HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL FORCES

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN THE MID-1700s, A HUGE ECONOMIC CHANGE KNOWN AS THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BEGAN IN BRITAIN.

MANUFACTURING SHIFTED FROM SKILLED WORKERS USING HAND TOOLS TO UNSKILLED LABORERS TENDING LARGE, COMPLEX MACHINES.

MANUFACTURERS SOLD THEIR GOODS NATIONWIDE OR ABROAD INSTEAD OF JUST LOCALLY.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION SOON SPREAD TO THE UNITED STATES, CREATING TREMENDOUS ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TRANSFORMED AMERICAN SOCIETY.

A SERIES OF MILLS, OPENED BY FRANCIS C. LOWELL IN MASSACHUSETTS, EMPLOYED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO WORKED FOR LOWER WAGES IN DANGEROUS CONDITIONS.

TWO NEW INVENTIONS REVOLUTIONIZED TRANSPORTATION: 1. THE STEAMBOAT 2. THE RAILROAD

SECTIONAL STRIFE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DIVIDED AMERICANS INTO TWO NATIONS: THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.

NORTHERN STATES HAD LARGE CITIES AND AN ECONOMY BASED ON MANUFACTURING.

SOUTHERN STATES HAD FEW LARGE CITIES, AND THEIR FARMING ECONOMY WAS DOMINATED BY A SINGLE CROP—COTTON.

IN TIME, THESE DIVISIONS WOULD BRING THE CIVIL WAR!

THE AGE OF REFORM IN THE 1820s, IDEALISTIC AMERICANS BEGAN AN EAGER RUSH TO IMPROVE AMERICAN SOCIETY WHICH GAVE WAY TO “REFORMERS.”

REFORMERS WERE INSPIRED BY THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING, A MAJOR RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT THAT REACHED ITS PEAK IN THE 1820s AND 1830s.

DURING THIS AGE, AMERICANS BANDED TOGETHER IN DOZENS OF ORGANIZATIONS TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

1. END SLAVERY 2. STOP DRUNKENESS 3. SECURE WOMEN’S RIGHTS 4. PROVIDE BETTER CARE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL 5. IMPROVE PRISONS

ROOTS OF ROMANTICISM

OPTIMISM AND INDIVIDUALISM NEW IDEAS BEGAN TO TRANSFORM EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION.

ROMANTICISM: A MOVEMENT IN ART AND THOUGHT THAT DOMINATED EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES THROUGHOUT MUCH OF 1800s.

ROMANTIC WRITERS SHARED IMPORTANT ATTITUDES:

1. THEY VALUED IMAGINATION AND FEELING OVER INTELLECT AND REASON.

2. SOME CELEBRATED INDIVIDUALISM AND FREEDOM.

3. THEY BELIEVED IN THE BASIC GOODNESS AND EQUALITY OF HUMAN BEINGS AND IN THEIR RIGHT TO GOVERN THEMSELVES.

4. OTHERS TOOK A MORE PESSIMISTIC VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE.

ROMANTICISM REFLECTED A DIVISION BETWEEN A “BRIGHT” AND A “DARK” VISION OF THE WORLD.

KINSHIP WITH NATURE ANOTHER ATTITUDE THAT THE ROMANTICS SHARED WAS A BELIEF IN THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURE.

EUROPEAN THINKERS BELIEVED THAT NATURE WAS MERELY A WILDERNESS TO BE TAMED.

ROMANTICS CELEBRATED THE BEAUTY, POWER, AND WONDER OF THE NATURAL WORLD.

ROMANTICS ALSO STRESSED THE VALUE OF NATURE AS A SPIRITUAL AND MORAL GUIDE FOR HUMANITY.

THE POWER OF DARKNESS THE DARK SIDE OF ROMANTICISM INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING:

1. FASCINATION WITH DISEASE 2. MADNESS 3. DEATH 4. EVIL 5. THE SUPERNATURAL 6. DESTRUCTIVE ASPECTS OF NATURE

ROMANTICS WERE ALSO FASCINATED BY REMOTE PERIODS OF HISTORY AND EXOTIC PLACES.

THE FIRST ROMANTIC APPROACH CAN BE SEEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GOTHIC NOVEL THAT CONTAINED THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS:

WILD, HAUNTED LANDSCAPES, SUPERNATURAL EVENTS, AND MYSTERIOUS CASTLES.

THE “GOTHIC” HAD ITS ROOTS IN FRENCH, GERMAN, AND ENGLISH LITERATURE.

IN THE WORKS OF POE, THE GOTHIC TOOK A TURN TOWARD THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE HUMAN MIND.

EXAMPLES OF GOTHIC NOVELS 1. FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY SHELLEY 2. NORTHANGER ABBEY BY JANE AUSTEN

MODERN GOTHIC WRITERS 1. DAPHNE du MAURIER 2. CATHERINE COOKSON 3. VICTORIA HOLT 4. MARY STEWART 5. STEPHEN KING

VALUES OF THE ROMANTIC WRITER 1. IMAGINATION 2. FEELING 3. INDIVIDUALISM 4. FREEDOM

5. HUMAN GOODNESS 6. EQUALITY 7. SELF-GOVERNMENT 8. IMPORTANCE OF NATURE

THE DARK SIDE OF ROMANTICISM 1. SUPERNATURAL 2. DESTRUCTIVE ASPECTS OF NATURE 3. EVIL

4. INSANITY 5. REMOTE PERIODS IN HISTORY 6. EXOTIC PLACES

FIVE I’S OF ROMANTICISM 1. INTUITION 2. IMAGINATION 3. INNOCENCE 4. INSPIRATION FROM NATURE 5. INNER EXPERIENCE