Influencing public opinion is difficult at the best of times, but Harriet Beecher Stowe is revered in American history for doing just that. How so?

Answer: Her 1852 book ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’; or ‘Life Among the Lowly’ was a powerful indictment of slavery. The novel sold three hundred thousand copies within three months of publication, a remarkable figure in publishing today, but especially impressive when America’s population was twenty-three million. When President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.” The following year, when Lincoln announced the end of slavery, Stowe danced in the streets.

Source: The Civil War by Shelby Foote

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