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Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Attitudes and Uncle Tom's Cabin II Lesson Plan
By David J. Cope
Overview
In this lesson, students will research Stowe's depiction of slavery through selected excerpts from her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. They will discuss the controversial attitudes between master and slave that Stowe portrays and apply them to the law of the time and the concepts of the law that still exist today. Students also will examine how attitudes reflect their own decision-making.
Time Required
Three to four days, including background readings and discussions
Materials Needed
The Lesson
Anticipatory Set
Begin the lesson by asking the class what characteristics a bully possesses. Write these on the board. Then, ask what characteristics a "victim" possesses and write these on the board. Discuss how the two coincide. Ask students to describe methods "victims" use to fend off bullies.
Procedures
Note to teacher: This lesson focuses on Harriet Beecher Stowe's handling of the difficult topic of slave/master/trader relationships. Perhaps, in no better way does she portray the psychological horror and harm of the Peculiar Institution as this quote by Frederick Douglass: "She ...walked, with lighted candle, through the darkest corners of the slave's soul, and had unfolded the secrets of the slave's lacerated heart...." Write this quote on the board and discuss Douglass' intent. At the conclusion of the lesson, re-examine the quote and the class' interpretation.
- Relate the following story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the loss of Charlie. Discuss how this loss might affect her view on life. (At the conclusion of the lesson, re-examine the story and the class' interpretation.)
Due to failing health, Harriet spent almost the entire year of 1846 at Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft's homeopathic spa at Brattleboro, Vermont. There, she "took the waters" and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. She returned home rejuvenated and, within a brief time, became pregnant. While the stay at the spa affected the pregnancy positively, her neuralgia returned, forcing her to be in darkened rooms for lengthy periods. After the birth of Samuel Charles (Charlie) in January 1848, Harriet's husband, Calvin, fell ill and left for a year's stay Dr. Wesselhoeft's spa. In May 1849, cholera struck Cincinnati. The death toll climbed weekly in the city, peaking around the Fourth of July. With increased transportation throughout the nation, the epidemic spread. Harriet wrote to Calvin not to return home. President Zachary Taylor called for a national day of prayer and fasting. Then, tragedy struck. On July 10, Charlie fell ill, quickly followed by Henry, Harriet, Anna (their nursemaid), and their dog Daisy (which died within half an hour). On July 23, Harriet wrote Calvin, "At last, my dear, the hand of the Lord has touched us." Three days later, she sent a follow-up, "At last it is over, and our dear little one is gone from us." She continued, "This heart-break, this anguish, has been everywhere, and when it will end God alone knows."
- Explain to the class that slave owners and slave traders created a complicated set of assumptions and justifications for the institution of slavery. Likewise, slaves formulated defense mechanisms to cope with the masters' and traders' attitudes. Harriet Beecher Stowe attempted to portray all three in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Have the students divide a sheet of paper in thirds, width-wise, and label each column as follows:
- masters'/traders' assumptions,
- masters'/traders' justifications,
- slaves' defense mechanisms.
Hand each student a copy of the "Attitudes Towards Slavery" handout(link to below) and ask them to read the selections and fill in the chart with appropriate words or phrases. When the class completes the assignment, discuss each column and its impact on those involved.
- The slave owners and traders used these assumptions and justifications, often under a legal guise.
- In Chapter Twenty-Three, Eva's father Augustine St. Clare and his brother Alfred argue about the slavery institution. Augustine cites reasons for and examples of slave revolts. Alfred summarizes the opinion held by many defenders of slavery, "Never fear for us; possession is our nine points. We've got the power. Its subject race is down and shall stay down." In Chapter Nineteen, Ophelia complains to Augustine St. Clare that another family had their slave Prue whipped to death. St. Clare responds, "It's commonly supposed that the property interest is a sufficient guard in these cases. If people choose to ruin their own possessions, I don't know what's to be done."
Nine Points of the Law: Individuals who try to claim an overwhelming advantage over others often cite that possession is nine points of the law. In 1772, Lord Mansfield used the phrase for one of the first times, "Possession is very strong; rather more than nine points of the law." The original nine points of the law were: a lot of money; a lot of patience; a good cause; a good lawyer; a good counsel; good witnesses; a good jury; a good judge, and finally, good luck.
Discuss with the class how the original "nine points of the law" benefited the slave owners or traders. How would the nine points affect slaves?
- In Chapter Forty-One, young George Shelby discovers that Simon Legree whipped Tom to death. He threatens the slave owner with a charge of murder and Legree sneers, "Do! I'd like to see you doing it. Where you going to get witnesses?--how you going to prove it?--Come, now!" Stowe continues, "There was not a white person on the place; and, in all southern courts, the testimony of colored blood is nothing."
