American Renaissance (1830-1861) From the middle of the 18 th century, the romantic spirit gradually strengthened its grip

on literature, first in France with Jean Jacques Rousseau, then in Germanys Johann Wolfgang von Goethe For the !nglish spea"ing #nited $tates the most significant thing was the sudden %lossoming from 1&'8 into the 18()s of the poetry of William Wordsworth, $amuel *aylor +oleridge, ,ercy -ysshe $helley, John .eats, /ord -yron and $ir Walter $cott *hese a%ove mentioned stood as models for the 0merican romanticism *he 0merican romanticism, li"e the !uropean, was less an organi1ed system than an e2pression of distinctive attitudes toward humanity, nature, and society 3n reaction against the neoclassical spirit of the 0ge of Reason, the romantics preferred freedom to formalism, and emphasi1ed individualism instead of authority *hey appreciated imagination a%ove either rationalism or strict fidelity to factual representation *heir reliance upon the su%conscious, inner life was illustrated in !mersons intuitionalism, the very center of transcendentalism, in the psychology displayed %y ,oe and 4awthorne Romanticism viewed nature more simply than did rationalism *he romantic universe was %eautiful, and human %eings were the chosen and favored creatures in it Romanticism was also cele%rated in strangeness and mystery, producing the medievalism of .eats and /owell *he intellectual and emotional climate in their new country made the 0mericans to e2amine the romance of their past, from e2ploration through colonialism and revolution *he +ity of 5ew 6or", %y 18)) the largest in the #nited $tates, with si2ty thousand people, %ecame for several decades the literary capital, "nown especially for its leadership in the development of newspaper 7ournalism and for its flourishing theatrical life 8any writers pu%lished in the .inc"er%oc"er 8aga1ine, 5ew 6or"s first monthly to gain national prestige *he name came from Washington 3rvings 0 4istory of 5ew 6or", %y 9ietrich .nic"er%oc"er With the pu%lication of the $"etch -oo" 3rving %ecame the first 0merican to achieve true world status as an author, and his prose remained a model for writers in !ngland as well as in the #nited $tates for the remainder of the 1' th century 0part from the .nic"er%oc"ers include, James Fenimore +ooper, 4erman 8elville and Walt Whitman ,hiladelphia, called the 0thens of 0merica during the late colonial period, continued to produce literary wor"s 3t %ecame the center of a new popular periodical literature represented %y Godeys

/adys -oo" and Grahams 8aga1ine

that provided space and readership for ,oe, /ongfellow,

+ooper, !merson, 4awthorne and many more 8eanwhile, the $outh %uilt a flourishing agrarian civili1ation and distinguished planter aristocracy on the sha"y foundations of slavery *he slaves such as Frederic" 9ouglass and 4arriet Jaco%s, who escaped to write of their southern e2perience, did so William Gilmore $imms was greatly praised and widely popular as a rival to +ooper 4is accurate and sympathetic portrayals of 3ndians contri%uted to the rapidly growing understanding of the first 0mericans 3n the first period of the 0merican literature, however, the most spectacular development was the flowering of 5ew !ngland 3t %egan in a new intellectualism #nitarian and transcendental, that was introduced %y the appearance of the wor"s of Ralph Waldo !merson in the late :)s, and %y the later masterpieces of 4enry 9avid *horeau -oston 7ournals such as *he 5orth 0merican Review, *he 9ial and *he 0tlantic 8onthly provided outlets for 5ew !nglands vital contri%utions to the ma7or reform movements of a%olition and womens rights as well as to many related causes of human 7ustice *he less optimistic and more trou%led side of 0merican romanticism e2plored the great question of private ownership and pu%lic responsi%ility that accompanied the fact of political independence *he 0merican government needed to consider the rights of the first 5ative 0mericans, many long removed from their original tri%al grounds, others removed %y congressional act of 18:), and others continually harassed in the rapidly closing west 3ncreasingly the right of a woman to possess real property on the same terms as their hus%ands, %rothers and fathers %ecame a source of pu%lic de%ate 0nd then there were the immigrants *he wor" titled *he ,ioneers %y +ooper considers %oth legal private ownership and right of pu%lic use 3ndians themselves started voicing their concerns through the powerful medium of print $equoya, a +hero"ee, invented an alpha%et that %y the 18()s made most +hero"ees literate in their own language and made possi%le the 7ournals *he +hero"ee ,hoeni2 and +hero"ee 8essenger John Rollin %ecame the first 3ndian novelist 8eanwhile, the place of 3ndians in 0merican life remained unresolved, a pro%lem removed to the western frontier while 0mericans in *he !ast, in the period leading to the +ivil War, concerned themselves with social pro%lems that seemed more immediate 0lthough the prevailing romanticism in some ways encouraged turning away from present realities, its idealism also fuelled the swelling tide of humanitarian reform *he new World attracted so many immigrants that they soon represented 1( percent of the nations people 3n these circumstances the rapid development of industry and financial institution was accompanied %y economic crises that

created in the older settlement an ur%an poverty 5ew reform movements, utopian communities, and humanitarian organi1ations flourished, and reform %ecame a profession attracting powerful and talented leadership *hey a%olished inhuman punishments and imprisonment for de%t, to clean up loathsome 7ails, and to provide reha%ilitation instead of punishment *he physically handicapped were given proper education *he Womens Rights movement, which drew such leaders as 8argaret Fuller, !li1a%eth +ady $tanton and /ucretia 8ott, rose to the national scale in 18;8 with the meeting of the first womens congress at $eneca Falls, 5ew 6or" 3n the early 1'th century important modifications in religion sprang from the 7oining of 5ew !ngland #nitarianism and transcendentalism *ranscendentalism e2pressed an idealism natural to a young country still testing the revolutionary idea that all men are created equal, and li"e the Revolution itself, it sprang from many sources *ranscendentalists re7ected /oc"es materialistic philosophy in favor of the idealism of the German thin"er 3manuel .ant, who declared that the transcendental "nowledge in the human mind was innate, assuming that intuition therefore surpassed reason as a guide to the truth *he most important idea which transcendentalists preached was the freedom of individuals and the freedom to follow intuitional "nowledge *he *ranscendental +lu%, an informal group, met most often at !mersons home -eside !merson, *horeau is the most noteworthy to literature for the enduring legacy of his e2treme individualism and for the containing power of his concept of civil diso%edience *he road to +ivil War was a long one $laves revolted in $outh +aroline as early as 1&:' 3n 1&&8, 8assachusetts, +onnecticut, 5ew 6or", and ,ennsylvania %arred their citi1ens from engaging in the salve trade $lavery in !ngland came to an end with the Reform 0ct of 18:) 3n the western hemisphere in the 18<)s, only $urinam, -ra1il and +u%a remained alongside the #nited $tates as slaveholding countries 3n 18:1William Garrison founded *he /i%erator the a%olitionist maga1ine that continued to appear until slavery was a%olished in 18=< %y the *hirteen 0mendment to the +onstitution 0ct %y act, 0merican literature %oth contri%uted to and reflected upon the wrenching drama that from 18=) to 18=< tore the country apart