Cold War Abolitionism

Southerners and Northerners differed in state’s rights over the claims of the federal government, but this was not enough to wage war. However, when the controversy of slavery exploded, so did the Union. Abolitionists worked to make Northerners see the cruelty of slavery and take away sympathy from the south. There was a time when slavery was widely accepted by Northerners and Southerners alike. The U.S. even had proslavery leaders who always put slavery at the forefront, but everything changed with the abolitionist movement. The abolitionists depicted the south as a terrible place for slaves. Abolitionists, like Harriet Beecher Stowe, were the ones to throw a wrench in the tire. In Harriet Beecher Stowe's book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” the northerners …show more content…
Stowe goes on to describe the violence Uncle Tom is subjected to by Mr. Haley. The book read by many, caused a change in anyones heart who read it. The Northerners felt ashamed and began to revise their opinions on slavery. While the Southerners anger and strife with the North was strengthened, creating more hostility to the Union. This book sparked a revolution and a war. Lincoln even called Harriet Beecher Stowe, “the little lady who made this big war” (Ojeda 44). If one women can cause this much havoc then what about hundreds of more people just like her. Publishing stories in books, papers, or even cartoons, that make the South out to be the bad guys. The South may have been wrong for having slaves and treating them poorly, but there was a time when Northerners lived by the same standards and rules. The South was not the only one to have slaves, so why were they treated as if they were the only “animals” to subject cruelty upon slaves? Were there not Presidents, Congressmen, and other politically powerful men who supported slavery? The South was in the wrong on slavery, but the way the North handled it could have been better. The abolitionist movement was for a great