The inexhaustible efforts of the abolitionists, middle-class White women in the antebellum era is a good source for dialogue amongst literary, historical, and cultural scholars.  The study of their political power and determination through petitions creates an inspiring story of their indelible impact on American politics.  Because women had very few rights during this time, they took advantage of their right to petition, collecting 3 million signatures, between 1843-1863, for their anti-slavery petition.   Their petitions followed the form of a prayer, stressing the humility and modesty of the petitioners, while appealing to the authority of male superiors.  Their effect on government is obvious with the “gag” rules that were put forth shortly after in 1836 and 1838 that prohibited anti-slavery petitions from reaching the floor.  These rules only called for more aggression from these women; their tone got bolder and their anti-slavery societies more centralized.  Soon after their right to petition was stripped, prayers turned into demands and the petitioners began to sign in their own names and not their husbands’.  Although petitioning began to decline in the 1840s, women still impacted the anti-slavery movement by always keeping a foot in the door.

Harriet Beecher Stowe stirred the conscience of Americans on the topic of slavery with her anti- slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Harriet's brothers strongly opposed slavery, which Harriet saw the effects of first-hand in Kentucky while aiding a runaway slave.  Her interest in writing on the subject wasn't sparked until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.  The novel's intent was not abolitionism, but the South declared it unfair with its sentimental crystallization of the North.  Harriet worked hard in the anti-slavery movement, but never joined the abolitionist because she considered them to be extremists.