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Jen Boston, Marissa Cole
Dr. Miller, Eng. 327
11/17/2010
The Planter’s Northern Bride: Critical Reception
Caroline Lee Hentz spent most of her life living in the south while slavery still reigned.
She became famous as a writer after having to work alongside her unsuccessful husband. In
1852, the abolitionist movement was stronger than ever thanks to the publication of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This novel threatened the existence and peace that Southern
society held, and more than anything, it was a direct attack on their lifestyles. In response to
Stowe’s novel, Hentz published, “The Planter’s Northern Bride,” which advocated anti-
abolitionism and negated the claims that Stowe made in her book.
Caroline Hentz was not actually a native southerner, but her defense of southern society
is strong and suggests how strong her influence as a white woman in the south was. Her choice
to publish her novel in Philadelphia, a city decidedly in the North stemmed both from her
northern heritage, but also knowing that her audience would be wider and more effective by
publishing in the North. However, it has been noted that Hentz’s novels were bringing in the
only income for her family, and many people believe that her stance on pro-slavery was
deliberate in order to sell more books and to continue being published (Cummins, 19). Despite
her reasons for writing though, Hentz’s novel, “The Planter’s Northern Bride,” was extremely
popular and well-received. The critical reception was just as popular as its rival novel although
some critics ‘felt that the South was portrayed unrealistically, in that Hentz had taken up none of
