American Romanticism

1. American Romanticism The Romantic Movement in American Literature

2. Historical Context 19th Century America Unrestrained growth in U.S. 1803-1853: area of U.S. increases from 846,000 to 2,181,000. 1800-1850: population of U.S. increases from 5 million to over 23 million Westward expansion Technological advancements (i.e. steel plow, telegraph, cotton gin) Transportation Improvements (canals, railroads)

3. Literature and Literacy Newspapers Native American tribes, black-owned newspapers, abolitionists Lyceum Movement Part education, part entertainment Debating societies Issues of the day such as manifest destiny, slavery, voting rights

4. Religion Protestant Christianity provided certain common assumptions, a vocabulary and a set of images and allusions to the majority of Americans in the early nineteenth century. Writers like Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne could depend on their audience to recognize and respond to Biblical and other religious allusions and quotations.

5. Slavery Was the central issue of the 19th century Divided the country between abolitionists and pro-slavery The debate was directly related to the issue of states rights

6. Women�s Rights More women attended school; some went on to college A greater number of women were able to take up teaching and writing as their professions. Women�s rights conventions, which had begun at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, spread across the North Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Catherine Beecher

7. Native Americans With the expansion of white settlers westward, Native Americans faced intense pressure Indians of the Great Plains depended on the buffalo for survival In 1841 the first caravan of covered wagons brought pioneers across the Great Plains (to CA & OR)

8. The Trail of Tears The Indian Removal Act of 1830