Posted on 12/16/2003 1:15:09 PM PST by PeaRidge
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Gail Jarvis by Gail Jarvis
People who disagree with me often claim that my historical views do not conform with "modern" interpretations. For my enlightenment, they recommend "modern" history books, books written after the 1960s. However, one correspondent took the opposite approach insisting that I needed to read a book from the past, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Of course, like most of you, I read the book years ago when I was younger. And, although I thought I remembered it, I decided to read it again; this time slowly and analytically.
Its author, Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter, sister, and wife of ministers and fervent Abolitionists who used New England pulpits to passionately proselytize against slavery. So it is not surprising that she became an Abolitionist and wrote her influential novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although the book is the most famous of all anti-slavery polemics, I suspect most people are not aware of many of the opinions held by its author.
In rereading her book, I was first struck by Mrs. Stowe insistence that slavery in the South was no worse than slavery in the North had been. Furthermore, Stowe did not condemn Southern plantation owners but rather placed the onus of slavery on the slave system itself; especially New England slave traders, New York bankers, and other Northern entrepreneurs who profited from slave commerce.
Writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin was incensed by her position, stating: "It was her object to show that the evils of slavery were the inherent evils of a bad system, and not always the fault of those who had become involved in it and were its actual administrators." To Baldwin this opinion was racist and abdicated slave owners of personal responsibility.
Civil rights activists were also irritated by Mrs. Stowe’s support of the American Colonization Society’s belief that slaves should be returned to Africa, support she shared with Abraham Lincoln.
Although an Abolitionist, Stowe belonged to the "gradual emancipation" school. She believed that slaves must receive at least a basic education before being freed. And she insisted that they be converted to Christianity. After these two conditions were met, they should be recolonized to Africa.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published two years after the Compromises of 1850. During a hectic two-month period, Congress enacted several laws designed to placate both pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. The law that especially rankled Mrs. Stowe was the Fugitive Slave Act, which required that all run-away slaves be returned to their owners. She thought it was hypocrisy for Northern congressmen, who publicly condemned slavery, to enact the Compromises of 1850.
Harriet Beecher Stowe decided that she could make her point more dramatically by using a fiction format. Her goal was not to write the great American novel, but, like Charles Dickens, create sympathy for members of an underclass of society, slaves.
The character "Uncle Tom" grew up on the plantation of his first master, Mr. Shelby, a Southerner who was kindly disposed toward his slaves. In the course of events, Mr. Shelby incurs such large debts that he must either sell Tom, his most valuable slave, or sell all the others. This dilemma allows Mrs. Stowe to demonstrate how the economic realities of the slave system itself often precluded humanitarian considerations.
Uncle Tom’s second master, Mr. St. Clare, was also a Southerner and a compassionate slave owner. Mrs. Stowe uses St. Clare’s Vermont cousin, Miss Ophelia, to illustrate the Northern view of slavery. Miss Ophelia chastises St. Clare: "It’s a perfect abomination for you to defend such a system – you all do – all you southerners." But, annoyed by the slipshod manner in which the house servants conduct themselves; she calls them "shiftless." Miss Ophelia is also offended by the close companionship of St. Clare’s daughter, Little Eva, with Tom and the other slaves, which she deems inappropriate.
Uncle Tom’s third and final master is perhaps the most famous villain in American literature – Simon Legree: a New England Yankee. Legree amasses enough money pirating to purchase a plantation in Louisiana. As a plantation owner, he regularly beats, curses and abuses his slaves. In one of his beatings of Tom, Legree's rage boils over and he accidentally kills the noble slave.
Toward the end of the book, an escaped slave, George Harris, realizes he can now achieve his dream of joining the colony in Liberia: "Let me go to form part of a nation, which shall have a voice in the councils of nations, and then we can speak. We have the claim of an injured race for reparation. But, then, I do not want it. I want a country, a nation, of my own."
In a postscript to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe catalogues the evils of the slavery system and then addresses Southerners:
"The author hopes she has done justice to that nobility, generosity, and humanity which in many cases characterizes individuals at the South. Such instances save us from utter despair of our kind. To you, generous, noble-minded men and women of the South – you, whose virtue, and magnanimity, and purity of character are the greater for the severer trial it has encountered – to you is her appeal."
Next she turns her attention to Northerners:
"Do you say that the people of the free states have nothing to do with it? The people of the free states have defended, encouraged, and participated; and are more guilty for it, before God, than the South. There are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned, and sold again, by merchants in Northern cities; and shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South? Northern men, Northern mothers, Northern Christians, have something more to do than denounce their brethren at the South; they have to look to the evil among themselves."
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published almost ten years before the War Between the States. Harriet Beecher Stowe did as much as anyone to encourage "gradual emancipation" of the New England sort..
December 16, 2003
Gail Jarvis [send him mail], a CPA living in Beaufort, SC, is an advocate of the voluntary union of states established by the founders.
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It didn't even take 40 posts.
Bravo Sierra.
Mr. Case is charged with providing for his HOGS, not himself, as evidenced by the statement that it was 'a great trouble to feed them'. He plants potatoes for the HOGS, who will root the potatoes themselves, 'saving not only the labor of feeding the hogs, but also that of digging the potatoes'.
