US History
Fort Burrows
15.4 -- American Art and Literature
READ pgs 448 -- 451
Main Idea:
In the mid 1800s, American writers and artist began to create a new vision that
reflected the continuity and change of American life.
Vocabulary:
Hudson River School – group of American artists who painted landscapes of
New York’s Hudson River Valley in the mid–1800s
transcendentalist – member of the small, influential group of New England
writers and thinkers who believed that the most important
truths in life transcended, or went beyond human reason
individualism – concept that stresses the importance of each individual
civil disobedience – idea that people have a right to disobey laws they consider
to be unjust if their consciences demand it
Setting the Scene:
In 1820, a Scottish minister named Sydney Smith deplored what he saw as a lack
of culture in the United States:
“In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?
Or goes to an American play? Or looks at an American picture
or statue? What does the world yet owe to Americans?”
Sydney Smith, The Edinburgh Review
Even as Smith wrote these words, American artists and writers were breaking free of
European traditions to create a unique American vision. At the same time, their work
expressed universal themes – such as the love of nature or the desire for liberty – that
appealed to audiences far beyond the United States.
American Painters
♣ Before 1800, most American painters studied in Europe
♣ Benjamin West, of Philadelphia, was appointed as the historical painter for King
George III
♣ Two of West’s students, Charles Wilson Peale and Gilbert Stuart, painted famous
portraits of George Washington
♣ In the mid-1800s, American artists developed their own style; they were known as
the Hudson River School
♣ Asher B Durand and Thomas Cole painted New York’s Hudson River Region
♣ African American, Robert S Duncanson learned the Hudson River School style
♣ George Caleb Bingham from Missouri, painted frontier life along the rivers that
fed into Ole’ Man River ( Mississippi River )
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♣ George Catlin and Alfred Jacob Miller painted daily life of Indians on the Great
Plains and Rocky Mountains
The Poetry of Democracy
♠ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow favorite poet in the mid-1800s
♠ He wrote, ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’ and ‘The Song of Hiawatha’
♠ John Greenleaf Whittier, a Quaker, and Francis Watkins Harper, an African
American woman, wrote poetry describing the evils of slavery
♠ Walt Whitman, only wrote one book; it was written over a 27- year period
♠ He celebrated democracy; ‘a nation of many nations’
“At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine, or the Texas ranch,
comrade of Californians, comrade of free North-Westerners… Of every hue and
caste am I, of every rank and religion.”
Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
♠ Emily Dickinson wrote more than 1700 poems
♠ A shy woman that wrote from her home; did not go out much
♠ She called her poetry, “my letter to the world / that never wrote to me”
♠ Today, she is recognized as one of our nations greatest poets
¿¿ Summarize the themes of American painters and poets in the mid 1800s…
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Novels and Stories
♥ 1820s, American writers wrote American themes
 Two Early Writers
♦ Irving Washington, a New Yorker, wrote The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle
and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
♠ James Fenimore Cooper wrote novels set in America’s past; The Deerslayer
and The Last of the Mohicans
♣ Irving was the 1st American writer to gain fame in Europe
♥ Natty Bumppo character of strong, solitary frontiersman; idealized the
relations between whites and Indians on the frontier
♦ These stories gave Americans a sense of richness of their past
 Later Writers
♦ 1851, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick; Ahab, the crazed captain of a whaling
ship, sought revenge on a white whale that bit off his leg
♠ Today, critics rank it among America’s finest novels
♣ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter explored the Puritans notion
of sin and salvation
♥ William Wells Brown, 1st African American to earn a living as a writer
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♦ Clotel, a book about slave life, drew large audiences in Europe and the North
to hear his lectures and read his work
 Women Writers
♦ Few female written novels from this period are read today
♠ But, back in the day, Catherine Sedgwick and Fanny Fern earned more
money than Hawthorne or Melville
♣ “mob of scribbling women” - Hawthorne ‘s description of the women writers
that were wealthier than him
 Drama
♦ In 1878, Royall Tyler’s play The Contrast was the 1st American comedy
performed by professional actors
♠ Dozens of acting companies were touring the nation in the 1800s
The “Inner Light”
♦ In New England, a group of writers and thinkers called themselves
transcendentalists; the most important truths went beyond human reason
♦ They believed individuals should live up to their divine possibilities; support social
reform
 Emerson
♦ Ralph Waldo Emerson was the most popular essayist and lecturer of his day
♠ He spoke on self-reliance and human character
♣ He believed civilization provided wealth, but nature exhibited higher values
that came from GOD
♥ He stressed individualism; each person had an inner light to guide their lives
and improve society
♦ He wrote, “Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string”
 Thoreau
♦ Henry David Thoreau ( thuh ROW ) believed the growth of industry and cities
were ruining the nation
♠ He urged people to live simply and close to nature
♣ His best known work Walden; a year alone in a cabin
♥ Individuals must decide right from wrong
♦ From Walden, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it
is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he
hears.”
♠ Thoreau’s different drummer told him slavery was wrong
♣ He favored civil disobedience
♥ Sent to jail for not paying taxes; taxes to be used for the Mexican War
♦ His writings influenced Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr; civil
disobedience with nonviolence
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1. How did American painters develop their own style of painting?
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2. Why was the “Inner light” important to Emerson and Thoreau?
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