"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Many people believe that a novel has a direct and powerful influence on American history. One such novel was written by a woman by the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe. The name of this novel is Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel opens on the Shelby plantation somewhere in Kentucky before the Civil War. The Shelby's own numerous slaves all of whom they treat as though they are family. Unfortunately, at the opening of the book …

…informs them of the news, he tells each of them to think of their freedom every time they pass Uncle Tom's Cabin and let it be a memorial to try to live as honestly and faithfully as Tom with God as their leader. Through out the novel you see that Tom and Eliza have their difference but aren't very different at all in qualities that count the most, they were both strong spirited and compassionate.