Nowhere does he allude to Mr. Case planting potatoes for himself. Lincoln was alluding to the former slaves, not to Southen planters.
When if comes to bovine excrement then who better than you should know?
President Lincoln was responding to Mr. Hunter, a member of the so-called 'peace commission'. Mr. Hunter wasn't concerned with the freed slaves. It is obvious by his concern about the ruin of southern society. His fear that work would not get done, crops wouldn't be cultivated. His fear was the loss of his chattel, the workforce that did the cultivating in the first place. Those were the hogs that had to root or die, the hogs that had to face a future where they did the work, they did the cultivating, they didn't have their slaves to fall back on. President Lincoln was addressing Mr. Hunter's concerns when he made his statement, so his remarks were obviously addressed to the white hogs, not any black ones.
Thank you. After seeing much of what is written by your side, I do consider myself to be an expert.
His fear was the loss of his chattel, the workforce that did the cultivating in the first place. Those were the hogs that had to root or die, the hogs that had to face a future where they did the work, they did the cultivating, they didn't have their slaves to fall back on.
Well, which one does the cultivating?
Maybe slavery was the WMD issue of the 19th century. Of course, regardless of the instigating cause, the confederates fought for independence. All you need to do is explain why independence is such a grotesque evil that it had to be stopped at the cost of a million American lives. Ready... set... GO!
Seems like there's usually sort of an unwritten rule of 60 posts before we actually begin refighting the WBTS. It's only polite to allow everyone to do their pinging, gather their armies, close ranks, and line up their strategies.
You are really resorting to revisionism to use a source like Lincoln's Yarns and Stories, by Colonel Alexander K. McClure. Couldn't you find a reliable source?
But then of course if you did, you would have to post the truth, which is:
"A Constitutional View of the Late War between the States," Alexander Stephens , 1870, Philadelphia: National Publishing Co.:
"When asked by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stepehens at the 1865 Hampton Roads 'peace' conference what would become of the freedmen without property or education, Lincoln sarcastically recited the words to a popular minstrel song, 'root, hog or die.'"
So, the popular emancipator was talking not about the working class Southern farmers, but specifically the slave class that would be forced into extreme poverty and starvation if the Southern economy was destroyed.
The slaves, of course. And what were they cultivating? Cotton, tobacco, rice, all the products that made the rich white planters rich white planters. So now the white population had to root in their own fields, or die trying. Their chattel was no longer there to do their bidding.
Nice try yourself, Pea. The story as related gives the tale in context. You persist in quoting a single line. So you take your version and I'll go along with the complete story in context. I wouldn't expect you to accept it, since it doesn't meet with your approved view of the president. Now, of course, if there is another version giving the whole conversation other than the one I posted then by all means bring it out and we can compare the two.
I would suggest that he is responding to the lack of concern for the slaves as evidenced by the so-called 'peace commissioners'. It is plain where their interests lay.
Yeah, all we need to do is drink the confederate kookaid and say "It was all Lincoln's fault" and all would be right with the world. Does that about sum it up?
And it didn't your side more than 14 posts to commence the name calling, which seems to be y'alls preferred (and only) method of debate.
btw is it Y'alls or all Y'alls ? I'm not that fluent in sothron...
Republican National Platform Adopted at Chicago 1860 (excerpts)
Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in Convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations:
3. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad.
12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufactures an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.
15. That appropriations by Congress for River and Harbor improvements of a National character, required for the accommodation and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the obligations of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
16. That a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interest of the whole country; that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and that, as preliminary thereto, a daily Overland Mail should be promptly established.
The internal improvements were to be paid with by public funds. Many of these developments were subsidies for industry. The Republican Party wanted to continue support of protectionist laws to favor the country’s industry, which was primarily located in the Northeast.
Since US Customs tariff revenue supplied more than 90% of the government’s annual revenue, these government-sponsored improvements were underwritten with tariff dollars, which were being paid by those who were buying imported goods.
With Southern supplied goods paying for 70% of the imports that were taxed, Southern productivity was fundamental to Northern infrastructure improvements.
At that time, the average tariff was 18.84%. The previous year Justin Morrill, R-VT, had emerged as the Republican Party’s leading authority on tariffs. After the current Congress convened on December 5, 1859, word spread that Morrill was proposing raising tariffs to the 40% level. Many Southerners realized this would harm the Southern economy and bankrupt many farmers and planters.
The 1860 tariff plank enjoyed a central and prominent place in the party's platform. Delegates at the convention cheered at length for its openly protectionist message when the plank was adopted. Throughout the campaign Republicans carried banners making it known that a vote for them was a vote for protection.
Lincoln himself had already openly admitted his core protectionist beliefs and in February 1861 even pledged to make the tariff his top legislative priority.
The equal protection afforded all the states under the US Constitution was being ignored in favor of the protectionism and largess being given to the Northern states. That preferential treatment and the failure of Constitutional protections caused the secession, but war came for different reasons.
For the sake of argument, would you be so kind to point out the "name"?
btw is it Y'alls or all Y'alls ? I'm not that fluent in sothron...
"All y'alls" is redundant.
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