The tradition of slavery in the South for years, has established a certain relationship between master and slave. Slavery was an institution that created insurmountable barriers for blacks. You can see anti-slavery is not in the minds of many in 1848, when the Free-Soil party was organized with the Wilmot Proviso, their platform being anti-slavery; however, 10% of the popular vote does not make up a majority, nor does it prove much support. Southerners were obviously against anything associated with anti-slavery- the institution had been established in the South, they wanted it to stay until the end of time, while northerners were quietly against slavery, but no one was radical enough to cry out anti-slavery and actually back up their words with physical action.
Ulrich B. Phillips is a blatant racist, and would strongly support Stowe’s
implications of white supremacy. Phillips marks America as “a land with a unity despite its diversity, with a people having common joys and common sorrows, and above all, as to the white folk a people with common resolve indomitably maintained--that it shall be and remain a white man¹s country.” Phillips continues on to state that the system of slavery will prevail to maintain a “system of racial adjustment and social order” for the blacks. Although Stowe would agree that America is a “white man¹s country,” Stowe would strongly disagree tat the system of slavery will “maintain a system of racial adjustment and social order.” Zachary Taylor died in office, and the Know Nothing candidate Fillmore took his place, and the white supremacy was left untouched yet again. Phillips and Stowe would completely agree with each other that whites are a sovereign force in America, but Stowe disregards it in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as she tyrannizes the white Legree.
The rousing force behind Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that returned runaway saves to their Southern masters. Tom’s unwillingness to reveal the escape plans of his fellow slaves is similar with the reaction that abolitionists would have had. The abolitionist morals of slavery are far more important than rewards. In the end, Tom decided that they were more important than his lfe, and Tom felt strong in God to meet death, rather than betray the helpless.
According to Eugene Genovese, Tom and the sacrifice of his life to God is completely legitimate. Genovese links slave’s contentment with religion and a unique paternalism, one of which Tom devotes his life to. As he is close to death, he is “willing to bar all I have, if it’ll only bring ye to Christ O Lord!” Stowe shows religion as an escape point for Tom from the suffering, and “torture, degradation and shame, [was] neither degrading nor stripes nor blood, nor insults can make the Christian’s last struggle less than glorious.” Although Genovese¹s thesis of religion and paternalism protecting the slaves has some authenticity, it is simply not strong enough to prevail over abuse in the closed structure of slavery. Tom, despite his religious beliefs is “smote to the ground,” and therefore Genovese¹s argument is disqualified - you cannot fix institutions with beliefs, only actions. The Republicans were perfect advocators of oppressing slavery, but they only opposed it thru words, not actions. They lost to Franklin Pierce in 1852 when he won the presidency over Scott. The Republican party would not be a strong contender for the presidential campaign until the moderate Abraham Lincoln arrived on the scene in 1860. Slaves, in reality, had no real chance of reform until 1860, when the great Abraham Lincoln was elected president.
The extreme oppression of the black race, is realized by both Stowe and Elkins,
and the reality that a distinct personality develops from years of ill-treatment and degradation. A critic of American democratic republicanism, Tocqueville is accurate with his theory of Tyranny of the Majority; uniqueness will certainly alienate a person or group of people from the majority. Referring to blacks, he says “insurmountable barriers had been raised between them by education and law, as well as by their origin and outward characteristics.” According to Tocqueville, whites perpetuate these
barriers, and the white man “makes them subservient to his use, and when he
cannot subdue he destroys them.” Blacks were stuck between a rock and a hard place of Africa and America; “old by one, repulsed by the other.” The Americans deterred blacks, yet they were extremely insistent about slavery as shown by the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. With the Missouri Compromise repealed, Southerners competed for slavery in Kansas against abolitionists. John Brown’s reputation for killing pro-slavery supporters portrays the hostility that the institution slavery was causing; the result gave “Bleeding Kansas” its nickname. The slaves had no option in the ordeal; instead they were forced to “find his joy and pride in the servile imitation of those who oppress him.”
Elkins admits that all blacks, to a certain degree, “role-play” their personalities. The traditional values applied by blacks to their masters are radical enough that the development of a persona outside the “closed system” of slavery is impossible. In the way Tom talks to Legree, Stowe must agree with Elkins; everything he says starts or ends with”Mas’r,” displaying the complete subservience to the overseer.
Elkins does believe change is possible; he says “the day might
come at last when it downed on a man¹s full waking consciousness that he had
really grown up, that he was, after all, only playing a part.” Men such as John Brown and Nat Turner, voiced their opinions about slavery, trying to open up a new train of thought about the evil institution of slavery. Rebellion is possible, but you must have a foundation to start bringing down the entire institution. The slaves, after taking orders their entire lives, according to Tocqueville and Elkins, simply “are too unacquainted with her (freedom¹s) dictates to obey them. “
Stowe on the other hand praises struggles; the mere idea that Tom defies Legree is a rebellion in itself. By defying him, Tom’s “suffering changed an instrument of torture, degradation, and shame, into a symbol of glory, honor, and immortal life.” He is now seen, as a respectable figure, and gains respect. Tom’s reward is a rewarding life in heaven, since the abolishment of slavery will not come in his lifetime. Stowe wrote before 1860 so slavery became a more highly debated issue, and Americans began to
question the morality of the institution.
Although Stowe is related in ways to Genovese, Stampp and Phillips, the issue of revolt is the difference that separates Stowe from the rest. For Genovese and Phillips, the slave himself is satisfied with slavery; thus it prevents them from having any desire to leave for freedom in the North - the paternalistic “shield” around them deters them from complaining. Stampp claims that blacks constantly had an urge to rebel, a condition which he calls “Drapetomania,” or the “disease causing Negroes to run away.” However,
the white man’s oppression is getting more absolute, thus prohibits any successful rebellion. Stowe highly encourages to revolt against slavery, but physically attempting to run away, was another story – not many slaves had the courage or perseverance to attempt it.
H.B Stowe is an extraordinary historian herself; she praises rebellion, discusses white superiority, exemplifies religion, analyzes a specific type of personality of blacks, and the reality that the African-Americans were still suppressed by white expectations and contained by the institution of slavery. The tremendous control white slaveholders held over their black slaves left no chance of escaping the, as described by Elkins, “system of slavery.” The importance of her book is easily seen, as Martin Duberman argued that “before 1845, the Northern attitude toward slavery rested on this comfortable belief in the benevolence of history…when Texas was annexed, it finally seemed clear that the mere passage of time would not have a solution.” Duberman believes it was abolitionists that started the ideological jump to end slavery. They realized, that it needed to be stopped, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, came at the perfect time to jumpstart the movement to end the evils of slavery. Blacks were a hotly debated issue, from annexation of Texas in 1845, thru the Civil War, and even in the 20th century. Events in history during the time period of 1845-1860 did not successfully result in freedom for the slaves; it wasn’t until more than a century later that blacks could shatter the monumental pillars holding up the institution of slavery and have influence in American politics and culture.
