The National Era

[further explanation needed] It featured the works of John Greenleaf Whittier, who served as associate editor,[3] and the first publication, as a serial, of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851).

[2] Two months after the establishment of The National Era, "The Soft Answer" was published on its back page by Timothy Shay Arthur.

The short story was based on a business disagreement between two former friends, Mr. Singleton and Mr. Williams, set to be mediated by a Lawyer named Mr. Trueman.

After receiving an unacceptable settlement offer from Williams, Singleton prepares an angry reply, only to be dissuaded from sending it by his lawyer.

[5]This idea of gradual steps to get two sides to agree is something that many felt that the North and South could use to abolish slavery and integrate the African Americans into society.