Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by: Harriett Beecher Stowe
Summarized by Mr. Freccia’s Gold Day AP US History Classes (2009-2010)
Chapter 1
In chapter 1 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, wealthy slave-owner Mr. Shelby is discussing a business transaction with slave trader Mr. Haley. They agreed on Mr. Shelby giving Haley his best and most honest servant Tom, but Haley wants another boy or girl in with the trade. Shelby, reluctantly however, agrees to give Haley the young but entertaining boy Harry, who is the son of a young slave woman named Eliza. Having not heard the discussion in its entirety, Eliza worries Harry will be taken from her, but Shelby’s wife assures her husband would do no such thing.
Chapter 2
Eliza had been brought up by her mistress. She married a bright young man who was a slave in a neighboring state (George Harns). George walked in a factory and invented a machine for clearing hemp. His master grew uneasy with Georges “fame” so he decided to take George home to work on the farm. Despite the other workers efforts to persuade his master to let him stay, Georges master never budged and put him to work on the farm. George and Eliza met during the time when he was employed at the plant. They married in Eliza’s mistress’s house. Eliza had two losses of infant children but soon little Harry was born. A manufacturer visited George two weeks later but the master still wouldn’t budge. George was to keep working on the farm.
Chapter 3
George walks into the verandah and starts complaining to his wife Eliza about how his master treats him horrible and how he just can’t take the abuse anymore. George is very depressed for most of this chapter. He also complains about how his master is no smarter that George is. Eliza is afraid he will do something dreadful ( kill himself, kill his master). He then tells Eliza the story of what he had to endure the day before: a whipping form the master’s son because George had asked him to stop scaring the horses. George repeatedly adds that he just can’t take this abuse from someone he never provoked. All this time Eliza just pleads to George to act like a Christian. Towards the end of the Chapter, George says that he plans on going to Canada in hope to someday buy his wife and kid. He then heads off to Canada and says goodbye to his family.
Chapter 4
Aunt Chloe is cooking dinner for Tom and the kids. Shelby’s son George is teaching Tom how to write. Then they eat and then sing. As this is going on, Mr. Shelby is agreeing to sell Tom and Harry. Papers are signed. Shelby is sure to remind Haley that he is to be sold to nice people.
Chapter 5
Mr. Shelby tells his wife that he is selling the two slaves Tom and Harry. Mrs. Shelby hates slaver and is very upset and tries to change his mind. Mr. Shelby says the deal has already been made and it’s either the property or the slaves. Eliza’s eavesdropping and hears, takes her son to Uncle Tom’s cabin. She tells the other slaves and Eliza leaves with her son in the night.
Chapter 6
Mr. and Mrs. Shelby find out that Eliza, a servant and her child have run away. Mrs. Shelby finds happiness in this. Mr. Shelby is upset because she was going to be sold to Mr. Haley who comes later that day. Mr. Shelby makes 2 servants, Andy and Sam, help Mr. Haley go find Eliza, but Sam follows Mrs. Shelby’s directions and stalls the adventure until after dinner.
Chapter 7
Eliza is traveling on foot, escaping with her young child. Eliza feels overwhelmingly protective over her young son, whom she won’t even let out of her arms. Eliza wants to cross the river but it is frozen over. They stay the night in this lady’s house until a man tries to cross it in the morning. At the farm, Haley tries to find Eliza. He eventually finds them at the house by the river. Before Haley can get to them, Eliza and the son flee by leaping on ice chunks to cross the river.
Chapter 8
Haley, frustrated by Eliza’s escape, goes back to the in where he chances to meet his old partner, Tom Locker, accompanied by a man named Marks. Over drinks, Locker and Marks commiserate with Haley and agree that slave women’s attachment to their children can be inconvenient. Haley and Locker, getting drunk, begin to argue, and Marks urges them to get back to business. He and Locker are slave catchers; they propose to catch Eliza and Harry, give the boy to Haley and take Eliza to New Orleans to sell. Haley gives him $50 to be repaid if they profit as they hope from Eliza. Meanwhile, Sam and Andy return to the Shelby’s and report Elizas escape, at which Mr. and Mrs. Shelby are gratified. Sam and Andy then go to the kitchen where Chloe feeds them and Sam retells the story.
