Unit 2: A Growing Nation

Literature of the American Renaissance

(1800-1870)

American Expansion

American Renaissance

American Renaissance

◦ Not so much a rebirth, but a "first flowering“

First half of 17th century (1800s)

Symbolized by two events in 1800

◦ National capital moved from Philadelphia to

Washington D.C.

◦ Opened the Library of Congress - storehouse of

law, scholarship and creativity

These two events said to the world We are a

nation & Our history is important

Social Forces of the American Renaissance

Physical Expansion -

◦ 1803 Thomas Jefferson's The Louisiana

Purchase - doubled the size of the country

◦ 1849 - California Gold Rush - expansion

stopped only by the Pacific Ocean

Social Forces cont’d.

Technological Expansion

◦ Railroads connecting the east to new areas to the west

◦ Steam Ship, canals, turnpikes - all made transportation easier

◦ Factories in the Northeast - created jobs

◦ Steel plow & reaper improved farming technology - necessary for farming new territory

◦ Telegraph - "instant" messaging of its day - communication over a vast distance

Social Forces cont’d.

National Pride Expansion

◦ Being an American became defined

◦ Embracing change and movement

Social Forces cont’d.

Continued Democracy

◦ 1828 - Andrew Jackson elected president -

further defining America "common" people

had power

◦ Slower-moving democracy for women, Native

Americans, & African Americans No right to vote

1838 - "Trail of Tears" - Forced relocation of Cherokee

Indians from Georgia to Oklahoma. Thousands died on

journey.

Civil War 1861-1865

What Attitudes Developed as

America Expanded? Economic Optimism -

◦ Acquisition of land

◦ Necessary technological advancements for

new area

What Attitudes Developed as

America Expanded? Inspiration - ◦ Natural wonders of the American landscape

◦ Expansion and the land itself inspired distinctly American literature Non-fiction - Lewis and Clark -maps and descriptions of

the land

American mythology - Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne - focus on forests, towns, outposts

Poetry - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - American wilderness and Native Americans

American Gothic - Edgar Allen Poe

Transcendentalism - Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Major Literary Genres

Romanticism

◦ Feelings more important than fact

◦ Imagination more important than reason

◦ Individual more important than the institution;

the person more important than the

community (directly at odds with Puritanism

which put the community first)

◦ Nature more important than everything

Major Literary Genres

Transcendentalism

◦ A striving for the sublime

A sense of oneness with all that is

beautiful and good

The private soul craved unity with the

universe or the mind of God

The sublime could be reached through

nature

Major Literary Genres

American Gothic

◦ Everyone has a dark side

◦ When putting the individual first, crime, guilt,

obsession and self-destruction can result

Themes of American Literature

1800-1870 Westering - stories and reports of

expansion westward

Positive and Negative Romanticism

Self-Reliance - Americans as rugged

individualists

◦ Americans should make their own choices

and not let others choose for them

◦ The root of democracy