1. Technology, Culture and Everyday Life
Technology: word created in 1829 to describe the application of science to tasks of everyday life

2. Agricultural Advances
Farmers began using fertilizers
when it was clear that “virgin”
lands out west were producing
higher yields (plaster, guano)
1837--John Deere invented a steel-tipped plow that cut in half the hours needed to clear an acre.

3. Agricultural Advances
In 1834 Cyrus McCormick patented the mechanical reaper
It cut the wheat down, then separated the chaff (waste) from the grain
It harvested grain seven times faster than previous methods
McCormick marketed aggressively and sold 80,000 by 1860.

4. Other technological advances
Samuel Morse
Telegraph Machine--1840

5. Singer Sewing Machine Perfected by Isaac Singer
Gave boost to northern industry
Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry
Led many women into factories

6. The invention which changed the South, cotton and slavery.
ELI WHITNEY
The invention which changed the South, cotton and slavery.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry.
He is also noted for the concept of mass production and interchangeable parts by creating dyes for pistols and rifles.
Very important early pioneer in America’s industrial revolution.
Cotton Production

7. Eli Whitney also invents principle of interchangeable parts, used in muskets for army.
1850: principle widely adopted, led to mass production, & gave North large industrial plants, military superiority over South.
From left to right: Eli Whitney (cotton gin, interchangeable parts), Robert Fulton (steam boat), Thomas Edison (light bulb), Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Richard Hoe (automatic printing press)

8. “Iron Horse” Wins!
Early railcars were

9. Railroad Growth 183013 miles of track built by B & O Railroad
By 1850 9000 miles of RR track
By 1860 31,000 miles of RR track
Northern tracks built by immigrant labor
Southern tracks builty by slave labor

10. Effects of Technological Advances
Products once only available to the wealthy become commonplace
Purchasing power of average person rose 25% between
Women and children had opportunities for paid work(in cities and towns,fueling migration)

11. Standard of living
Defined: Level of material comfort available to an individual or group
Changed much more for middle class than for poor
Middle class people were able to live in ways only the wealthy could earlier

12. Architecture
Examples of row
houses from the 1800s

13. Medical Advances
There was nothing in the area of medical advance that rivaled the change in industry
People concentrated their energies on new diets rather than procedures and medications
Discovery of ether as anesthesia in 1840 by Crawford Long led to surgical advances

14. Public Health
Lack of understanding of how diseases were spread and importance of disinfectants hindered progress in medicine
Cholera epidemic in 1832 killed 3500 in NYC and more worldwide

15. Health Movements
Sylvester Graham advocated good nutrition, whole grains, abstinence from alcohol and later sex, fruits, vegetables and very little meat
Inspired by cholera outbreak

16. Pastimes Entertainment became a business
Plays and minstrel shows became popular
Penny newspapers, subsidized by politicians or businesses, became popular
PT Barnum—newspapers could create as well as report news

17. Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
Antebellum
American
Art
#1: “IN NATURE’S WONDERLAND”  Thomas Dougherty, 1835
He was one of the earliest American artists to use small figures dwarfted by the landscape  denotes man’s place as part and parcel of nature * A surrender of the self in the face of God’s handiwork [an act of devotion]. The figure’s solitary state and absorption in the environment, with his back turned to us, reinforces the contemplative silence that surrounds him. He laid the groundwork for public acceptance of American landscape paintings as valuable and significant.
Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

18. The Hudson River School:
#1: “IN NATURE’S WONDERLAND”  Thomas Dougherty, 1835
He was one of the earliest American artists to use small figures dwarfted by the landscape  denotes man’s place as part and parcel of nature * A surrender of the self in the face of God’s handiwork [an act of devotion]. The figure’s solitary state and absorption in the environment, with his back turned to us, reinforces the contemplative silence that surrounds him. He laid the groundwork for public acceptance of American landscape paintings as valuable and significant.

19. Background These artists captured the undiluted power of nature
Paint the nation’s most spectacular and undeveloped areas [the new Garden of Eden].
Nature was the best source of wisdom & fulfillment.
They created visual embodiments of the ideals of the Transcendentalists * Painting is the vehicle through which the universal mind could reach the mind of mankind * Art is the agent of moral & spiritual transformation.
#1: “IN NATURE’S WONDERLAND”  Thomas Dougherty, 1835
He was one of the earliest American artists to use small figures dwarfted by the landscape  denotes man’s place as part and parcel of nature * A surrender of the self in the face of God’s handiwork [an act of devotion]. The figure’s solitary state and absorption in the environment, with his back turned to us, reinforces the contemplative silence that surrounds him. He laid the groundwork for public acceptance of American landscape paintings as valuable and significant.

