Characteristics of American Romanticism

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History:

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1830: Indian Removal Act

1830¡¯s: First Tenements Built

1850¡¯s: Underground Railroad

1850-55: American Renaissance Period

1848: First Women¡¯s Rights Convention in US

(Seneca Falls, NY)

? 1851 (Boston): Fugitive Slave Law

? 1859: John Brown¡¯s Raid on Harper¡¯s Ferry

? 1861-5: Civil War

Prepared by Melissa Dyer

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Predominate philosophies of Romanticism and

Transcendentalism

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American authors formed literary clubs

The first truly American novels emerge (not

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No copyright laws to protect authors

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following British models)

could be printed cheaper than American works)

(English works

Controversies: Expansion (growing cities),

Individualism, Abolition vs. Slavery,

Inventions/Technology, Immigration &

Xenophobia, Politics & Civil War (widening between

the North & the South)

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Values feeling & intuition over reason

Places faith in inner experience & the power of the imagination

Shuns the artificiality of civilization & seeks unspoiled nature

Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication

Champions individual freedom & the worth of the individual

Reflects on nature¡¯s beauty as a path to spiritual & moral

development

Stresses the inherent goodness of humankind

Looks backward to the wisdom of the past & distrusts progress

Finds beauty & truth in exotic locales, the supernatural realm,

and the inner world of the imagination

Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination

Finds inspiration in myth, legend, & folklore

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Individualism

Intuition

Imagination,

Innocence

Inspiration from Nature

Inner Experience

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