Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1835?

[Hnau]

As a butterfly in a timeline I'm developing I'm considering the publication of an anti-slavery novel ala Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's a bit shorter, written by a male abolitionist, and is titled Those Infernal Fields. Unlike Stowe's version, it also details the horrors of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, is slightly less Christian-oriented (no visions, but still a lot of Christian rhetoric), but also ends with a heroic sacrifice by a "Good Christian Slave" character. Because it isn't written by a woman, it lacks the feminist angle completely, and instead makes abolitionism appear as an idea that must be championed by the heroic Protestant white male. In addition to Tom's character, there is a heroic young white abolitionist who is brutally tortured by a plantation owner when he tries to save the slave and afterwards must return to the north tormented by his failure.

What do you think the reception of such a novel would be in the 1830s vs the 1850s, and if it achieves around the same popularity as Uncle Tom's Cabin, what could be the effects of such a novel?

 

[Wolfpaw]

The reaction probably won't be as nasty. By the time UTC came around, slavery had come to be seen as a "positive good" in the South. If such a book were to come around before the Mexican War, the atmosphere may not be as ideologically devoted to the peculiar institution as it had become by the '50s.

Then again, South Carolina enjoys playing the powder keg...

 

[Hnau]

One thing UTC did was galvanize anti-slavery anger in the North and anti-abolitionist anger in the South. According to what you are saying, perhaps an earlier analogue will create less anti-abolitionist anger in the South and maybe even change opinions there? Even if its gradualist and colonizationist?

I'm also thinking such a work of popular fiction could help generate interest for the Liberty Party and perhaps an earlier formation of a Free Soil Party analogue? Perhaps the Barnburner Democrats in New York would split off sooner?

 

[Johnrankins]

One thing UTC did was galvanize anti-slavery anger in the North and anti-abolitionist anger in the South. According to what you are saying, perhaps an earlier analogue will create less anti-abolitionist anger in the South and maybe even change opinions there? Even if its gradualist and colonizationist?

I'm also thinking such a work of popular fiction could help generate interest for the Liberty Party and perhaps an earlier formation of a Free Soil Party analogue? Perhaps the Barnburner Democrats in New York would split off sooner?

I think he is correct. The South was far less pro-slavery in 1835 than 1852.

 

[Hnau]

I've been doing some more research and it seems that if the book has an effect on the South, it will be largely negative, because starting in 1835 abolitionist publications sent to citizens in the South were halted by the postal system. In 1836 a law was even passed the Postal Act stipulating that all mail must be delivered to whom it is addressed, directly referring to the blocking of all abolitionist post headed towards those living in the South. It was ignored by southern postmasters in many areas and President Jackson and President Van Buren turned a blind eye to the problem. There were also proslavery mobs in the 1830s that would turn up at post offices to burn all abolitionist mail and literature that was being held, which was criticized very little.

A book like Uncle Tom's Cabin would not manage to enter the South under these conditions. Any attention afforded to it in the South will be direct criticism, just like IOTL. Perhaps because proslavery attitudes aren't so developed in the 1830s and are less radical, the South will not be so angered by the publication and decide to ignore it outright like other pieces of abolitionist literature. In this case, the only effect of Those Infernal Fields will be an earlier galvanization of the abolitionist cause in the north... perhaps slightly slower than UTC, perhaps not as decisive, but it will change the hearts of some. Maybe the Liberty Party is founded earlier? And is slightly more popular in the north?