20. Characteristics of the Hudson River School
A new art for a new land.
Paint grand, scenic vistas.
Humans are an insignificant [even non-existent] part of the picture.
Experiment with effects of light on water and sky.
Symbol of the school  a broken tree stump
#1: “IN NATURE’S WONDERLAND”  Thomas Dougherty, 1835
He was one of the earliest American artists to use small figures dwarfted by the landscape  denotes man’s place as part and parcel of nature * A surrender of the self in the face of God’s handiwork [an act of devotion]. The figure’s solitary state and absorption in the environment, with his back turned to us, reinforces the contemplative silence that surrounds him. He laid the groundwork for public acceptance of American landscape paintings as valuable and significant.

21. Issues/Themes Addressed by the Antebellum Artists
Transcendentalist thinking.
Westward expansion.
American nationalism --> What is America? * Creation of a national mythology
Racism and Native Americans.
Concern for political extremism.
The price paid for progress and the advances of civilization.
#1: “IN NATURE’S WONDERLAND”  Thomas Dougherty, 1835
He was one of the earliest American artists to use small figures dwarfted by the landscape  denotes man’s place as part and parcel of nature * A surrender of the self in the face of God’s handiwork [an act of devotion]. The figure’s solitary state and absorption in the environment, with his back turned to us, reinforces the contemplative silence that surrounds him. He laid the groundwork for public acceptance of American landscape paintings as valuable and significant.

22. In Nature’s Wonderland Thomas Doughty, 1835
#2 - #3  THOMAS COLE
The “Father” of the HRS.
Nobody had painted “America” before these artists.
The Hudson Valley from the Catskills through the Adirondacks.
America as Arcadia [Eden].

23. Niagara Frederic Church, 1857
#4: “THE OXBOW”  Thomas Cole, The dramatic clouds over the wilderness to the left speak of the uncontrolled power of nature. Tension between wilderness and garden [savagery and civilization]. OXBOW  in the shape of a ? * Where is this headed?  reflected the debate among Americans * Would the wilderness disappear completely for the sake of civilization, or would the two exist in perpetual tension with each other?

24. View of the Catskills, Early Autumn Thomas Cole, 1837
#4: “THE OXBOW”  Thomas Cole, 1836
The dramatic clouds over the wilderness to the left speak of the uncontrolled power of nature. Tension between wilderness and garden [savagery and civilization]. OXBOW  in the shape of a ? * Where is this headed?  reflected the debate among Americans * Would the wilderness disappear completely for the sake of civilization, or would the two exist in perpetual tension with each other?

25. View from Mt. Holyoke: The Oxbow Thomas Cole, 1836
#6 - #10: COLE’S “THE COURSE OF EMPIRE” SERIES
Allegorical paintings on the rise and fall of civilizations.
A warning to America about the dangers of democracy, which he thought could so easily degenerate into mob rule in the hands of a demagogue, who in deifying the will of the people without curbing its fickle passions, would become a dictator, an Amer. Caesar [ANDREW JACKSON].
Was meant to be a visual analogy to Edward Gibbon’s Decline & Fall of the Ro. Emp.
Same setting  a natural harbor topped by a round rock.
1. Savage State  the primordial scene  a culture without monuments or records.
2. Arcadian/Pastoral State  architecture, technol. [longship], the arts have begun, BUT, Eden can’t last [agrarian simplicity of the early Ro. Rep.]
3. Consummation  populism has led to mob rule, dictatorship [here comes Caesar across the bridge in triumph!]
4. Destruction  bellicose little beasts have grown up; the imperial city has fallen!  sacked and pillaged by hordes of unspecified vandals.
5. Desolation  the cycle of history returns to its beginning [WILDERNESS!], with ruins  a single column representing the vanity of man!
BUT, a stork [symbol of birth/rebirth]  faint hint of regeneration.

26. The Course of Empire: The Savage State Thomas Cole, 1834

27. The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or The Pastoral State - Thomas Cole, 1836

28. The Course of Empire: Consummation Thomas Cole, 1836

29. The Course of Empire: Destruction Thomas Cole, 1836

30. The Course of Empire: Desolation Thomas Cole, 1836
#11: “KINDRED SPIRITS”  ASHUR DURAND
He had a desire to create a harmony between man and nature.
# to contemplate or paint nature brought him closer to the divine and could inspire one to lead a moral life. A memorial to Cole, 5 yrs. His junior.
Cole, with his poet friend, William Cullen Bryant, discloses the meaning of nature to the writer.

