Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the most famous and popular pieces of Civil War literature.  Drawn from selected pieces of real life anecdotes, Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book that drew many people into the fight over the institution of slavery.  Northerners hailed the book, while southern slaveholders abhorred it.

Stowes novel is designed to illustrate for the world the evils of slavery.  The separation of slave families, the physical and sexual abuse inflicted on slaves, and question of racial equality are three major themes that run throughout the novel.  Many people before the Stowes novel may have thought as Marie St. Clare did: that slaves did not have the same feelings as white persons.  Stowe shows her reader this is not the case with numerous examples of heart wrenching separation.

More than the evils of slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin also illustrates northern prejudice towards Africans through the character of Miss Ophelia and her relationship with Topsy.  Though most northerners at the time didn't believe in slavery, many were just as against African's as white southerners. 

Lastly, Stowe uses Uncle Tom's Cabin as a religious influence.  Moral characters such as Eva and Uncle Tom try to influence the people around them by trying to convert their loved ones to Christianity.