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Division, Reconcilation, and Expansion (1850-1914)

Division, Reconcilation, and Expansion (1850-1914). Junior English Unit 4. Historical Background: Prelude to war. North. South. Importance of commerce Industrial Revolution Cheap transportation Education, banking, science, reform movements Immigration. Cotton ruled Slow pace

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Division, Reconcilation, and Expansion (1850-1914)

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  1. Division, Reconcilation, and Expansion(1850-1914) Junior English Unit 4

  2. Historical Background: Prelude to war North South • Importance of commerce • Industrial Revolution • Cheap transportation • Education, banking, science, reform movements • Immigration • Cotton ruled • Slow pace • Sugar, rice, tobacco • Slavery

  3. Fugitive Slave Act • Rekindled slavery disagreement • Passed in 1850 • Required citizens of free and slave states to help catch runaway slaves • North – outraged • South – just law

  4. Kansas-Nebraska Act • Opened up a vast area of free western land to slavery • Kansas became a bloody battle ground during the war

  5. Uncle Tom's Cabin • Slavery also dominated literature • Harriet Beecher Stow wrote about the cruelty of slavery • Sold 300, 000 copies • No fewer than 30 southern novels were written attempting to counter its influence

  6. Harper's Ferry • Group of antislavery extremists raided a federal arsenal • John Brown – leader • Goal – to provoke armed slave revolt • Brown executed for treason • His death fueled controversy

  7. Historical Background:The Union is Dissolved • Lincoln elected President • Member of newly formed Republican party • Vowed to stop spread of slavery • South Carolina seceded from the Union • 5 other states followed • Confederate States of America

  8. Civil War • Fighting began April 12, 1861 • Fort Sumter – confederates fired on union soldiers • War proved devastating for America • Ended in spring of 1865 – Lee surrendered to Grant • 620,000 soldiers died • 500,000 wounded • Lincoln assassinated shortly after Lee surrendered

  9. Historical Background: An Expanding America • During the 50 years after the Civil War • Physical expansion and industrialization transformed landscape • Homestead Act of 1862 • Promised 160 acres to anyone who would live on land and make improvements • ½ million farmers (including emancipated slaves) staked claim in the Great Plains • Miners looked for gold • Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869

  10. Historical Background:The Disappearing Frontier • West transformed by influx of settlers • Open range transformed to farms and fences • Native Americans forced to “Indian Territory” (now Oklahoma) • 1889 unassigned land in Indian Territory open to settlers • Frontier disappeared, left legacy in folktales and songs

  11. Historical Background:A Changing American Society • Electricity lead to second Industrial Revolution • Replaced steam power • Mass production of goods lead to advertising • Growth fueled immigration • Farmers moved to cities to find work • Industrial boom created extremes of wealth and poverty • Wages of industrial workers could not support families • Owners of corporations made fortunes • Suffrage movement, civil rights, unions

  12. Literature of the Period

  13. Oh, Freedom • Black spirituals - Slaves developed unique style of music • Work songs, war songs, laments, lullabies, funeral dirges, expressions of faith • Frederick Douglas • Escaped slavery • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas • Served as an indictment of slavery

  14. Wartime Voices • Diaries, letters, journals, speeches produced during the war • Provided detail about what “normal” Americans went through • Mary Chestnut – wife of high-ranking Confederate officer, published diary • Lincoln – published letters and speeches • Gettysburg Address – 10 sentences, classic expression of democracy

  15. Frontier Voices • Writers represented the Midwest and the Far West • Bret Harte • Willa Cather • Mark Twain • Mexican American literature began

  16. Realism • Began after the Civil War • Shattered idealism (no more romance) • Focused on “real life” • Showed characters in honest, objectionable, factual way

  17. Naturalism • Off-shoot of realism • Depicted real people in real situations • Forces larger than the individual (nature, fate, heredity) shaped destiny • Themes of human endurance in the face of overwhelming natural forces • Hardship influence artistic vision

  18. Literature of Discontent • Social ills became focus of many writers • Kate Chopin – explored women’s desire to be equal and independent • Naturalists – industrialization is a force against which man is powerless • The Children of the Night • Poems containing psychological portrait of small-town characters • Spoon River Anthology • Epitaphs of small town characters • Loss of innocence – idealism to pragmatism

  19. Mark Twain and the American Language • American Literature Comes of Age • Twain captured every day speech of characters • Used 7 different dialects in Huck Finn • Readin’, Writin’, and Twain • Twain had a gift of being able to state his views in memorable ways • “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” • Look at Twain’s quotes

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