1. Unit 3 – The American Experience
A Growing Nation
Unit 3 – The American Experience

2. A Growing Nation
American’s had “a lively faith in the perfectibility of man,” believing “what appears to them today to be good may be superseded by something better tomorrow.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

3. Historical Background
In the 1800s there were 16 states near the East Coast
Jefferson doubled the nations size by signing the Louisiana Purchase
National pride and self-awareness surged in America Canals, turnpikes, and railroads boomed

4. The Growth of Democracy at Home 1800-1840
1828 Andrew Jackson was elected
He was the “People’s President”
He ushered in the era of the “common man”
Property requirements for voting was eliminated
Most African-Americans were still enslaved
“Indian Removal” – the forced migration of Native Americans from confiscated tribal lands
1838 Trail of Tears (Georgia to Oklahoma)

5. Young Nation on the World Stage
War of 1812 convinced Europeans that the U.S. was here to stay
Monroe Doctrine of 1823, Monroe warned Europe not to intervene in the new Latin American nations.
1830 – U.S. involved in the secession of Texas from Mexico
1836 Famous assault on the Alamo
Mexican-American War ( ) – American victory and acquisition of California
1849 – Gold Rush

6. The Way West and Economic Growth
In the early 1800s transportation was improving
The Erie Canal was completed 1825 (Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes)
1850 the railroad began to dominate long-distance travel
1869 East to West was linked
Factories boomed
Steel plow – made farming practical
The telegraph facilitated almost instant communication across great distances (F.B. Morse)

7. Winds of Change
Booming factories led to child labor and unsafe working conditions
Women could not vote or file law suits
– outburst in efforts to promote women’s rights
Slavery divided the nation
Abolitionists vs. States Advocates
War begins 1861 (Brewing for 250 years)

8. Literature of the Period: Romanticism
The writers of this period would define the American voice – personal, idiosyncratic, bold
It’s primary theme – “the quest of the individual to define him-or herself”
Romantic – Not “ooohh la la” romantic – elevated the imagination over reason and intuition over fact
Dealt with ideas that were more abstract
Romantics revel in nature
Accentuates the fantastic aspects of the human experience

9. New England Renaissance: 1840-1855
Ralph Waldo Emerson – former minister
Called for American independence from Europe
Believed that American writers need to interpret their own culture in new ways
A burst in literary activity took place after Emerson delivered this famous oration titled, “The American Scholar”

10. Transcendentalism
Emerson and Thoreau are the best known Transcendentalists
Philosophy, religion and literature all merged in New England Transcendentalism
* Real truths, the most fundamental truths lie outside the experience of the senses, residing instead, in the “Over Soul … a universal and benign omnipresence…”(Emerson)

11. Walden
Thoreau withdrew from society to live by himself on the shores of Walden Pond
He had an intense reverence for nature
Walden consists of 18 essays about various topics, from red ants vs. black ants and individual vs. society
Thoreau had a philosophy of individualism, simplicity, and passive resistance to injustice.

12. Possibility of Evil Hawthorne differed from transcendentalists
He saw the darker vision of those who, “burrowed into the depths of our common nature” and found area not always shimmering, but “dusky”
Hawthorne has a puritan heritage that strongly influences his writing.

13. At Home in Amherst
Emily Dickinson was a recluse for the second half of her life
She did not write for publication – not even for her family
She wrote for personal need – she questioned death, immortality, and the soul – questions unresolved by conventional religion
She was published postumastly

14. Beyond New England
Walt Whitman published a series of poems in titled “Leaves of Grass”
He had the most lasting effect on American literature
He used irregular form and frank language
He was a revolutionary poet

15. Fireside Poets
The literary giants of the period, like Emerson and Thoreau – at the time were not as popular with the American reading public
Instead – New England poets called The Fireside Poets were widely read:
Longfellow – a Harvard professor
Whittier – a hardworking Quaker
Lowell – born to wealth and position
Holmes – a poet-physician

16. After the Flowering
The burst of creativity subsided as the war gathered momentum
Anti-slavery writers included Emerson, Melville, Whittier, and Lowell
Thoreau and Hawthorne died before the war ended
Whitman worked as a nurse and wrote war poems
Dickinson ignored the war in her poetry
Holmes became the “last leaf upon the tree”