The story opens up to two gentlemen, Mr. Shelby and Mr. Harry talking about a business trade. Mr. Shelby lives on a farm in Kentucky and is a slave owner, he is facing financial problems right now and the only way he can keep his land is if he sales two of his slaves to Mr. Harry, a slave buyer. Mr. Shelby decides the two slaves he is willing to sell are named Tom and Harry. Tom is Mr. Shelby’s best slave, he is a respectful and faithful man. Harry is a young boy who belongs to Eliza and George Harris. Eliza Harris is Mr. and Mrs. Shelby’s housekeeper. Mr. Shelby told Harry that he would have to talk it over with Mrs. Shelby before the slave trade can officially happen. Eliza hears a rumor that they are going to take her only son away from her and is very upset. She goes to ask Mrs. Shelby about this rumor. Mrs. Shelby not knowing about her husband and Mr. Harry’s deal yet, she lets Eliza know that they would never take her son away from her. George, Eliza’s husband who was sent off for work came to …show more content…
Haley is furious that he cannot catch Eliza and Harry so he goes to talk with Tom Loker, who hunts slaves for a profession. Haley hands Loker fifty dollars and makes a deal with him that if he finds Eliza and her son, he may keep Eliza, but must return Harry back to him. Meanwhile, Eliza was pointed to a house that ended up belonging to the Ohio Senator Bird. She shows up at his doorstep asking him to protect her. Bird had just passed the “Fugitive Slave Law of 1850” and he knew he could not keep her under his roof. Bird showed sympathy for Eliza and her little boy and could not leave them out to starve, so he brought them to a former slave-owners homes to