Final answer:
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was an influential antislavery novel that sold extensively in the North and helped shape public opinion against slavery, making it a critical piece of antislavery propaganda.
Step-by-step explanation:
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a seminal work in the antislavery movement, highlighting the moral atrocities and family destruction inherent in slavery. Published in 1852, the novel became a bestseller in the North, with over 300,000 copies sold in the first nine months. Stowe's portrayal of the brutal conditions faced by slaves and the moral corrosion of slaveholders played a significant role in galvanizing public opinion against slavery. In particular, Stowe's work was perhaps the most effective piece of antislavery propaganda, which exposed readers to the human suffering caused by the institution of slavery.