How To Reduce Slavery In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Apparently, slavery was rampant at the time Harriet Beecher Stowe authored the novel, “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” As such, it is expected that the author would take a position for or against slavery. Indeed, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book after the enactment of a law, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that seemingly supported slavery in America. Specifically, the Act asserted that it is illegal for any person in America to assist a fugitive slave. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 forced Southern slaves who were fugitives in the North to run away to Canada for purposes of looking for freedom. The novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin responded to the statement and meaning of this legislation by condemning all forms of slavery at the time. As such, the author’s …show more content…
Clares’, the author shows the seemingly kind masters who rarely abused or mistreated the slaves. The author quotes the Shelbys who refused to sell a woman and her child as slaves to Mr. Haley stating, “Mr. Haley, she is not to be sold, said Shelby. My wife would not part with her for her weight in gold” (Stowe 5). In this setting, the slaves and the masters depicted positive associations that would cunningly convince the audience to embrace the ideas of pro-slavery. However, the author collapses this likelihood by manifesting the malevolence of this “best” type of slavery. According to the author, slavery has many demerits even in such best-case scenarios. She manages to show that ultimately Shelby and St. Clare become insincere and ethically weak as they try to master the capacity to accommodate slavery despite being kind and intelligent. It shows that the masters never had sincere best intentions for the slaves. The slaves still suffered in this arrangement as the author shows how Shelby illegally devastates Tom’s family by selling Tom. Besides, Marie hinders the St. Clare slaves from grieving the loss of their daughter,