Elements of a New American Culture (College Board AP® US History)

Summary

Romanticism inspired a shift in American culture that influenced architecture, literature, art, and philosophy in the early and mid-1800s. The growth and change in the country through Western expansion and the increase in immigration would be reflected in changes to the nation’s culture. These changes would manifest the ideas of democracy and self-determination. 

American Architecture

• There was a transition away from the Georgian style which was influenced by British traditions to that influenced by the Greeks and Romans known as Neoclassical 

• Neoclassical architecture is symbolic with grand scale, columns, symmetry and simplicity of form.

Romanticism & Changes in American literature

• Romanticism's influence in American literature is seen by: 

  • a return to the past

  • celebrating the individual

  • expressing the awe of nature

  • full of emotion and passion that includes horror and the supernatural

Sir Walter Scott 

• Scott was a Scottish novelist from the early 1800s 

• He was credited as the inventor of the historical novel 

• Scott’s most popular novel was “Ivanhoe”, set in 12th-century England

James Fenimore Cooper

• Cooper was the first major American novelist

• He set novels during the French and Indian War

• In his novels, Cooper portrayed the wilderness as a romantic and pleasing setting

• Cooper wrote “Last of the Mohicans”

Washington Irving

• Irving wrote the short stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

  • These are known as the first American short stories

  • They are American versions of German folktales 

• Irving used fantasy, whimsy, and satire in his writing

Edgar Allen Poe

• Poe helped create the subgenre of American literature known as Dark Romanticism

• His stories included Gothic elements that included frightening or magical subjects

• Poe used horror and terror in his work as well

• His Most famous piece was “The Raven,” he also wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Romanticism & Changes in American art

• Artists of the Hudson River School created paintings that showed an appreciation for American landscapes and their natural scenery 

  • The paintings hinted at White settlers encroaching on untouched lands 

• The use of emotion and sentiment often obscured accuracy

  • The focus of the paintings was on the splendor and drama of the scenery

Romanticism & Changes in American philosophy

Trancendentalism

• Transcendentalism was a movement that believed in the basic goodness of humanity and rejected established religious thought

• The movement supported causes like women’s suffrage, better conditions for workers, and innovation in education 

• The transcendental movement believed in:

  • the individual instead of the group

  • emotion instead of reason

  • nature instead of humans

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Emerson was considered the spokesperson for the Transcendentalist movement

  • He wrote essays about individualism and self-reliance and volumes of poetry

Henry David Thoreau

• Thoreau believed that man should live simply

• He studied nature to seek great truths about the world, life and the universe

• In 1854, Thoreau wrote “Walden”, a series of 18 essays about simple living and his views on work and leisure 

Margaret Fuller

• Fuller was an American feminist who wrote “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” (1845)

  • This advocated for political equality and intellectual fulfillment for women

• She held discussion groups with women about literature, education, mythology, and philosophy

• Fuller’s work was influenced by German transcendentalists and wrote an unfinished biography about one of them

• She wanted a life that was unrestricted by the gender differences in society at that time

Utopian communities 

Shakers 

• The Shakers were Christian communities in Kentucky, Ohio, and the Northeast where everyone shared common property

• They did not believe in sexual relationships

  • Shakers adopted children and recruited people to join their communities

• The Shakers believed in simple clothing, speech, and behavior

• The men and women mostly lived and worked apart

• Over time the communities died out due to the lack of children 

Oneida Community

• The Oneida community was a group in New York led by John Humphrey Noyes

• The community had a complex marriage system: 

  • Every woman was the wife of every man, and every man was the husband of every woman

• The community believed these extended families could dissolve selfishness and bring about perfectionism on Earth

• They made and sold:

  • steel animal traps

  • Silverware

  • embroidered silks

  • canned fruit

• The community shared profits, land, and the responsibility of raising children