TDIH- March 20- Uncle Tom's Cabin

Written by eric francke

Friday, 20 March 2009

This Day in History- March 20- 1852 “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is Published. Harriet Beecher Stowe, born in 1811, was the seventh child of Protestant clergyman Lyman Beecher.  For a number of years, she lived in Cincinnati Ohio, across the Ohio River from Kentucky, which was a slave state.  During her years there, she witnessed countless number of African Americans attempt to escape the institution of slavery, and was very familiar with the “underground railroad” of that day. Years later, as a mother of seven herself, she put her experiences regarding slavery into written form in 1851 in a series of articles for the abolitionist magazine, The National Era.  Those articles were published together on this day in 1852 as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and the book sold over 300,000 copies in the first year.   Many speculate that it did more to turn public opinion against slavery than all the sermons of all the abolitionists combined.  Her book was so influential, that when she met President Abraham Lincoln during the height of the Civil War in 1862, he reportedly said "So this is the little lady who made this big war." Taking a panoramic look at history, we can see nations, kingdoms and empires rising or falling sometimes on what may seem at first as small insignificant things.  Stowe’s articles for National Era were simply fictional accounts (albeit based on true events) about the life under slavery, yet it changed the course of history for the United States.  Thomas Paine’s Common Sense wasn’t exceptionally long, but it was crucial to stirring up revolutionary sentiment across the continent.   In our own day, we witnessed the collapse of Communism in Romania when a largely unknown Reformed Pastor, László Tőkés, began preaching against the dictator of that country.  In the same year, East Germany threw off Communism and united with West Germany after a protest was started by another pastor, Christian Führer.   In each case, it is unlikely that the key individuals fully understood at the time the significance of their actions.    But they provided the spark that changed the course of nations. We know that we live in a volatile world; one that could use a lot of change for the better.  In many cases, the only thing that is missing is the “spark”.    That spark, if history tells us anything, frequently comes from the least likely of sources.   It is frequently ordinary people, with whom God has entrusted a deeply felt conviction or sincere desire to see things improve, that provide the spark that brings revolutionary change.    Is there anything that we feel that God has put on our own hearts to do?   Is there an ember within us that may provide the “spark” for a greater and higher purpose?   We are told in 2 Timothy 1:6 to “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you”.   That vision or conviction is in you for a purpose.  It is our responsibility to act on it and fan it into flame.  Regardless of who you are, or however lowly one’s estate might be, what you share maybe yet another spark that sets the world on fire.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 March 2009 )