A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin

Last updated

A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
Archive dot org edition Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin cover title page table of contents 02.jpg
A key to Uncle Tom's cabin presenting the original facts and documents upon which the story is founded together with corroborative statements verifying the truth of the work
Author Harriet Beecher Stowe
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subject Slavery
GenrePolemical non-fiction
Published1853
PublisherJewett, Proctor & Worthington
Pages268
OCLC 5428664
813.37 STO
LC Class E449 .S8959
Preceded by Uncle Tom's Cabin  
Text A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin at Wikisource
HathiTrust , Internet Archive , Library of Congress , Project Gutenberg , University of Virginia

A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published to document the veracity of the depiction of slavery in Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). First published in 1853 by Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, the book also provides insights into Stowe's own views on slavery.

Contents

Origins

After the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Southerners accused Stowe of misrepresenting slavery. In order to show that she had neither lied about slavery nor exaggerated the plight of enslaved people, she compiled A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. The book was subtitled "Presenting the Original Facts and Documents upon Which the Story Is Founded, Together with Corroborative Statements Verifying the Truth of the Work". [1]

Reception

The reaction of Stowe's contemporaries to A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin was very similar to the reaction to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with both very positive and very negative reviews. The responses of abolitionists and Northerners in general were among the positive, lauding the documentation of the evils of slavery and the confirmation of the truth of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The great interest in Uncle Tom’s Cabin in England also transferred to the Key. One English review of the 1853 publication called it a "marvelous book, more so if possible than Uncle Tom’s Cabin itself". [2] This same review also commends Stowe's self-control and character. This impression of Stowe and the reception of the book is very different from the reaction to the Key in the South.

The pro-slavery response to the Key paralleled the response to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Despite Stowe's use of documented examples, most Southern reviews still claimed that Stowe was misrepresenting slavery and exaggerating the cruelty of the institution. A review in the Southern Literary Messenger called the Key a "distortion of the facts and mutilation of the records, for the sake of giving substance to the scandalous fancy, and reduplicating the falsehood of the representation". [3] Although these reviews claimed that Stowe was misrepresenting slavery, they did not accuse Stowe of using false documentation. Rather they claimed that the examples that Stowe provided are the most extreme instances, which she gathered to give the worst possible impression of the institution of slavery, and of the South. One critic, William Simms, accused her of using faulty argumentation by gathering facts to prove her assumption, instead of forming assumptions based on facts. [3]

Another pro-slavery response to both Uncle Tom's Cabin and A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin was attacks on Stowe's character. Many reviews made insinuations about what sort of woman Stowe must be to write about such events as were found in the Key. A review by George Holmes questioned whether "scenes of license and impurity, and ideas of loathsome depravity and habitual prostitution [are] to be made the cherished topics of the female pen"; he appealed to women, especially Southern women, not to read Stowe's works. [4]

Despite the attacks from pro-slavery reviewers, A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin sold well: 90,000 copies in the first month, a clear best-seller. [5] [6]

Additional images

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Tom</span> Title character of Uncle Toms Cabin

Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The character was seen by many readers as a ground-breaking humanistic portrayal of a slave, one who uses nonresistance and gives his life to protect others who have escaped from slavery. However, the character also came to be seen as inexplicably kind to white slaveholders, especially based on his portrayal in pro-compassion dramatizations. This led to the use of Uncle Tom – sometimes shortened to just a Tom – as a derogatory epithet for an exceedingly subservient person or house negro, particularly one aware of his or her own lower-class racial status.

<i>Uncle Toms Cabin</i> 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the [American] Civil War".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Beecher Stowe</span> American abolitionist and author

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.

<i>Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp</i> 1856 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is the second popular novel from American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was first published in two volumes by Phillips, Sampson and Company in 1856. Although it enjoyed better initial sales than her previous, and more famous, novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, it was ultimately less popular. Dred was of a more documentary nature whereas Uncle Tom's Cabin had much stronger characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Tom literature</span> American 19th century pro-slavery novels

Anti-Tom literature consists of the 19th century pro-slavery novels and other literary works written in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Also called plantation literature, these writings were generally written by authors from the Southern United States. Books in the genre attempted to show that slavery was beneficial to African Americans and that the evils of slavery, as depicted in Stowe's book, were overblown and incorrect.

