1. Realism From Romanticism through Regionalism

2. U.S. Population Statistics 1790 census 3,929,000 1790 – 1830population doubled 1830 – 1870population doubled again 1870 – 1890population doubled AGAIN 1890 census 62,979,766 – how can that be???

3. Current Population As of 9:06 a.m. on November 19, 2013 the population of the United states was 317.095,270. The population increases every fourteen seconds! http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.h tml

4. What do you do with all those people? Louisiana Purchase (1803) encouraged exploration, but few people were moving West until the Industrial Revolution: telegraph (Morse Code: 1835; expanded West approximately 1851) telephone (1871) railroad (golden spike 1869) oil replacing whale-oil lamps (1860 -1880’s)

5. Homestead Act of 1862 The Homestead Act was one of several United States Federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title up to 160 acres of undeveloped land outside of the original 13 colonies. The new law required three steps: – file an application, – improve the land, – and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. Government, including freed slaves, could file an application and improvements to a local land office.

6. After the Civil War people were encouraged to move West with promise of free land through the Homestead Act. Because the technology now existed to make the move easier, and communication with the East possible, people began to wonder what life might be like somewhere else. Authors began writing stories which focused on REGIONS of the country and what made those areas unique.

7. Regionalism (aka Local Color) Distinctive speech patterns and dialects (vernacular) Local customs and folkways Recognizable character types (stereotypes)

8. Regionalism Regionalism was an important transition between Romanticism and Realism. – Its close attention to dialect was typical of Realism, but its treatment of human emotion and motivation was often sentimental (more typical of Romanticism).

9. Realism Realism placed LESS emphasis on the imagination and MORE on observed fact. Science brought new methods of viewing every aspect of life, including human behavior.