, with whatever of ability they can, that the Negro is a man; that his bondage is cruelly wrong, and that the field of his oppression ought not to be enlarged (Lincoln 1857).”Harriet Beecher Stowe agreed with Lincoln’s stance on the issue of slavery. She tackled the problem from an entirely different standpoint, however. Stowe did not use the knowledge of the law or politics, but her profound belief in the Christian religion. “A day of grace is yet held out to us. Both North and South have been guilty before God; and the Christian church has a heavy account to answer. Not by combining together, to protect injustice and cruelty, and making a common capital of sin, is this Union to be save, -- but by repentance, justice and mercy; for, not surer is the eternal law by which the millstone sinks in the ocean, than that stronger law, by which injustice and cruelty shall bring on nations the wrath of Almighty God! (Stowe 451)” Stowe’s interpretation of Christian theology permeates every aspect of the book. Stowe crusaded for the end of slavery at the same time as Abraham Lincoln and her views reflect the time period just as his did. Stowe held some black stereotypes that were common during her day and expresses them in her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. “The negro (sic), it must be remembered, is an exotic of the most gorgeous and superb countries of the world, and he has, deep in his heart, a passion for all that is splendid, rich, and fanciful; a passion which, rudely indulged by an untrained taste, draws on them the ridicule of the colder and more correct white race (Stowe 165).” Stowe, even through her flattering comments of the black race, expresses an attitude that these people are less civilized and makes wide generalizations about black character. These notions show the racist attitude generally shown to blacks even by the most loving and kind supporters of the black cause. Stowe be...
