“The Little Lady Who Started the Big War”: TV Limited Series

When acclaimed author Harriet Beecher Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln for the only time, the Civil War had already begun in 1861 with the South’s firing from Ft. Sumter, North Carolina, on the Northern forces.

The statement (with varying words) is attributed to Lincoln greeting her: “So this is the little lady who started the big war.”

The purported quote reflects public opinion that Stowe’s portrayals of the brutalities of slavery in her novel UNCLE TOM’S CABIN helped fuel the fire for brothers fighting brothers to decide whether slavery would tear apart the young democracy of the U.S.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s bestselling novel UNCLE TOM’S CABIN started life as a 40-part series in The National Era, an abolitionist periodical, with the June 15, 1851, issue. The novel was published in book form on March 20, 1852, translated into all major languages, and in the U.S. became the second-bestselling book after the Bible.

Southern attacks on the novel followed, and Stowe in 1853 published the nonfiction book A KEY TO UNCLE TOM’S CABIN to document the novel’s depiction of slavery.

Read more about this amazing author and her most famous literary work:

“Rethinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of Harriet Beecher Stowe” by William B. Allen

Reclaiming Uncle Tom’s Cabin — Phyllis Zimbler Miller article on Literary Heist

In Defense of Uncle Tom’s Cabin — Phyllis Zimbler Miller blog post on this website

When acclaimed author Harriet Beecher Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln for the only time, the Civil War had already begun in 1861 with the South’s firing from Ft. Sumter, North Carolina, on the Northern forces.

“Rethinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of Harriet Beecher Stowe” by William B. Allen

Reclaiming Uncle Tom’s Cabin — Phyllis Zimbler Miller article on Literary Heist

In Defense of Uncle Tom’s Cabin — Phyllis Zimbler Miller blog post on this website