Within a few years of publication, the book had become what the scholar Sarah Meer describes as ‘the frame for the majority of British discussions of slavery.’53 Uncle Tom did more to damage the reputation of America abroad and shine a light on Southern slavery than any other feature of the transatlantic abolitionist campaign. Its runaway success in Britain and popularity in the free states of the North also helped reaffirm the links between the anti-slavery movements on both sides of the Atlantic.
