A Growing NationAmerican Literature 1800-1870

By 1800, the United States consisted of sixteen states clustered near the east coast. With Thomas Jefferson’s signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, America began to grow rapidly. Transportation improved to link the states together as canals, turnpikes, railroads, and steamboats emerged.

The Growth of Democracy at Home 1800-1840

As the nation grew, so did Americans’ control of their government.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected President and became known as “The People’s President”. He focused on the common man as property ownership in order to vote was eliminated. White males dominated. Little attention was paid to females and most African-Americans remained slaves.

The most tragic policy of this period was the Indian Removal Act, forcing Native Americans out of their tribal lands and to the West. On The Trail of Tears in 1838, 4,000 Native Americans perished on their journey from Georgia to Oklahoma.

Advances in technology spurred

social change. Factories sprang up

all over the Northeast. The steel plow and

reaper allowed the ever Westward

expansion to create farmlands across America. But with

this new technology came

trouble. With factories, came child labor and unsafe working

conditions. Women wanted more

rights. Abolitionists wanted to end

slavery.

Literature of the Period

Before 1800, no one read writings of Americans, not even other Americans, but that changed as America was dealing with problems with each other. The writers of this time defined the American voice with the primary theme of the quest of the individual to find him or herself. They are classified as Romantics.

Washington Irving

Romanticism

• Romantic writers said imagination was more important than reason and intuition more important than fact.

• The Romantic writers loved nature.• Romantic writing highlighted the fantastic

aspects of the human experience.

Gothic LiteratureCharacteristics

The story is set in bleak or remote

places.The plot involves macabre or violent

incidents.Characters are in

psychological or physical torment.

A supernatural or other worldly

element is often present.