Extra Credit Questions

[L Verge]

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote more than one book, and one of the others was entitled The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, so I'm guessing that is the book in question. My first guess as to which Presidential widow gave it to a friend would be Mary Lincoln - but that is probably incorrect...

[AussieMick]

I'm scratching around looking at Lucretia Garfield. Her husband was born in a log cabin and assassinated. Their first child was nicknamed Trot from David Copperfield. I'm guessing the friend was Henry Beecher Stowe (just to be different) ... Google search does provide a slight link with Copperfield but apart from that I cannot for the life of me get a connection to Uncle Tom's Cabin. And as for 'keys' ...

[Eva Elisabeth]

That's funny - Garfield would have been my second choice as I could imagine him in a cabin.

[Gene C]

Let's try - "The Unlocked Book:John Wilkes Booth by his Sister"

https://www.amazon.com/Unlocked-Book-Wil...oth+clarke

[RJNorton]

Thanks to everyone who tried, and all those who mentioned Uncle Tom's Cabin are winners. The answer is A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1852, and Harriet Beecher Stowe came out with A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1853. Blaine was being sly with this one. He did not include the name of the President's widow in his email; if he sends more information I shall post.

[Gene C]

You can find this book on Internet Archives.
The print is small, it looks a bit dry at 256 pages, not a quick read, and no illustrations or pictures.

https://archive.org/details/keytouncletomsca00stow

[L Verge]

You can find this book on Internet Archives.
The print is small, it looks a bit dry at 256 pages, not a quick read, and no illustrations or pictures.

https://archive.org/details/keytouncletomsca00stow

Mrs. Stowe wrote this book to vindicate/prove her "information" in the original novel of Uncle Tom's Cabin after that first book raised so much Heqq both North and South.

BTW: In case you don't already know this, the original book was loosely based on a slave by the name of Josiah Henson, who was born here in Southern Maryland (Charles County), then sold to a master in Montgomery County (north of DC), and finally found freedom at last in Canada. Google Josiah Henson - interesting story.

The farm in Montgomery County where he lived was long ago swallowed up by urban sprawl. However, there is a log cabin attached to a house there that was once believed to have been Henson's slave cabin, and it was bought by the county gov't. and restored. There is now a great deal of debate as to whether or not the cabin is genuine, and the surrounding community is not happy to have a museum in their midst that attracts more traffic.

I'm sure that many of you know this: "Among all the readers of Stowe’s Key, there was one whose influence could not be overstated. According to the Library of Congress’s circulation records, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 16, 1862, and returned it 43 days later, on July 29. The dates correspond exactly to the time during which he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. We may never know the degree to which Harriet Beecher Stowe influenced Abraham Lincoln himself. But it is clear that the northern writer used her celebrity platform to powerfully sway public opinion toward emancipation. And during the critical time when Lincoln was crafting the Emancipation Proclamation, he had Stowe’s Key–and Josiah Henson’s story— near at hand.

"Which would be fitting as the original offering played a major role in Lincoln’s election. His Republican Party had distributed 100,000 copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the presidential campaign of 1860 as a way to stir up abolitionist support. Without the abolitionist press and Stowe’s book, it’s possible that Lincoln would not have garnered enough support to be elected President. As Radical Republican leader and U.S. Senator Charles Sumner declared, 'Had there been no Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there would have been no Lincoln in the White House.'”

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/s...hvTXESz.99

---

Me again: For those within a reasonable driving distance from Washington, D.C.:

YOU’RE INVITED
TO A SPECIAL SCREENING OF
“JOSIAH”
Through interviews with leading experts and Josiah Henson’s descendants, the film traces Henson’s harrowing journey from slavery in Maryland and Kentucky to freedom in Canada. This is an unmissable documentary that restores a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history. Directed/Produced by Jared Brock. U.S., 2018, 40 min.

The film screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Jared Brock and Catherine Leggett, First Lady of Montgomery County. Tickets are $5 and are available on the AFI Silver Theatre website and at the AFI box office.

When: Friday, August 10th

Where: AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Doors open at 7:00 PM and movie begins at 7:30 PM.

If you are able to attend, please post here or send me a review.

[Eva Elisabeth]

So far I have drawn a blank on the presidential widow. I would exclude Mary Lincoln because her husband wouldn't have had to borrow the book if it was his, no?

