The Second Great Awakening was a revival of strong religious feeling Mass meetings, usually outdoor, were held to discuss faith and religion Religious faith led to helping others and reforming society Involved Methodists, Baptists, and other Protestant groups Saw social reform as part of God’s plan Emphasized the ability of each person to achieve salvation

It taught that the spiritual world was more important than the physical world A belief that there is a goodness in all man and nature They trusted their inner moral spirit, feelings and emotions Supported individualism, non-conformity The movement was started by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature”-In "Nature", Emerson lays out and attempts to solve an abstract problem: that humans do not fully accept nature’s beauty.

“The Americans have no national literature, and no learned men…… The talents of our transatlantic brethren show themselves chiefly in political pamphlets.. The Americans are too young to rival in literature the old nations of Europe. They have neither history, nor romance, nor poetry, nor legends on which to exercise their genius and kindle their imagination.” -British Critic, 1819 “I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history…commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music……:” -John Adams In America’s third century, excited by nationalism and Jacksonian democracy, Americans cast off their artistic dependence on Europe democracy,. and produce a great national literature. America style demonstrating the American spirit of America style demonstrating the American spirit of confidence with a focus on nature emerges in literature and art.

Because Thoreau believed in the importance of individualism, he urged people not to obey laws they considered unjust I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. Henry David Thoreau Thoreau promoted the idea of civil disobedience Civil Disobedience is peacefully disobeying a law, instead of using violence Thoreau refused to pay taxes to the U.S. Government, which he said enforced slavery and wrongly went to war with Mexico Many of his ideas can be found in his book Walden

American writers stressed imagination, creativity, emotion and nature Edgar Allan Poe wrote terrifying horror and detective stories Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems deal with themes of death and immortality Noah Webster’s Dictionary gave American spellings and slang words…..not British

Washington Irving wrote about American Culture in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about love, guilt, the treatment of sin in New England, and revenge in The Scarlet Letter. Herman Melville wrote about adventure in his tale called Moby Dick

American artist John James Audubon painted birds and other animals in nature-The Bird Dude His Birds of America contained over 1,065 descriptions of birds, the most important work ever done on birds

The Hudson River School became famous for painting nature and landscapes The school was founded by artist Thomas Cole in 1825 who was inspired by the natural beauty of New York’s Hudson River Valley

Instead of just using nature as a backdrop, their paintings showed the power and beauty of nature, often making humans insignificant

Thomas Cole: The Course of Empire The Savage State The Arcadian or Pastoral State The Consummation of Empire Destruction Desolation There is the moral of all human tales; 'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past. First freedom and then Glory - when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption - barbarism at last. And History, with all her volumes vast, Hath but one page...