In June 1851, US anti-slavery magazine “National Era” began publishing a fascinating story in 40 weekly installments. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, it depicted the life of a black woman, Eliza, who escapes with her son Tom who is sold “down the river” into slavery.
In 1852, Stowe’s 40 installments were bound together in book form and sold 300,000 copies the first year in print. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was translated into all major languages and became the most influential novel of the 19th century. It also became the best-selling book after the Bible.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin ignited a firestorm of protest from defenders of slavery and triggered the Civil War. It was reported that in 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln met her, he said, “So this is the little lady who started this great war.”
drip, drip, drip….
Whether in the form of magazine articles in 1852, or timed emails in 2010, falling water wears away even the hardest of stone. And in our version of “Chinese Water Torture,” the ‘torture’ part is merely anticipation of what’s comin’ next. :^>
Who would have thought that the eradication of slavery itself would be triggered by a series of… autoresponders?
Thanks to John Fancher for telling me about this. John is my compadre in our Autoresponder Boot Camp. Starts next Tuesday at 2pm. Heck, if you want, John will write your AR’s for you.
If Harriet Beecher Stowe can free a million slaves with 40 installments of Chinese Water Torture, surely you can free yourself with 10.
http://www.perrymarshall.com/chinese-water-torture/
Perry Marshall
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
8 Comments on “How Chinese Water Torture Ended American Slavery”
Interesting but the “Slave Trade Abolition Act of 1807” was enacted with almost universal support (283 votes for to 16 against) 45 years before (although it took until 1834 to actually free the last slaves) so in a sense Harriet Beecher Stowe was just helping her country catch up with what was happening elsewhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/parliament_article_01.shtml
“John C. Calhoun: Covert Agent of Rome Who Fomented War Between the States:
The war between the states was not so much about slavery but the right of the states to secede from the union if they felt federal laws were inconsistent with the sovereign rights of that states citizens…
It was England and the Vatican who benefited from this war-and as with all wars there has to be bankers on both sides… both sides were financed by the same bankers – just like the U.S. who has financed all the tyrannical despots of the twentieth century… it works very well for them.Iraq would be a good case in point-as will Iran if and when we go to war with them… lets face it war is good business… or as Major General Smidley D Bulter USMC Ret. said: War Is A Racket…
I had never reconcile these two idears together, Chinese water torture and american slavery. So interesting.
BTW Perry – if you haven’t read “The Soul of New Machine” by Tracy Kidder it’s a must for you. An absolutely fascinating read for all the literary loving engineer turned marketing experts out there. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/B00008RWB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283146693&sr=8-1
Interesting that Stowe:
#1) was a 40 year old white mother of 7 children – presumably none of which were ever in danger of being sold to anyone – writing about black families being torn apart…
#2) had admittedly never been to a slave-owning plantation at the time she wrote the installments and relied solely on re-tellings…
#3) is largely dismissed by literary critics because her writing just isn’t up to snuff… and
#4) remains one of the most widely read authors of all time and one of the few who can accurately be credited with making a true social impact.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold despite everything in the world that could have been predicted when it was written. But, it blew the doors off because it struck a nerve.
How many blogs are out there that strike a nerve multiple times per week? I’m commenting on one now, and diligently searching for others.
The single biggest oversight in social media is that email and blogs are its central components. You don’t have a solid autoresponder, and can’t write a compelling blog post to save your life… and you’re wondering if “twitter tips for fast cash” can flush up your bank account?
In Maui, Mizel said one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard about marketing and in true Mizel fashion, it was anything but pretentious…
He was discussing how all of the big internet marketing gurus were telling people that all they have to do is give a way really cool stuff during their product launches and they’d be able to make a million bucks a day just like they did.
Then he dropped the bomb.
“That’s great and all…BUT – the truth is that most people are completely incapable of creating really cool stuff. You may think that free report or that video you just made is really cool, but it’s not. It’s just not.”
In other words… you’re just not cool enough to be cool.
I’m working on a “social media” based writing course right now that has this as its central theme – that Revenge of the Nerds works for Adwords, but doesn’t transfer to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High of social media.
Even in micro-niches, there’s still a cool guy at the party… it may be an extremely esoteric party, but there’s still some guy that everyone hopes comes over and talks to them. Fast Times at the Greater Tallahassee Regional HVAC Convention.
Anyway, great quality post here Mr. Marshall… An adwords guru blogging about Harriet Beecher Stowe and pulling it off is pretty inspiring. I’ll send you a FedEx later this week and see if I can’t catch your eye enough to look over the course and send me your thoughts.
thanks for it all Perry.
Nick
Great post, Nick. I’ll take a look at your package when it arrives…
I see what you mean about the drip.
Just as the constant sound of dripping water – and nothing else – can drive people crazy, a constant flow of emails can be a reason why people end up buying form you in the end.
Not because it’s torture (maybe in some cases), but because it’s a reminder.
Very interesting thought process. Not sure I would have thought to relate chinese water torture to American slavery!