AMERICAN ROMANTICISM 1800 1860 What is Romanticism This

AMERICAN ROMANTICISM 1800 -1860

What is Romanticism? This is not “romantic” as in love stories. Romanticism (with a capital “R”) was not a cultural movement but a literary and artistic one. Values imagination and emotion over intellect Celebrates individualism and freedom Believed in the basic goodness and equality of human beings and in their right to govern themselves.

These writers believed in the power of the ordinary, everyday citizen—changes in voting to include most white males. Common people working towards things they believed in, such as abolishment of slavery, prohibiting drinking, care for the mentally ill, and women’s rights just to name a few. 1828—Andrew Jackson, a common man, became President.

Valued the importance of nature Celebrate the power, beauty, and wonder of the natural world Some of these writers took an extreme view of this celebration of nature, viewing nature itself as God itself.

Some Romantic writers took a more pessimistic view of life and many of these issues. For example, this overly celebratory view of nature caused some writers to fear the destructive effects of industry.

Industrial Revolution—occurred in Britain in the mid-1700’s and soon spread to America Large, complex machines and factories replaced home-based workshops Expanded roads and canals due to the invention of the steamboat and the railroad Expansion of large cities and industry caused many small towns and villages to become desolate

This was one factor dividing the North and South. North South Mostly large cities with economy based on manufacturing Only a few large cities Majority of economy was dominated by the farming of one crop—cotton

This value of the individual of Romanticism would give birth to Transcendentalism. The Transcendentalists were based mostly in New England in 1830’s and 1840’s. Idealism—What is it?

Reality is not “out there” in material objects but rather exists in our ideas about those objects and life in general. Ralph Waldo Emerson—prominent figure Optimism, self-reliance, intuition, and idealism were his core philosophies. He ended up, like many Transcendentalists, being convinced that the universe existed for humanity’s benefit. Turned into one simple idea—Humans are divine.