The “American” Culture

Creating a distinct American image

Thesis

• As the American nation became more independent and stable following the War of 1812, a distinct “American” culture began to develop that was different than the culture of Europe but heavily influenced by European Romanticism.

I. Art and LiteratureA. Out with the old:

1. Neoclassical Architecture

2. Enlightenment rationalism

Classical thought (American) Romanticism- Reasonable - Emotional & practical

- Public responsibility - Individualistic

- Conservative & traditional - Revolutionary & liberal

- Loves urban & pubic life - Loves solitude & nature

- realists - idealism

B. In with the Newa. 1828 – first Webster’s dictionary is published

1. Noah Webster (1758-1843)

i. Created a distinctly American language by altering British spelling, pronunciations, etc.

1. Washington Irving (1783-1859)

i. Rip Van Winkle (1820)

ii. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)

a. First American author to earn international praise

b. Famous Writings

2. Romantic Literature

2. James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851)

i. The Leatherstocking Tales (1820s-40s)

ii. The Pathfinder (1840)

iii. The Last of the Mohicans (1826)

b. Famous writings

a. Developed a New American hero

3. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

a. Wrote about life in Puritan, N.E.

A

From Salem, Mass.; wrote about life in Puritan NE

b. One of the founding members of Brook Farm,

a utopian community

b. Famous writings

4. Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

i. The Raven (1845)

ii. The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)

iii. The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)

a. Contributed to American genres of horror, mystery, detective fiction, science fiction.

b. Famous works

a. Thomas Cole, Landscape

C. Romantic Art 1. The Hudson River School

The Oxbow, Thomas Cole

b. Edwin Church, Twilight in the Wilderness

3. Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits

Albert Bierstadt, Storm in the Rocky Mountains

Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains; Lander’s Peak

Childhood, by Thomas Cole

Youth

Manhood

Old Age

1. Transcendentalism, an American philosophy.

a. Believed in the power of the individual over institutions

b. Importance of natural world in understanding yourself

D. Romantic Philosophy

b. Walden

a. Civil Disobedience

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

a.Leader of Transcendentalist movement; author of Nature

3. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) wrote many essays on nature, beauty, philosophy.

Quiz

• Hudson River School • Neoclassical

architecture • Edgar Allan Poe• Washington Irving • James Fenimore

Cooper• Nathaniel Hawthorne • Henry David Thoreau• Brook Farm• Transcendentalism • Ralph Waldo

Emerson • Noah Webster • Alex de Tocqueville • Romanticism

• Following the War of 1812, America’s culture began changing with a new trend called (1)______. (2)__ was the first author to win international praise with his works such as Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and he was the first of the American Romantics.

• The most notable American Romantics were (3)______, who wrote about life in Puritan New England in his book, The Scarlet Letter, and (4)______, who wrote about fear and mystery in macabre poems and short stories such as The Raven and the Pit and the Pendulum.

• Even the American language was changing. (5)______ wrote a dictionary that created a unique “American” language by modifying British usage and spellings.

• (6)______ helped create an American identity by writing books and stories such as the Leatherstocking Tales and Last of the Mohicans.

• The (7)______ also contributed to a wild, rugged American identity by painting landscapes of untamed wilderness within the U.S.

• The first American philosophy was inspired by the wilderness of the west. (8)_____ was a movement started when (9)___ published the essay Nature in 1836. (10)__ became his most promising follower and wrote Walden about a year he spent alone in a cabin.