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Lesson 3
# American Culture The Big Idea
> As the United States grew,
> developments in many cultural
> areas contributed to the creation
> of a new American identity.
Main Ideas
> American writers created a
> new style of literature.
> A new style of art showcased
> the beauty of America and its
> people.
> American ideals influenced
> other aspects of culture,
> including religion and music.
> Architecture and education
> were affected by cultural ideals.
Key Terms and People
> Washington Irving
> James Fenimore Cooper
> Hudson River school
> Thomas Cole Thomas Cole
> George Caleb Bingham
If YOU were there . . .
You live in Philadelphia in 1830. Though youve lived in the city all your life, you dream about the West and the frontier. Now youve discovered a wonderful writer whose stories tell about frontier life and events in American history. You cant wait to read his next exciting adventure. You think that perhaps someday you could be a frontier hero, too.
Why would the frontier seem so exciting? American Writers
Like many people the world over, Americans expressed their thoughts and feelings in literature and art and sought spiri-tual comfort in religion and music. Writers and artists were inspired by American history and the American landscape. One of the first American writers to gain international fame was Washington Irving . Born in 1783, he was named after George Washington. Irvings works often told about American history. Through a humorous form of writing called satire, Irving warned that Americans should learn from the past and be cautious about the future. Irving shared this idea in one of his best-known short sto-ries, Rip Van Winkle. This story describes a man who falls asleep during the time of the American Revolution. He wakes up 20 years later to a society he does not recognize. Irving pub-lished this and another well-known tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in an 18191820 collection. In some of his most popular works, Irving combined European influences with American settings and characters. His work served as a bridge between European literary tradi-tions and a new type of writer who focused on authentically American characters and society. Perhaps the best known of these new writers was
James Fenimore Cooper . Cooper was born to a wealthy
> Module 9 314 Reading Check
> Analyze How did American writers such as Irving and Cooper help create a new cultural identity in the United States?
New Jersey family in 1789. Stories about the West and the Native Americans who lived on the frontier fascinated him. These subjects became the focus of his best-known works. Coopers first book was not very successful, but his next novel, The Spy,
was a huge success. Published in 1821, it was an adventure story set during the American Revolution. It appealed to American readers patriotism and desire for an exciting, action-filled story. In 1823 Cooper published The Pioneers, the first of five novels featuring the heroic character Natty Bumppo. Coopers novels told of settling the western frontier and included historical events. For example, his novel The Last of the Mohicans takes place during the French and Indian War. By plac-ing fictional characters in a real historical setting, Cooper popularized a type of writing called historical fiction. Some critics said that Coopers characters were not interesting. They particularly criticized the women in his stories; one writer labeled them flat as a prairie. Other authors of historical fiction, such as Catharine Maria Sedgwick, wrote about interesting heroines. Sedgwicks characters were inspired by the people of the Berkshire Hills region of Massachusetts, where she lived. Her works include A New-England Tale and Hope Leslie.
# A New Style of Art
The writings of Irving and Cooper inspired painters. These artists began to paint landscapes that showed the history of America and the beauty of the land. Earlier American painters had mainly painted portraits. By the 1830s, the Hudson River school had emerged. The artists of the
Hudson River school created paintings that reflected national pride and an appreciation of the American landscape. They took their name from the subject of many of their paintingsthe Hudson River valley.
> Painters of the Hudson River school proved American landscapes were worthy of art. (Thomas Coles
> The Oxbow, 1836) A New National Identity 315
Landscape painter Thomas Cole was a founder of the Hudson River school. He had moved to the United States from Britain in 1819. He soon recognized the unique quali-ties of the American landscape. As his work gained fame, he encouraged other American artists to show the beauty of nature. To walk with nature as a poet is the necessary condition of a perfect artist, Cole once said. Artists devoted themselves to other distinctly American subjects, too. John James Audubon began studying and drawing birds in the United States at the age of 18. Audubons The Birds of America is a collection of 435 types of American birds. By the 1840s the style of American painting was changing. More art-ists were trying to combine images of the American landscape with scenes from peoples daily lives. Painters like George Caleb Bingham and Alfred Jacob Miller travelled west to paint scenes of the American frontier, including trappers, traders, settlers, and Native Americans.
