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Harriet is perhaps best known for her literary work which includes Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her father was Lyman Beecher and her husband was Calvin Stowe. Both men were abolitionists and affiliated with Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her husband formed the basis for Senator Bird and along with John Van Zandt (character named Van Trompe) helped Eliza escape to freedom.
Her Brother, Henry Ward Beecher was also a well known religious and political figure.
While Abraham Lincoln felt Harriet's writings stirred our nation's passions to war, the writings of her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, more accurately contrast the ideas of emancipation vs. civil rights that existed at that time.
His feelings on the subject would shock many today, but were considered liberal by the standards of his generation.
On Liberty:
"Liberty is the souls right to breath, and when it cannot take a long breath, laws are girdled too tight. Without liberty man is a syncope."
On The Status of the Negro:
"As regards to the negro I have received testimony most welcome. The general impression I received was, that the colored people are increasing. The mixture of races has declined through the South; the whit folk are white and the black folk are black.
We are not going to have as much mixture as we used to. Education is going on, and the Southern people of good sense and feeling are desirous of having the black people educated. In the cities they are being admirably educated, and they are everywhere eager to learn. The American Missionary Association is doing especially good work. When colored people own land they prosper. The white people object to selling it to them, for the same reason people in New York and Brooklyn do not like to sell to be occupied to an objectionable class. The younger negroes are rather disposed to be indolent, and the most prosperous are the former slaves. I was asked as to my vies of social equality. I replied that the theory of religion was that all men are equal, but practice indicated that social equality should not be forced, but that men should grow into relationships that are necessary. Schools should not be forced to have both black and white children. Time will settle the matter, and the future will take care of itself. The civil rights decision was much discussed, but I told those who asked me
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