31. Kindred Spirits – Asher Durand, 1849

32. Watercolors by John Audubon
#13: JOHN AUDUBON WATERCOLORS
“Ornithological” art as a branch of American illustration art.
His “Birds of America” series. He was not a scientist and had no formal training in natural history * but he was an excellent field naturalist. In order to illustrate the birds, he had to kill them in great numbers! * with no cameras then, in order to study birds up-close, you had to shoot them!
PARADOX OF EARLY 19c AMERICAS IN THE FACE OF NATURE: * he was a hunter in love with hunting, but with a respect, even love, for his prey.
Stanley Hawk
Barred Owl

33. The Luminists #15 - #17  THE LUMINISTS  mid-19c [2nd. Gener. HRS]
Their origins  in provincial marine painting, mainly in Boston. Boston merchants got rich from sea trade and wanted “portraits” of their ships painted in precise detail. Ships had an American spirit in them. Exquisite nuances of light and atmosphere. BINGHAM  the first significant Amer. painter to come out of the mid-West  the water looks like a pane of glass.

34. Boston Harbor from Constitution Wharf Robert Salmon, 1833

35. The Constitution in Boston Harbor Fitz Hugh Lane, 1848-49

36. Fur Trappers Descending the Missouri George Caleb Bingham, 1845

37. The Classical Styles of Greece & Rome

38. Neo-Classical Architecture: U. S. Customs House, 1836

39. Jefferson Rotunda (Univ. of VA), 1819-26

40. The Capitol Rotunda

41. Patriotic
Art

42. The Landing of the Pilgrims Unknown Artist, 1830s
#23: “THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS”  UNKNOWN, 1840s
By mid-19c, Americans were obsessed with the idea of a half-empty continent. Their desire to revive the past grew stronger * historical societies were founded * biographies of national heroes were commissioned * pictures of the founding of the colonies and the Revolution were painted. The Landing of the Pilgrims was a favorite historical tableau of the times. In the Capitol rotunda.

43. Washington Crossing the Delaware Emmanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1851
#24: “WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE”  Leutze, 1851
Was known for his large, historic compositions. If there was anyone who would be relied on to produce a large, efficient, patriotic work whose meaning would be over no one’s head, it was him!

44. George Washington Horatio Greenough, 1841
To commemorate the centennial of Washington’s birth, When it arrived in the capitol in 1841 it attracted controversy * modeled after a classical Greek statue of Zeus * sight of a half-naked Washington was seen as offensive * some joked that Washington was desperately seeking for his clothes! The statue was relocated to the east lawn of the Capitol in 1843, on exhibit at the Patent Office several blocks to the north. In 1908 Greenough's statue finally came in from the cold: Congress transferred it to the Smithsonian. It remained at the Castle until 1964, when it was moved to the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History).
The “New Cincinnatus”?

45. Our Banner in the Sky - Frederic Church, 1861
#26: “OUR BANNER IN THE SKY”  Church, 1861
A small oil, reproduced and circulated in the thousands of copies to Union soldiers and their families. The clouds form the stripes of Old Glory, and the tree becomes the flagpole # nature and God’s design have combined to bless the Union!!

46. The “Frontier” Artists

47. 1. The “Noble Savage” Image
Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees - Charles Bird King, 1821
#28: “YOUNG OMAHAW, WAR EAGLE, LITTLE MO, & PAWNEES” CHARLES BIRD KING, 1821
One kind of American whose description had always raided problems was the American Indian. His image was a faithful index of the way white society had thought about them at any given time. “The Noble Savage”  the Enlightenment view King painted Native Amers. For the newly formed Bureau of Indian Affairs *  140 portraits. They looked like busts from the Roman Republic  muscular frames, acquiline noses, a level gaze.
1. The “Noble Savage” Image

48. Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe - George Caitlin, 1832
#29: “BUFFALO BULL’S BACK FAT, HEAD CHIEF GEORGE CAITLIN, 1832
He devoted his life to depicting Native American Indians publication of his “North American Indian Portfolio.” He saw himself as a record-keeper rather than an artist ”Nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian!”  he showed his “Indian Gallery” to viewers in Boston, NY, Phila., & Washin. [500 ptgs. & sketches]  a big hit!! “Americans consumed painted Indians as fast as they could wipe out real ones!!”
2. The “Stoic” Indian

49. Mato-Tope – Karl Bodmer, 1830s
#30: “MATO-TOPE”  KARL BODNER, 1830s He paid close attention to details in dress, ornament, facial painting, and weaponry. The “DEMONIC INDIAN  This became the symbol for all Indians by the 1840s.
3. The “Demonic” Indian

50. Osage Scalp Dance John Mix Stanley, 1845

51. Last of the Race – Tompkins Matteson, 1847
From a cliff, an old chief, a younger man, and two women contemplate the ocean [Pacific], over which the sun is setting * the end of the line for the Native American * even the dog knows it!!
4. The “Doomed” Indian

52. Dying Indian Chief Contemplating the Progress of Civilization Thomas Crawford, 1857
A portend of the future??
#33: “DYING INDIAN CHIEF CONTEMPLATES THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION”  THOMAS CRAWFORD, 1857
An allegory of our history of the struggle between civilized man and the savage, between the cultivated and wild nature. This represented the official view of the fate of the American Indian in the mid-1850s!!

