With its gripping plot and pungent dialogue, Uncle Tom’s Cabin offers readers today a passionate portrait of a nation on the verge of disunion and a surprisingly subtle examination of the relationship between race and nationalism that has always been at the heart of the American experience. This Broadview edition is based upon the first American edition of the novel and reprints its original illustrations and preface. In addition, it reprints all of the prefaces that Stowe wrote for authorized European editions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, offers a wide array of appendices that clarify the novel’s participation in antebellum debates about domesticity, colonization, abolitionism, and the law, and includes sections on dramatic adaptations of the novel.
Comments
“Christopher Diller’s edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is, without a doubt, a major contribution. By tracing the novel’s critical reception and voracious consumption by a global audience for more than 150 years, Diller breathes new life into this best-selling text. Diller makes the work accessible to a variety of audiences: scholars; students in American Studies, history, and literature courses; and general readers who want to savor the emotive power of this American classic. He insightfully maps the reasons Stowe’s masterpiece continues to be anchored in the American literary tradition, and the degree to which it continues to lie at the foundation of this tradition in the 21st century. This is a masterly treatment of an American master text.” — Wilfred D. Samuels, University of Utah
“The Broadview Press edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a splendid addition to the scholarship on Stowe’s iconic and controversial novel. Christopher Diller’s superb introduction and imaginative selection of supporting materials provide a stimulating array of historical and literary contexts—and remind us of how alive this text remains.” — Joan D. Hedrick, Trinity College, author of Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly
Appendix A: Frontispiece and Illustrations for the first American Edition (1852)
Appendix B: The European Prefaces to Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Preface to the English Edition (1852)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Preface to the European Edition (1852)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Preface to the French Illustrated Edition (1853)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Preface to the French Edition (1852-53)
Appendix C: Abolitionist, Colonization, and Proslavery Movements
- “Preamble,” to the Constitution of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society (1787), and Sections 1-3 from
“An ACT to give Relief to certain Persons taking Refuge in [the] State [of Pennsylvania], with Respect
to their Slaves” (1780)
- From David Walker, Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble,To the Coloured Citizens of the
World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America (1830)
- William Lloyd Garrison, “To the Public,” The Liberator (1 January 1831)
- From Lyman Beecher, “Dr. Beecher’s Address,” The African Repository and Colonial Journal (November
1834)
- “A Declaration of the Sentiments of the People of Hartford, Regarding the Measures of the Abolitionists”
(1835)
- Maria Chapman, et al., “Address of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society to the Women of Massachusetts,” The Liberator (13 August 1836)
- William Lloyd Garrison, “The American Union,” The Liberator (10 January 1845)
- From George Fitzhugh, “The Universal Slave Trade,” Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters (1857)
Appendix D: Stowe’s Letters, 1836-53
- Georgiana May (6 January 1836)
- Calvin Stowe (16 June 1845)
- Calvin Stowe (29 June 1849)
- Henry Ward Beecher (1 February 1851)
- Gamaliel Bailey (9 March 1851)
- Elizabeth Cabot Follen (16 December 1852)
Appendix E: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the “Higher Law” Debate
- The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 with a Synopsis and Poem by S.M. Africanus (1850)
- From Charles Beecher, “The Duty of Disobedience to Wicked Laws. A Sermon on the Fugitive Slave
Law” (1851)
- John C. Lord, “‘The Higher Law’ in its Application to the Fugitive Slave Bill. A Sermon on the Duties
Men Owe to God and to Governments” (1851)
Appendix F: Contemporary Responses to Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Section 1: Abolitionist and African American Views
- William Lloyd Garrison, “In the execution of her very familiar task,”
The Liberator (26 March 1852)
- William G. Allen, “I have recently read ‘Uncle Tom,’ Frederick Douglass’s Paper (20 May 1852)
- “Letter from Martin Delany,” with “Remarks” by Frederick Douglass,
Frederick Douglass’s Paper (1 April 1853)
Section 2: Proslavery and Southern Responses to Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Unsigned reprint, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” The New York Observer (21 October 1852)
- From Louisa S. McCord, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Southern Quarterly Review (January 1853)
- Mary Chesnut, Diary entries from Mary Chesnut’s Civil War (1861-65)
Section 3: European Responses to Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- “American Slavery,” New York Times (18 September 1852)
- George Sand, “Review of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” La Presse (17 December 1852)
- From Émile Montégut, “The Abolitionist Novel in America,” Revue des deux mondes (October-December, 1852)
- Anonymous, from “The American Novel: Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Allgemeine Zeitung (7-8 October 1852)
- “B,” “Mistress Harriet Beecher-Stowe and the Novel,” El Universo Pintoresco (15 July 1853)
Appendix G: Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Stage
- “J,” “Mrs. Stowe’s Drama,” [Review of Mary Webb’s performance of “The Christian Slave”], The Liberator (14 December 1855)
- “Uncle Tom’s Cabin at Barnum’s,” New York Daily Tribune (15 November 1853)
- “Uncle Tom’s Cabin at Barnum’s Museum,” Illustrated News (26 November 1853)
- “I am going there, or the death of little Eve,” Lithograph (1852)
- “The famous Jarrett & Palmer London Company consolidated with Slavin’s Original American Troupe
in Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Lithograph (1881)
- “Eliza,” from George Peck’s grand revival of Stetson’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin booked by Klaw & Erlanger (1886)
- “Old Uncle Tom,” Palmer’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Co, Lithograph (1899)
- “Little Eva’s Death Scene,” Scene from stage production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1901)
- “In The Cotton Field,” Cotton Picking Scene from stage production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1901)
- Eugene Lund, from “Trouping with Uncle Tom,” Century Magazine (1928)
- “Uncle Tom’s Cabin new Uncle Tom’s Cabin Co.,” Lithograph (1923)
- “Poster or lobby card for 1958 colorized and narrated re-release of Universal Studio’s 1927 Super-
Jewel Production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,Told by Raymond Massey”
Suggestions for Further Reading
Works Cited
Christopher G. Diller is Associate Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing, Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia.
