Uncle Tom is a Christian character and a rejection of the existing stereotypes of minstrel shows. The novel helped with the growth of the antislavery movement in the Northern states especially, since the Southern economy was already deeply intertwined with the peculiar institution. Using a technique called moral suasion, Beecher Stowe also claimed that slavery was responsible for the destruction of the family unit. Angelina Grimke made a similar claim. Document F illustrates how Grimke encouraged activism and the idea of Christian women against slavery. Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah grew up on a plantation in the South, but they eventually became strong advocates of abolition and women’s rights. The antislavery movement essentially provided a way for women to break out of the cult of domesticity. In Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, she made a point that slavery degraded both women and American