Uncle Tom's Cabin Summary Chapter 13

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an anti-slavery book published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It has been noted to be one of the most influential books in American history. The book itself is Stowe’s response to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, which was passed in 1850. The bill required all states to arrest runaway slaves and to return them to the South. Stowe, who was completely against the bill, wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to expose the barbarity of slavery to anyone willing to read her novel. It sold over one million copies within the first year it was published and even caused an argument between the north and south, leading to the Civil War, which then lead to the abolishment of slavery. In Chapter 13, The Quaker Settlement, readers learn that Eliza is in good hands in a Quaker settlement. The people she is staying with manage to find George and bring him there as well. Eliza plans to flee to Canada and establish a life for not only herself, but for George and their son Harry as well. Eliza wants to escape because her previous owners, Arthur and Emily Shelby decided to sell their slaves, Eliza and her son included. When Mr. Shelby tells his wife about this, she is shocked because she had promised Eliza that he would not sell her son. After Eliza overhears this conversation, she immediately warned the other slaves, Uncle Tom and …show more content…
According to Will Kaufman from University Press, it helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Although there many factors that contributed to the Civil War, Uncle Tom’s Cabin shed light on slavery and just how horrific it is. It is common knowledge that Uncle Tom’s Cabin influenced what was to eventually become the Civil War. It changed many people’s thoughts and opinions on slavery and its effects, helped them decide what they wanted in America, and showed what a slave’s life was