Slavery was a very contentious and contentious issue throughout the country during the antebellum period. For most of the new country of the United States, the spread of slavery was hotly contested and debated. Most Americans disagreed with the practice of slavery, but many did not think emancipation was the answer. However, in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a short story describing the evils and malpractices of slavery. This novel changed public opinion on forced servitude which ultimately had a significant effect on the already sectionalist nation. Although most Southern slaveholders disagreed with her opinion, Harriet Beecher Stowe accurately depicted the practice of slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Known to Abraham Lincoln as “the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,” Harriet Elizabeth Beecher was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the sixth of eleven children, all of whom grew up to become important public figures. All seven children became ministers, the eldest daughter pioneered women's education, and the youngest daughter founded the National Women's Suffrage Association. It is very appropriate to say that Stowe was born into a family of innovators. First, one of the people who most influenced Stowe in his abolitionist ideas was his brother, Henry Ward Beecher, who was "already an outspoken abolitionist"; in 1850 he would become the "driving force" of the Free Soil movement in banning slavery in Kansas. Although this was a significant influence, Stowe decided to write the novel after visiting Cincinnati; he wrote several stories about all the monstrosities and mistreatment of slaves he witnessed and heard about. He eventually combined these stories and published Uncle......middle sheet......1854. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plantation.htm (accessed 12 December 2013). "Slavery in the American South." - Foundation for Constitutional Rights. http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/slavery-in-the-american-south (accessed December 10, 2013). Stowe, Harriet. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Cincinatti: Worx Branding, 1852.Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Cincinnati`: John P. Jewitt, 1852."The Ludwig von Mises Institute." The brutality of slavery. https://mises.org/daily/6347/ (accessed December 12, 2013).PBS. "The Slave Experience; Education, Art, and Culture." PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/education/history2.html (accessed 11 December 2013). “Treatment of Slaves in the United States.” Without limits. https://www.boundless.com/us-history/slavery-and-reform-1820-1840/slavery-in-the-us/treatment-of-slaves-in-the-us/ (accessed December 12, 2013).