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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC01585 |
| From Archive Folder | Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe |
| Title | Harriet Beecher Stowe to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha regarding her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" |
| Date | 20 March 1852 |
| Author | Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) |
| Recipient | of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Albert, Prince |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | On its first day of publication in 1852, Stowe sends a copy [not present] of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. Slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833, and Stowe holds Britain up as a model for Americans. Written mostly in the third person. Stowe had consulted Horace Mann several days before writing this letter, asking for his advice as to how best to contact Prince Albert and other British noteworthies. Evidently, Mann's advice had proved useful: Despite the "republican simplicity" of this letter to the Royal Consort, Prince Albert responded with a courteous note of thanks. (See GLC01587 for a letter written by Queen Victoria in which she mentions Stowe and "Uncle Tom's Cabin.") Harriet and her husband Calvin would meet the royal couple four years later in Scotland. "[W]e had just the very pleasantest little interview with the Queen that ever was." Calvin Stowe would write. "The Queen seemed really delighted to see my wife, and remarkably glad to see me for her sake. She pointed us out to Prince Albert, who made two most gracious bows to my wife and two to me, while the four royal children stared their big blue eyes almost out looking at the little authoress of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'" (Calvin Stowe, 29 August 1856). |
| Subjects | African American History Literature and Language Arts Women's History Slavery Global History and Civics Abolition Reform Movement Foreign Affairs Woman Author |
| People | Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Albert, Prince (1819-1861) |
| Place written | Brunswick, Maine |
| Theme | African Americans; Arts & Literature; Women in American History; Slavery & Abolition; Foreign Affairs |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | Stowe, a 41-year-old mother of six from Maine, had learned about slavery while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, across the Ohio River from slaveholding Kentucky. Her book, one of the first works to show an African American as a hero, placed slavery into a religious framework deeply meaningful to nineteenth-century Americans. The book quickly became one of the best-selling novels of all time. The novel describes two parallel stories of redemption and deliverance. Tom, who is sold down the river to the brutal Simon Legree, ultimately achieves spiritual salvation, while George and Eliza Harris achieve physical freedom. By awakening Northerners to the fact that slaves suffered just as the ancient Hebrews suffered bondage in Egypt, Stowe created a heightened awareness of slavery's moral evil. Stowe was a member of one of early nineteenth century America's most influential families. Her father, the Reverend Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), was a major figure in the shift from the established churches of the colonial period to the new era of denominational competition -- and from the doctrines of original sin and predestination to new notions of human agency, which regarded sin as voluntary rather than predetermined. After the disestablishment of Connecticut's Congregational Church in 1818, Beecher became an advocate of reform and revivals as ways to combat barbarism and infidelity and ensure personal piety and public morality. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |