Unit 2: Literary Nationalism
1800-1840 Background Information
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States had a population of just over 5 million and claimed 889,000 square miles of land. By mid century both the population and the territory had almost quadrupled. Through various treaties, purchases, and wars, the frontier was extended from the Northwest Territory to Oregon, from Louisianan to the Rocky Mountains, and in the Southwest from Texas to California. Eastern cities expanded rapidly and other cities such as St. Louis and Cincinnati experienced phenomenal growth. Chicago grew from a mud flat of 250 inhabitants to a thriving city of nearly 100,000 in scarcely more than a generation.
Perhaps even more amazing was the spectacular increase in wealth due to the rapid expansion of shipping, trade, manufacture, and agriculture. Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin caused thousands of acres in the South to be cultivated. New England ships voyaged farther and farther until they carried freight on all the seven seas. After the War of 1812, factories were built along the waterways of New England and the Middle Atlantic states.
Perhaps even more amazing was the spectacular increase in wealth due to the rapid expansion of shipping, trade, manufacture, and agriculture. Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin caused thousands of acres in the South to be cultivated. New England ships voyaged farther and farther until they carried freight on all the seven seas. After the War of 1812, factories were built along the waterways of New England and the Middle Atlantic states.
Western Expansion1830s produced a flood of writing, much of it by black writers, slave and free. Freedom's Journal, the first black newspaper, was founded in 1827, and in 1829 David Walker issued his Appeal for a war of black independence. Some of the finest products of this movement are represented here they the spirituals and by James Pennington's narrative of his life as a slave. The spirituals, some of which were eloquent expressions of the yearning for freedom. Songs of a different sort were springing up to chronicle the westward movement, the spread of the railroads, the loneliness of the cowboy, and the fate of the miners.
As settlers attempted to move west of the Appalachian Mountains, they encountered great difficulties crossing the mountain barrier. Once they settled, they could not ship their products back East for sale. Congress, aware of the urgent need for good public roads, passed an act that provided for the construction of the Cumberland Road, begun in 1811. This road initially connected Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac River, to Wheeling, Ohio, on the Ohio River, and was later extended to Vandalia, then the capitol of Illinois. The construction of an artificial waterway, the Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, began in 1817 and was completed in 1825. By 1840, 3,000 miles of canals existed in the United States, which, in conjunction wither roads and navigable rivers, created a vastly improved transportation network north of the Ohio River. Such tremendous growth, however, was not without its devastating effects. Westward expansion was catastrophic for the Indians who, as a result of the War of 1812, were defeated in the South and Northwest, dispossessed, and forced to move beyond the Mississippi River to "Indian Country." With the invention of the cotton gin, there was an increased need for cheap labor, and the subject of slavery became the greatest national issued of his era. In addition, many people, both white and black, suffered from poverty, lack of food, and exploitation. Certain writers of the day were especially sensitive to these social disorders. John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russel Lowell in particular espoused human and civil rights, and much of their wok is infused with a zealous spirit of reform. The abolition movement, which grew strong in the |
This video covers the time period from 1800 to 1848: The growth and expansion of America and the American spirit.
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Western Expansion
Material growth fostered cultural expansion, creating a climate in which writers could forge a new literature - a literature typically American in theme and setting and often characterized by the nation's mod of youthful optimism. It was time for a literary declaration of independence - for the emergence of imaginative literature that no longer imitated European models but blazed its own trail.
As late as 1819 an English critic wrote: "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or looks a an American picture?" This question stung national pride. Ironically, within two years of this challenge, three distinctly American works appeared: The Sketch Book by Washington Irving, The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper, and the Poems of William Cullen Bryant. These works won high esteem and a large readership among Europeans, and a Golden Age of literature was launched in America.
Washington Irving, the first professional American writer, eventually gained the respect of the English who were at first reluctant to recognize his literary genius. Although he was never totally free of European influences, much of his writing is uniquely American in its themes, good-humored presentation of American eccentricity, and special feeling for setting and local custom. He wrote highly complimentary biographies of Christopher Columbus and George Washington, but his greatest contributions were his fanciful creations of Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and a host of other figures that soon became art of American folklore.
After The Spy, a novel of American Revolution, James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Leatherstocking Tales (The Deerslayer is one of these novels), which depict his romanticized vision of the "noble savage," the heroic frontiersman, and the unsurpassed beauty of the American wilderness. Thought authors have delighted in poking fun at Cooper (Mark Twain called his characters "corpses," his Indians "cigar-store," and his dialogue "book talk"), he is still among the most widely translated and most popular of American authors.
Poems by William Cullen Bryant included "Thanatopsis," written when Bryant was only seventeen, and "To a Waterfowl." The volume marked the first published verse of stature by an American. Bryant's skillful lyrics and his abiding theme of nature in New England settings have earned for him the reputation of one of American's greatest nature Poets.
As late as 1819 an English critic wrote: "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or looks a an American picture?" This question stung national pride. Ironically, within two years of this challenge, three distinctly American works appeared: The Sketch Book by Washington Irving, The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper, and the Poems of William Cullen Bryant. These works won high esteem and a large readership among Europeans, and a Golden Age of literature was launched in America.
Washington Irving, the first professional American writer, eventually gained the respect of the English who were at first reluctant to recognize his literary genius. Although he was never totally free of European influences, much of his writing is uniquely American in its themes, good-humored presentation of American eccentricity, and special feeling for setting and local custom. He wrote highly complimentary biographies of Christopher Columbus and George Washington, but his greatest contributions were his fanciful creations of Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and a host of other figures that soon became art of American folklore.
After The Spy, a novel of American Revolution, James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Leatherstocking Tales (The Deerslayer is one of these novels), which depict his romanticized vision of the "noble savage," the heroic frontiersman, and the unsurpassed beauty of the American wilderness. Thought authors have delighted in poking fun at Cooper (Mark Twain called his characters "corpses," his Indians "cigar-store," and his dialogue "book talk"), he is still among the most widely translated and most popular of American authors.
Poems by William Cullen Bryant included "Thanatopsis," written when Bryant was only seventeen, and "To a Waterfowl." The volume marked the first published verse of stature by an American. Bryant's skillful lyrics and his abiding theme of nature in New England settings have earned for him the reputation of one of American's greatest nature Poets.
Literary Examples
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