Book excerpt: Volume Two of the Harriet Beecher Stowe classic. Originally published beginning June 5, 1851 as a serial in The National Era, an abolitionist weekly published in Washington, DC., Stowe's anti-slavery novel was finished forty-three chapters and one year later. John Jewett's small publishing house published the book on March 20, 1852, a couple of weeks before the serial ended. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and is credited with significantly advancing the abolitionist cause. Its historical impact was so great that it spawned the mythical story that Abraham Lincoln, upon meeting Stowe near the start of the Civil War, was heard to say, ""So this is the little lady who started this great war.""