Chapter 9
In Ohio, Senator Bird tells his wife of a law passed by the Senate that prohibits assisting runaway slaves. Mrs. Bird is completely against the law, saying that it is immoral. At that moment, a slave and her son, Eliza and Harry, appear at their doorstep. Eliza explains that her master was a nice man, but he was planning to sell her son so they ran away. Senator Bird cannot keep them there overnight because he knows that Harry may accidentally give them away. He drives the two runaways to a safe house in the woods. John Van Trump, a former slaveholder, owns the house, and Senator Bird gives him $10 to give to Eliza.
Chapter 10
It is the day Tom is meant to leave his home to be traded. That morning, he and Chloe get into an argument because she thinks their master has wronged him, while Tom is focusing on appreciating the things their master has done. After this, Aunt Chloe prepares a grand farewell breakfast for Tom when Mrs. Shelby comes in and tearfully promises to do what she can to bring Tom back. It is then that the trader, Mr. Haley, enters to take Tom away as the other servants mournfully bid him farewell. We also learn that Mr. Shelby is off to “business” at the time; he doesn’t want to see Tom go. Even though he is trying to convince himself it was acceptable to sell him, his guilt won’t let him witness Tom’s departure.
After they leave, Haley stops at a blacksmith’s shop a few miles away and discusses his plans for Tom. While he is there, George meets up with Tom and gives him his dollar and a promise to get him home, something to keep with him always. After this encounter, Haley and Tom continue on their journey through Kentucky.
Chapter 11
An old gentleman named Mr. Wilson visits a hotel in Kentucky. While there, he notices an ad for a runaway slave that had worked in his factory. A man rides up to the hotel in a carriage, asks for a room, and recognizes Mr. Wilson. After asking Mr. Wilson to join him in his room, the man reveals himself to be George, the runaway slave in the advertisement. George then tells Mr. Wilson why he ran away and asks him to give his wife a pin that she had given him for Christmas.
Chapter 12
Mr. Haley and Tom continue on their way toward the slave market that is being held in Washington, Kentucky. That night, Haley stays in a tavern while he stores Tom in a jail. The next day, Haley buys three slaves at the auction, one a small boy who was torn away from the arms of his old mother. A few days later, Haley takes his slaves and begins sailing down the La Belle River on a ship, the other passengers aboard discussing Haley and his recently purchased slaves. When the boat stops at a Kentucky town, Haley gets off and brings back a well-dressed black woman, named Lucy, and her baby. He announces that her pervious master has sold them to him. Haley sells Lucy’s baby without her knowledge to another slave owner, which causes her to throw herself overboard during the night.
Chapter 13
A group of slaves are at a house owned by a woman named Rachel. They are possibly escaping to Canada and find out Eliza’s husband is coming. Eliza and George are reunited and plan to escape the next night. Rachel’s house is where many slaves meet before finally escaping to freedom.
Chapter 14
Evangiline St. Clare is a beautiful girl of perfection who has taken a liking to the ill-educated, but persistently Bible-reading slave Uncle Tom. Evangiline falls over the boat and Tom saves her, so she decides to make Tom happy by having her father, a good man who opposes slavery (but sees the current necessity of the peculiar institution) purchase him. Tom is an expensive slave because he is strong, extremely religious, naturally intelligent, and has a nicely shaped head.
Chapter 15
The chapter begins by expounding on the character St. Clare, a gentleman from a wealthy family in New Orleans. We learn that he fell in love with a woman, but then was informed she was marrying another man. He married a different woman, an angry and disagreeable person, only to find out the first woman had loved him all along. St. Clare brought his cousin, Miss Ophelia, to his home from Vermont to help raise his child. His wife, Marie, complains extensively about being left alone for too long, then begins to complain about slaves. Eva further expresses her love for Tom and all other slaves because they make life more enjoyable.