<i>Aunt Philliss Cabin</i> 1852 anti-Tom novel by Mary Henderson Eastman

Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life as It Is by Mary Henderson Eastman is a plantation fiction novel, and is perhaps the most read anti-Tom novel in American literature. It was published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. of Philadelphia in 1852 as a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, published earlier that year. The novel sold 20,000–30,000 copies, far fewer than Stowe's novel, but still a strong commercial success and bestseller. Based on her growing up in Warrenton, Virginia, of an elite planter family, Eastman portrays plantation owners and slaves as mutually respectful, kind, and happy beings.

<i>The Planters Northern Bride</i> 1854 book by Caroline Lee Hentz

The Planter's Northern Bride is an 1854 novel written by Caroline Lee Hentz, in response to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom show</span> Plays loosely based on the novel Uncle Toms Cabin.

Tom show is a general term for any play or musical based on the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel attempts to depict the harsh reality of slavery. Due to the weak copyright laws at the time, a number of unauthorized plays based on the novel were staged for decades, many of them mocking the novel's social message, and leading to the pejorative term "Uncle Tom".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvin Ellis Stowe</span> American Biblical scholar (1802–1886)

Calvin Ellis Stowe was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. Over his career, he was a professor of languages and Biblical and sacred literature at Andover Theological Seminary, Dartmouth College, Lane Theological Seminary, and Bowdoin College. He was the husband and literary agent of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the best-seller Uncle Tom's Cabin.

<i>Antifanaticism</i> 1853 novel by Martha Haines Butt

Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South is an 1853 plantation fiction novel by Martha Haines Butt.

<i>Little Eva: The Flower of the South</i> 19th century childrens novel by Philip J. Cozans

Little Eva: The Flower of the South is an Anti-Tom children's book by American writer Philip J. Cozans. Although its publication date is unknown, scholars estimated the release was either in the 1850s or early 1860s. The book follows Little Eva, the daughter of a wealthy Alabama planter. She is characterized through her kindness toward slaves as she reads the Bible to them and teaches the alphabet to slave children. On her ninth birthday, Little Eva nearly drowns, but is rescued by a slave named Sam. Her parents free Sam who decides to remain with the family because he loves them.

White Acre vs. Black Acre is an 1856 plantation fiction novel written by William M. Burwell.

<i>The Black Gauntlet</i> 1860 novel by Mary Howard Schoolcraft

The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina is an anti-Tom novel written in 1860 by Mary Howard Schoolcraft, published under her married name of Mrs. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.

Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is is an 1852 plantation fiction novel written by William L.G. Smith.

Tit for Tat is an 1856 novel written anonymously by "A Lady of New Orleans".

The Ebony Idol is a plantation literature novel by G. M. Flanders, first published in 1860. It is one of several pro-slavery novels written in the Southern United States in response to the 1852 abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" Contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the Planter's Home is an 1852 novel by Robert Criswell, combining elements of Anti-Tom literature and romantic fiction.

John Punchard Jewett (1814–1884) was a Boston publisher, best known for first publishing Uncle Tom's Cabin in book form in 1852. Jewett was a brother of librarian Charles Coffin Jewett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Henderson Eastman</span> 19th-century American writer and historian (1818–1887)

Mary Henderson Eastman was an American historian and novelist who is noted for her works about Native American life. She was also an advocate of slavery in the United States. In response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery Uncle Tom's Cabin, Eastman defended Southern slaveholding society by writing Aunt Phillis's Cabin: or, Southern Life As It Is (1852), which earned her considerable fame. She was the wife of the American illustrator and army officer Seth Eastman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Haines Butt</span> American novelist

Martha Haines Butt was an American proslavery author primarily known by her maiden name. She was a contributor to various periodicals and magazines, in both the North and South. At the age of 19, she published Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, an 1853 plantation fiction novel. Though she had written anti-woman's rights editorials in the 1850s, by 1870, she supported women's suffrage.

References

  1. ↑ McFarland, Philip. Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe. New York: Grove Press, 2007: 105. ISBN   978-0-8021-4390-7
  2. ↑ "A review of Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin". The Eclectic Review 4 (May 1853): 600–617. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Vol. 3.
  3. 1 2 Simms, William Gilmore. "Stowe's Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin". The Southern Quarterly Review 8.15 (July 1853): 214–254. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Vol. 3.
  4. ↑ Holmes, George Frederick. "A review of A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin". Southern Literary Messenger 19.6 (June 1853): 321–330. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Vol. 3.
  5. ↑ Geary, Susan. "Harriet Beecher Stowe, John P. Jewett, and Author-Publisher Relations in 1853". Studies in the American Renaissance. Ed. Joel Myerson. Boston: Twayne, 1977. 345–367.
  6. ↑ Railton, Stephen. "Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture". University of Virginia. Retrieved April 15, 2011.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.