Author Harriet Beecher Stowe’s first novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published on this day in 1852. It would become a runaway best seller and one of the most influential books in American history. The book was anti-slavery and helped lay the groundwork in the 1950’s for the American Civil War which started in 1861.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” would be the best selling novel of the 19th century and the second biggest selling book of that century behind The Bible.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln would meet Harriet Beecher Stowe and he said “So this is the little lady that started this  great war.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe would write 20 books but she never came close to anything as great as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” She died at age 85 in 1896.