Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family were living in a
city that housed the largest collection of Underground Railroad
"conductors" and "stations" in the country, and all the Beechers
were finding that it was impossible to remain neutral on the topic
of slavery for long. Harriet's curiosity about slavery prompted
her to ask her favorite uncle, Samuel Foote, to set up a visit to
one of his Kentucky friend's slave plantations. She and a fellow
teacher from the Western Female Institute crossed the Ohio River
and visited a plantation, where they walked the grounds and were
treated to lavish meals. The master was kind to his slaves, but
he forced them to perform for the guests. The slaves lived in tiny
log cabins on the plantation grounds, each with its own garden.
It wasn't difficult to discern the social system on the plantation,
either. The house slaves were lighter-skinned and stylishly dressed,
while the darker- skinned slaves were relegated to labor-intensive
field jobs. The hierarchy sickened Harriet, and she watched everything
that transpired that day with a keen eye, burning every image into
her brain. This plantation would become the prototype for Colonel
Shelby's plantation in Uncle Tom's
Cabin.
After her visit, Harriet pondered the arguments for emancipation and
immediate abolition of slavery. Lyman Beecher, like his daughter,
believed that abolitionists often damaged their cause with their passionate
demands for immediate emancipation. This kind of tactic, Lyman
often told his daughter, would only make the South hold even firmer
to their slave-based economy. Violence, too, he reasoned, would
only beget violence–many abolitionists advocated emancipation by
force. Gradual emancipation was the best way to go, both he and
Harriet believed, because that would allow time for education and
social adjustment.
In the spring of 1834, Harriet traveled back East with
her brother Henry Ward to visit friends and scattered siblings.
While she was there, she received word that her friend Eliza Tyler
Stowe had died of cholera. When she returned to Cincinnati, she
found Eliza's husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe, was a frequent dinner
guest. Absent-minded to the point of inefficiency, Calvin leaned
on Harriet's organizational skills, and before long, the two had
begun a romance.
In early 1835, Mrs. Beecher died after a long illness.
That autumn, Harriet and Calvin announced their engagement and
they married in January 1836. Harriet was in awe of Calvin, a kind, exceptionally
intelligent man. He became Harriet's greatest fan, even when her
fame eclipsed his and she became the family's main breadwinner.
Harriet was soon pregnant, and she continued to write
during her pregnancy, contributing articles to the Western Monthly
Magazine. That summer, two Cincinnati abolitionists founded an
abolitionist magazine called The Philanthropist. When
a pro-slavery mob burned down the magazine's printing plant, Harriet
and her father took their action as proof that the abolitionists
were bringing violence upon themselves by their lack of moderation.
In fact, Harriet wrote a scathing satirical article blasting the
abolitionist leaders for their tactics.
In September 1837, Harriet gave birth to twin girls, whom
she and Calvin named Eliza, after Calvin's first wife, and Harriet. Lyman
Beecher arrived from a trip east with a new wife, Lydia Jackson
from Boston. The Panic of 1837 hurt everyone, not least of all the
newly married Stowes. Their finances were strained by the economic
downturn, and Harriet wrote to put food on the table. During this
time, Henry Ward was ordained, got married, and moved to Ohio.
Harriet became pregnant again, and while pregnant, she traveled
to Putnam, Ohio to visit her brother William and his wife. There
she was exposed to the abolitionist movement and was able to discern
some of the intricacies of the abolitionist argument. A moderate
approach to the abolition of slavery, she discovered, might not
be as feasible as she had initially thought–the South, she learned,
would not give up the basis of its economy without a fight.
In January 1838, Harriet gave birth to a baby boy she
named Henry Ellis. The next year, despite the poor shape the Stowes' finances
were in, Harriet hired a black girl from Kentucky as a maid. Although
the girl was free, one day her master came looking for her. Calvin
Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher armed themselves, and Harriet hid
with the girl, and they managed to fight the Kentucky slave owner
off. Harriet later rendered this incident in faithful detail in Uncle
Tom's Cabin.
By the early 1840's, Harriet was juggling her increasing
domestic duties with her writing career, which had become very
promising. She was, in addition to her regular contributions to
Western Monthly Magazine, writing for a moderate abolitionist magazine called The
New York Evangelist, an intellectual publication in Cincinnati
called Souvenir, and the most popular women's
magazine of the day, Godey's Lady Book. Harriet
Beecher Stowe's name was known to thousands of people even before
she put pen to paper and began writing her most famous book.