"According to the Library of Congress’s circulation records, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 16, 1862, and returned it 43 days later, on July 29. The dates correspond exactly to the time during which he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/s...180969094/

In any case he borrowed the book after meeting the author, which is supposed to have been" on or around Thanksgiving Day"...
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext
...which in 1862 was on April 13.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?ye...&country=1

The first link links to a very interesting site on the real Uncle Tom who "never received a dime from Stowe’s publishers". One wonders how much Ms. Stowe received (it was quite the best-seller) and whether she was aware. (Seems always the same with those acting the "saint preachers". We proverbly say "preaching water and drinking wine". )

[Steve]

The most logical answer/guess for who the widow might be is Lucretia Garfield, especially if the "library" part is supposed to be another subtle clue.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Is there any reason to assume that the president in question died while in office?

[Steve]

Is there any reason to assume that the president in question died while in office?

No, not from the question. But the question's use of the word "widow" does eliminate First Ladies who predeceased their husbands. But note, of the Presidents up to McKinley (ie who could've purchased Stowe's Key around the time it was published) Harrison remarried and died before his second wife - so Mary Harrison would have to be included on the list of possibles, while say, Lucy Hayes cannot.

[L Verge]

So far I have drawn a blank on the presidential widow. I would exclude Mary Lincoln because her husband wouldn't have had to borrow the book if it was his, no?

"According to the Library of Congress’s circulation records, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 16, 1862, and returned it 43 days later, on July 29. The dates correspond exactly to the time during which he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/s...180969094/

In any case he borrowed the book after meeting the author, which is supposed to have been" on or around Thanksgiving Day"...
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext
...which in 1862 was on April 13.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?ye...&country=1

The first link links to a very interesting site on the real Uncle Tom who "never received a dime from Stowe’s publishers". One wonders how much Ms. Stowe received (it was quite the best-seller) and whether she was aware. (Seems always the same with those acting the "saint preachers". We proverbly say "preaching water and drinking wine". )

Not that it solves the question of who the widow might have been, but I just rec'd permission from the author of the Smithsonian article to publish it in an upcoming issue of the Surratt Courier - probably October.

---

Just found a counter-claim to the one that Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century. "In 1900, Ben-Hur became the best-selling American novel of the 19th century, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin." The source for that is an online knowledge forum named Knowpia.com.

Ironic that a general of the Civil War, Lew Wallace, should overtake the lady who wrote a book that fueled the fires of that war.

[AussieMick]

So far I have drawn a blank on the presidential widow. I would exclude Mary Lincoln because her husband wouldn't have had to borrow the book if it was his, no?

"According to the Library of Congress’s circulation records, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 16, 1862, and returned it 43 days later, on July 29. The dates correspond exactly to the time during which he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/s...180969094/

In any case he borrowed the book after meeting the author, which is supposed to have been" on or around Thanksgiving Day"...
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext
...which in 1862 was on April 13.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?ye...&country=1

The first link links to a very interesting site on the real Uncle Tom who "never received a dime from Stowe’s publishers". One wonders how much Ms. Stowe received (it was quite the best-seller) and whether she was aware. (Seems always the same with those acting the "saint preachers". We proverbly say "preaching water and drinking wine". )

Not that it solves the question of who the widow might have been, but I just rec'd permission from the author of the Smithsonian article to publish it in an upcoming issue of the Surratt Courier - probably October.

---

Just found a counter-claim to the one that Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century. "In 1900, Ben-Hur became the best-selling American novel of the 19th century, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin." The source for that is an online knowledge forum named Knowpia.com.

Ironic that a general of the Civil War, Lew Wallace, should overtake the lady who wrote a book that fueled the fires of that war.

According to Wikipedia, 'In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States; one million copies in Great Britain'.
and
'The book was translated into all major languages, and in the United States it became the second best-selling book after the Bible.' ( For how long that situation continued it doesnt say)

[RJNorton]

I have mentioned this before, but I am still looking at what Lincoln supposedly said when he met Harriet Beecher Stowe. The tradition is that when Lincoln was introduced to her he said, "So, this is the little lady who started this great war." Many historians accept the quote, but I wonder if this is simply a part of Stowe family lore, and there's no proof Lincoln actually said those words. As far as I know, Stowe herself never made the claim. And Lincoln never claimed to have said it to her.

[L Verge]

I am going to climb out on what I think is a logical limb as to who the Presidential widow was and suggest that it might be Jacqueline Kennedy. A Key...certainly seems like a book that JFK would have had, especially as he worked on civil rights issues and also, perhaps, considering Josiah Henson for inclusion in Profiles in Courage.

Roger - Thanks to Blaine's trivia question, I spent a lot of time yesterday reading about Josiah Henson. In one source (and I did not write it down), it was stated that Mrs. Stowe's son made the claim that Lincoln said that to his mother. That source, however, did state that the quote might be apocryphal.