American Romanticism 1800–1860

1. American Romanticism1800–1860 Feature Menu Interactive Time Line Milestone: Rise of American Romanticism Milestone: The Louisiana Purchase Milestone: Education and Reform Milestone: Transcendental Influence Milestone: The Gold Rush Milestone: The Slavery Issue What Have You Learned?

2. American Romanticism1800–1860 Choose a link on the time line to go to a milestone. 1800 Rise of American Romanticism 1830s–1850s Transcendental Influence 1850–1859 The Slavery Issue 1860 1800 1820 1840 1826 Lyceum Movement 1803 The Louisiana Purchase 1849 The Gold Rush

3. Rise of American Romanticism Reaction Against Rationalism • Cities filled with poor living conditions and disease • Value placed on nature and exotic settings • Characteristic Romantic journey to the countryside, away from city

4. Rise of American Romanticism Romantic Escapism • Valued feelings and intuition over reason • Found beauty in exotic locales and supernatural • Poetry highest expression of imagination

5. Rise of American Romanticism Fireside Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow John Greenleaf Whittier • Wrote about American settings and subject matter using traditional styles and forms • Very popular—families read their poems at family firesides for entertainment Oliver Wendell Holmes James Russell Lowell

6. Rise of American Romanticism Romantic Heroes • Frontier life idealized in novels • Typical Romantic hero youthful, innocent intuitive, close to nature • James Fenimore Cooper’s Natty Bumppo is the first American heroic figure

7. The Louisiana Purchase Westward Expansion The United States • gained all land between Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains • paid about four cents an acre for the land • immediately doubled in size Louisiana Purchase “Oh Susanna! Polka”

8. The Louisiana Purchase Westward Expansion • Louisiana purchase launched 100 years of westward expansion. • President Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore western territory. • More people moved into frontier areas.

9. Education and Reform The Lyceum Movement • Original Lyceum founded in Greece in 335 B.C. • American movement founded in Massachusetts • Sought to teach adults, train teachers, and institute social reforms

10. Education and Reform The Lyceum Movement • People went to lyceums for lectures. • Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most popular speakers. • Lyceums led to new ways of thinking and the establishment of museums and libraries. Emerson lecturing in Concord, Massachusetts

11. Education and Reform Other Reform Movements • Dorothea Dix worked to help mentally ill people. • Horace Mann worked to improve public education. Dorothea Dix Horace Mann • Abolitionists worked to end slavery. • Feminists campaigned for women’s rights

12. Transcendental Influence True Reality Is Spiritual • Everything, including humans, is a reflection of Divine Soul. • Physical facts of natural world are a doorway to spiritual world. • Intuition allows people to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls. • Spontaneous feelings are superior to intellectualism and rationality.

13. Transcendental Influence Ralph Waldo Emerson • Combined beliefs from Europe and Asia with Puritan, revival, and Romantic traditions • Published important essays such as “Self-Reliance” and “The Over-Soul” • Had an extremely optimistic view of the world and nature • Optimism appealed to people living in period of economic downturn, strife, and conflict

14. Transcendental Influence Dark Romantics • Shared many beliefs with the Transcendentalists • Explored conflict between good and evil and the effects of guilt and sin Herman Melville Nathaniel Hawthorne Edgar Allan Poe

15. The Gold Rush The Rush West • Gold was discovered in Sutter’s Mill, California. • Tens of thousands traveled west, hoping for wealth. • New towns and cities were founded along routes to California and near mining sites.

16. The Gold Rush New Frontiers • Journey to California long and dangerous • Led to new settlements along the land route and west coast • Led to building of the transcontinental railroad

17. The Slavery Issue A Nation Divided • Missouri Compromise barred slavery west of Missouri. • Compromise was overturned by Kansas-Nebraska Act, which • opened territories to slavery • led to violence in Kansas and to the founding of the antislavery Republican Party

18. The Slavery Issue A Nation Divided • Dred Scott decision denied Congress right to prohibit slavery in territories. Dred Scott • John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry led to more violence. Burning of Harper’s Ferry John Brown

19. What Have You Learned? Indicate whether the following statements refer to the time before,during, or after the Gold Rush. ______ Novelists popularize the American Romantic hero. ______ Western New York represents frontier of the country. ______ The first transcontinental railroad is built. ______ Education reform begins in Massachusetts. during before after before

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