Chapter 16
Marie speaks to St. Clare, Eva, and Miss Ophelia about her slaves and how spoiled they are. Marie believes that even Mammy, a slave that has taken care of her all her life, is selfish. Marie is shocked when her daughter Eva offers to help her at night so that Mammy can rest. Marie believes St. Clare and Eva’s overindulgence of their slaves is what renders them selfish. Both Eva and St. Clare show kindness towards their slaves, Eva not seeing a difference between slaves and whites. St. Clare claims not to agree with the morals of slavery, however he still owns them.
Chapter 17
We enter on Eliza and George at Rachel’s house talking about how much they enjoy each other’s company. They plan to escape to Canada at night and become free people. Phineas comes to the door and informs them that the slave-hunters are at a bar close by and plan to come for them tonight. Everyone leaves, including George, Eliza, Harry, the Hallidays, and the Quakers, in the hopes of escaping to Canada. Phineas takes them to a covered hiding place in rocks. To enter, they must go one at a time because the opening is so narrow. The slave hunters arrive and George stands up to declare his freedom. They shoot at George, but he manages to get out of the way, all the while declaring that he will shoot anyone who tries to get to them. Tom tries to get through and George shoots, hitting him in the side. The other slave-hunters leave without Tom. Eliza starts to feel sorry for Tom, so they take him into their wagon to take to another Quaker house for recovery.
Chapter 18
The scene opens with St. Clare putting trust in Tom by putting him in charge of the family finances. When Tom sees St. Clare arrive home drunk one night, he cries and asks St. Clare to stop drinking, to which he obliges. Miss Ophelia has moderate success at organizing the household. When Prue, another slave, comes to sell rolls, she tells Tom the story of how she was used to breed slaves to sell. When she was sold, she had the chance to raise one of her babies. However, she had to take care of her mistress, and because she could no longer produce milk, her baby starved to death. When Tom tells this story to Eva, she loses all interest in the day, and does absolutely nothing.
Chapter 19
Miss Ophelia finds out Prue’s master has whipped her to death. St. Clare explains to her that slaves are property and masters can do whatever they want with them. St. Clare tells a story of a slave that was caught trying to run away, so St. Clare tamed him. He tried to get him free papers, but the slave ripped them up and pledged his life to him.
Chapter 20
St. Clare brings a young black girl to Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia rejects the child, but St. Clare doesn’t back down, reiterating how she has always been talking about wanting to educate someone. The girl’s name is Topsy, and Miss Ophelia will spend a large amount of time trying to make her learned. Topsy cannot remember how old she is or any other personal information because she was bought as a young child and was never informed of anything. She turns out be very mischievous and steals things from people that anger her. Miss Ophelia hates this quality because she is trying to make the child a devout Christian, but doesn’t want to resort to whipping.
Chapter 21
Mr. and Mrs. Shelby are sitting in a large hall, and Mrs. Shelby brings up the subject of Chloe and Tom’s letters to each other. She tries to discuss the ways in which they can get Tom back, but Mr. Shelby says women have no right talking about such things. Chloe returns, saying she has found a job in Louisville paying $40 a week, a job she could work in order to get Tom back. Mrs. Shelby agrees to let her take the job, even though Chloe would be forced to leave her children.
Chapter 22
Tom receives a letter from George about the state of his house and the well-being of the family. As Eva grows older and matures, she and Tom establish a very close-knit friendship. Being a brilliant reader and well-versed in the Revelations and Prophecies, she often reads to him from the Bible. St. Clare and his household move to a home on the shores of Lake Pontchartin. Miss Ophelia, a skilled nurse, worries about Eva’s cough and believes Eva to be slowly passing away like other children. Eva believes that the family’s slaves should be taught to read, and begins giving Mammy reading lessons.
Chapter 23
Henrique and Eva, upper-class children read for the slave Dodo. The encounter shows the reader the typical scenario between the spoiled, impulsive, and easily-angered master’s child and a slave on the plantation. The story then picks up on a conversation between two brothers, Alfred and St. Clare, who have witnessed the explosive encounter. They discuss the issue of slavery, especially the issue of Haiti, and the idea of lower class education being destructive and inevitable. They talk about giving Henrique a proper education as well as obedience, two things that can only be accomplished in the North.