Slaves as Property: From the colonial era until the end of the Civil War, all black codes were based on the legal philosophy that slaves were property (in real estate terms) and the protection of the property rights of the owners. The offspring "inherited" through the mother's status (a child born of a free father and a slave mother was a slave). Slaves could not contract (thus, there were no legal marriages), own property, or testify in court against a white.
Discuss with the class how the "slaves as property" philosophy benefited the slave owners or traders. How would the "slaves as property" philosophy affect slaves?
Assessment
Assess students through observations made during the class discussions and through the written assignments and projects provided in the Procedures section.
Interdisciplinary Links
The lesson on slave owners', slave traders' and slaves' attitudes related to Uncle Tom's Cabin allows for great interdisciplinary links with the English curriculum and character education.
This lesson was submitted by David J. Cope, honors teacher at Titusville Senior High School, Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Attitudes and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson
Handout: Attitudes Towards Slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Section One: Attitudes Towards Slave Families
Chapter One: "Lor' bless ye, yes! These critters an't like white folks you know; They gets over things...." Haley, the slave trader then tells of a buyer who did not want the baby of a recently purchased slave. "She just went ravin' mad, and died in a week. Clear waste, sir, of one thousand dollars...."
Chapter Eight: The slave trader Marks comments, "If we could get a breed of gals that didn't care, now, for their young uns, tell ye, I think 't would be about the greatest nod'rn improvement I knows on."
Chapter Twelve: Two women traveling on a riverboat discuss, (A): "I've been south, and I must say I think the Negroes are better off than they would be to be free." (B): "The most dreadful part of slavery, to my mind, is its outrages of feelings and affections ,--the separating of families, for example." "Suppose ma'am, your two children, there, should be taken from you, and sold?" (A): "We can't reason from our feeling to those of this class of persons." (B): "I know they do feel-- just as keenly, even more so, perhaps--as we do." (A): "Indeed!"
Chapter Sixteen: Eva's mother Marie St. Clare, "St. Clare already has talked to me as if keeping Mammy from her husband was like keeping me from mine. There's no comparing in this way. Mammy couldn't have the feeling that I should. It's a different thing altogether." She continues, "and just as if Mammy could love her dirty babies as I love Eva.!"
Chapter Seventeen: George Harris at the Quaker's home, "O! Eliza, if these people only knew what a blessing it is for a man to feel that his wife and child belong to him!"
Chapter Thirty-Four: Cassy, a slave on Simon Legree's plantation, "They think its nothing, what we suffer,--nothing, what our children suffer! It's all a small matter."
Chapter Ten: Tom, about to be sold, to his wife Chloe, "--and thars one thing I can think him for. It's me that's sold and going down, and not you nur the chil'en. Here you're safe;--what comes will come only on me;"
Chapter Thirty-Four: Casey's first master sold her children, Elise and Henry, and then she acquired a new master, "Captain Stuart was very kind to me; he had a splendid plantation, and took me to it. In the course of a year, I had a son born." She continues, "But I had made up my mind,--yes, I had. I would never again let a child live to grow up! I took the little fellow in my arms, when he was two weeks old, and kissed him, and cried over him; and then I gave him laudanum (an extremely addictive and lethal alcoholic solution of opium used at the time as a pain killer) , and held him close to my bosom, while he slept to death."
Section Two: Attitudes on Being a Slave Trader and a Slave Owner
Chapter Eight: "The catching business ... is rising to the dignity of a lawful and patriotic profession. If all the broad land between the Mississippi and the Pacific becomes one great market for bodies and souls, and human property retains the locomotive tendencies of this nineteenth century, the trader and catcher may yet be among our aristocracy." (Congress passed the Missouri Compromise in 1854.)
Chapter Twelve: "The trader (Haley) had arrived at that stage of Christian and political perfection which has been recommended by some preachers and politicians of the north, lately, in which he had completely overcome every humane weakness and prejudice."
Chapter One: The slave trader Haley comments, "Now, they say that this kind o' trade is hardening to the feelings; but I never found it so."
Chapter Eleven: A drover says, "that is to say, the Lord made 'em men, and it's a hard squeeze getting 'em down into beasts."
Chapter Sixteen: Eva's mother Marie St. Clare states, "If you encourage servants--giving way to every little disagreeable feeling, and complaining of every little ailment, you'll have your hands full." She continues, "Now, there's no way servants but to put them down, and keep them down." She says "I hold to being kind to servants--I always am; but you must make 'em know their place." She adds, "You don't know what a provoking, stupid, careless, unreasonable, childish, ungrateful set of wretches they are."
Chapter Thirty-Six: Cassy replies to the frightened slave Emmeline's question of what she should do, "What I've done. Do the best you can,--do what you must,--and make it up in hating and cursing."
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