Plenty of people had opposed slavery, but the 'rational' discussion just see-sawed on -- until 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin.' It went to the heart of the matter, and the heart of the reader. Because Aunt Hattie pulled out all the stops, because she wrote in a populist voice about domestic subjects that everyone understood, because she was utterly passionate about her cause, she reached nearly everyone in the country who could read. She made a declaration about America’s moral state that was, in the end, unassailable."

Read more: Roxana Robinson, Opinionator, New York Times