# Religion and Music
Through the early and mid-1800s, several waves of religious revivalism swept the United States. During periods of revivalism, meetings were held for the purpose of reawakening religious faith. These meetings sometimes lasted for days and included large sing-alongs. At many revival meetings people sang songs called spirituals. Spiritu-als are a type of folk hymn found in both white and African American
> In 1827 John Audubon began publishing The Birds of America,
> which was highly admired in England. George Catlin traveled widely to paint images of Native American ways of life before they were lost.
> Reading Check
> Find Main Ideas
> How did the style of American art change to reflect the American way of life in the early 1800s?
> Module 9 316 Reading Check
> Summarize How did music reflect American interests in the early to mid-1800s?
folk-music traditions. This type of song developed from the practice of calling out text from the Bible. A leader would call out the text one line at a time, and the congregation would sing the words using a familiar tune. Each singer added his or her own style to the tune. The congregation of singers sang freely as inspiration led them. While spirituals reflected the religious nature of some Americans, popular folk music of the period reflected the unique views of the grow-ing nation in a different way. One of the most popular songs of the era was Hunters of Kentucky, which celebrated the Battle of New Orleans. It became an anthem for the spirit of nationalism in the United States and was used successfully in Andrew Jacksons campaign for the presi-dency in 1828.
# Architecture and Education
American creativity extended to the ways in which people designed build-ings. Before the American Revolution, most architects followed the style used in Great Britain. After the Revolution, leaders such as Thomas Jeffer-son called for Americans to model their architecture after the styles used in ancient Greece and Rome. Many Americans admired the ancient civili-zation of Greece and the Roman Republic because they contained some of the same democratic and republican ideals as the new American nation did. As time went by, more architects followed Jeffersons ideas. Growing American cities soon had distinctive new buildings designed in the Greek and Roman styles. These buildings were usually made of marble or other stone and featured large, stately columns.
> In the early to mid-1800s, American architects were inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. A New National Identity 317
Lesson 3 Assessment
Review Ideas, Terms, and People
1. a. Describe What topics interested American writers
in the early 1800s?
b. Explain Why is Washington Irving considered an
important American writer?
2. a. Identify What influence did Thomas Cole have on
American painters?
b. Describe How did American painting styles change
from the early period to the mid-1800s?
3. a. Describe What effect did religious revivalism have
on American music?
b. Elaborate Why do you think folk songs like Hunters
of Kentucky were popular?
4. a. Identify On what historical examples did many
American architects model their buildings? Why?
b. Predict What might be some possible results of the
growing interest in education in the United States?
Critical Thinking
5. Categorize In this lesson, you learned about new
developments in American culture in the early 1800s.
Create a graphic organizer similar to the one below
and use it to show how cultural traits, beliefs, and char -
acteristics reflected a new American identity.
> Cultural Development New Identity
> Cultural Development New Identity
> Cultural Development New Identity
> Cultural Development New Identity
> Cultural Development New Identity
Reading Check
Identify Points
of View Why did
> some Americans call
> for new architectural
> styles and more
> education after the
> American Revolution?
Americans also embraced educa -
tional progress. Noah Webster, well
known for his dictionary of Ameri -
can English published in 1828, spent
much of his life working to provide
children with a distinctly American
education.
Several early American politi -
cal leaders expressed a belief that
democracy would only succeed in a
country of educated and enlightened
people. But there was no general
agreement on who should provide
that education.
Eventually, the idea of a state-funded public school gathered support.
In 1837 Massachusetts lawmakers created a state board of education.
Other states followed this example, and the number of public schools
slowly grew.
Summary and Preview As the United States grew, so did a unique national
identity. In Module 10 you will read about the changing face of American
democracy.
> Noah Webster publishes The American Spelling
> Book in 1783 in an effort to promote American
> education.
> Module 9
318