same book to condemn slavery: "All things, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even unto them" (Stowe 201). In this way, Stowe uses Christianity and Biblical exegesis to show that the final arbiter of right and wrong with respect to slavery is not in a book, even in the Bible, which can be interpreted according to the interpreter's biases, but in the heart, soul and conscience of the individual human being. Some characters see Christianity as a tool to keep slaves in their place: "I consider religion a valeyable thing in a nigger" (42). Others use it to recognize the humanity of slaves: "Tom, . . I trust you, because i think you're a Christian---I know you wouldn't cheat" (Stowe 43).
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Penguin, 1986.
John A. Garraty, in The American Nation, explores the importance of party formation in American political history up to the Civil War. Generally speaking, the Federalists favored a legal system which guaranteed "orderly and efficient government" more "than . . . safeguarding freedom in individual choice" (Garr
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