1800s

 The land to the West belongs to the United States "by right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federatative self-government entrusted to us." 
John O'Sullivan, editor, The Democratic Review, 1845
 

Study Questions

  • What forces combined to make writing a somewhat profitable profession in this century? What worked against the profitability of literature? Which writers were most successful at making a living through their writings? 
  • Literary scholar F.O. Matthiessen used the term "American Renaissance" to refer to this period, when writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville published important essays, poems, and novels. What is a "renaissance"? What made this period similar to the more famous renaissance that took place in Europe between 1300 and 1700? 
  • Thanks largely to the work of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the short story became an important form between 1830 and 1860. What conventions characterize the short story? Compare Poe's and Hawthorne's approaches to the short story. 
  • This period was a time of both expansion and division in the United States. Cite some historical evidence of these movements and show how they show up also in the literature of the time. In particular, consider works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. 
  • Many of the American writers of this era knew one another and interacted both professionally and socially. Identify some of these literary relationships and comment on how they shaped the writing of the time. 
  • The presidency of Andrew Jackson is associated with a growth in democratic sentiment in America. Where does this celebration of democracy show up in the literature of the time? 
  • One of the most important literary developments to take place in this century is the transition from romanticism to realism. Citing several examples, describe the major characteristics of each movement and explain why this change took place. 
  • Citing works published both before and after the Civil War, trace the emphasis on the self in this century. 
  • By far the most popular poetry of the nineteenth century was genteel poetry like that published by William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. What are the major characteristics of genteel poetry, and how did Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson rebel against them? 

Bibliography

  • Christman, Margaret C.S. 1846: Portrait of the Nation. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. 
  • Gilbert, Bil. "America's only king made Beaver Island his Promised Land." Smithsonian August 1995: 85-92. 
  • Hatch, Nathan O. The Democritization of American Christianity. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989. 
  • Jackson, Donald Dale. "Go West, Moran." Smithsonian October 1997, 56-68. 
  • ---. "Mutiny on the Amistad." Smithsonian December 1997, 115-124. 
  • Kohl, Lawrence Frederick. The Politics of Individualism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. 
  • Lupiano, Vincent dePaul, and Ken W. Sayers. It Was a Very Good Year. Holbrook, Mass.: Bob Adams, 1994. 
  • Morse, Minna. "Facing a Bumpy History." Smithsonian October 1997, 24-29. 
  • Roberts, David. "The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo." Smithsonian December 1997, 46-57. 
  • Smith, Gene. "The Booth Obsession." American Heritage September 1992, 105-119. 
  • "The Way West." Dir. Ric Burns. Narrated by Russell Baker. WUNC, Chapel Hill. September 11-12, 18-19, 1995. 

People

Places

  • Boston, Massachusetts 
  • Concord, Massachusetts 
  • New York, New York 
  • Richmond, Virginia 
  • Mississippi River 

Events

  • Louisiana Purchase (1803) 
  • Civil War (1861-1865) 

Terms

  • fiction 
  • protagonist 
  • antagonist 
  • satire 
  • setting 
  • literary club 
  • Transcendentalism 
  • essay 
  • diction 
  • Manifest Destiny 
  • short story 
  • point of view 
  • unreliable narrator 
  • Gothic 
  • irony 
  • idealism 
  • didactic 
  • sonnet 
  • symbol 
  • allegory 
  • motivation 
  • allusion 
  • theme 
  • genteel 
  • free verse 
  • apostrophe 
  • anaphora 
  • slant rhyme 
  • slave narrative 
  • romance 
  • novel 
  • bildungsroman 
  • naive narrator 
  • character foil 
  • dialect 
  • realism 
  • local color 
  • naturalism