53. Major Authors of 1800-1850 Walt Whitman Edgar Allen Poe
Emily Dickenson e
Herman Melville
Henry David Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Walt Whitman

54. Two Main Literary Movements
Romanticism
Transcendentalism

55. Romantic Writers of 1800s Washington Irving James Fenimore Cooper
William Cullen Bryant Edgar Allan Poe

56. American Romanticism
Time Period:
Characterized by:
Romantics considered the city to be a place of moral ambiguity, corruption, and death.  American Romanticism can best be described as a journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of the imagination.

57. Romantics value feeling and intuition over reason.  They believe imagination, spontaneity, individual feelings, and wild nature have a greater value than reason, logic, planning, and cultivation. 

58. Two different types of American romantic novels:
Gothic novels – exploring supernatural realms, haunted landscapes, and mysterious castles.
Nature novels – westward expansion developed this and the author’s need to find transcendence through nature.

59. Washington Irving
Romantic tales of folklore adapted from European legends
set in American landscape
characterized by American stereotypes that reveals general truths about human nature
Nagging wife
Battered husband

60. Old truths (stereotypes) about human nature and possibilities of American landscape (mixes history with fantasy through use of hearsay)
Uses humorous tone (satirical at times) but conveys serious message about human values

61. Notable Works “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” “Rip Van Winkle”
The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
A History of New York…by Diedrich Knickerbocker

62. Pictured: John Quidor, 1801–81, The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, oil

63. Rip Van Winkle, oil on canvas by John Quidor, 1829; in the Art Institute of Chicago.

64. James Fenimore Cooper 1st major American novelist
Uses actual events in American history as settings for his novels
his characters define their personal values by their experiences in the lawless wilderness
Natural view of life is simple and profound

65. Notable Works
Leatherstocking Tales---collection of 5 novels that chronicle life of Natty Bumppo
The Pioneers
The Last of the Mohicans
The Prairie
The Pathfinder
The Deerslayer
Natty Bumppo is literary hero

67. William Cullen Bryant Poetry reflects Romantic approach to life
through imagination and intuition one can learn from Nature great moral and spiritual truths
“religion of nature”---natural world is inexhaustible source of moral and spiritual lessons
Observations of nature evoke feelings of self in oneself.
Father of American Poetry

68. By living in harmony with nature,
man will understand transience (temporary state) on earth
accept death
rejoice in immortality of nature

69. Notable Poetry “To A Waterfowl”
“Thanatopsis” Romantics poets were often concerned about:
Death
Individualism
Since death is the final restriction upon the self and its powers, individualism (the power of the self) became an important theme in poetry.

70. Emphasis of the poetry
Romantics emphasized the organic process of constant changes in nature: Every living thing fulfills its appointed life cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death.

71. Poe
Romantic view of Nature and the inner self by depicting irrational characters in a grotesque reality
Nature’s greater truth = madness

72. Accomplishments Most important American poet before Walt Whitman
Unreal atmosphere and musical effects influenced French symbolist poets and on all modern poetry
Literary critic
Credited along with Hawthorne for giving short story it modern form
Poe thought a short story should be short enough to be read in one sitting so as to achieve and sustain a single emotional effect
Inventor of the detective story

73. Gothic Elements of Literature
Language
Everyday language that focuses on nature
Repetition
Imagery
Mystery, horror, violence, grotesque, supernatural

74. Famous Poe Works Fall of the House of Usher Annabel Lee
The Murders of the Rue Morgue
The Raven
The Black Cat
The Cask of Amontillado
The Masque of the Red Death
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Telltale Heart

75. Basic Tenets of Transcendentalists
A belief that God is present in every aspect of Nature, including every human being
The conviction that everyone is capable of apprehending God through the use of intuition
The belief that all of Nature is symbolic of the spirit.

76. Major Authors: Henry David Thoreau—Civil Disobedience, Walden
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Essays, Self-Reliance
Herman Melville—Moby Dick
Nathaniel Hawthorne—The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables
Walt Whitman—Poetry: Leaves of Grass
Emily Dickinson—Poetry published posthumously

77. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was at the center of the American
transcendental movement
The major American philosopher of the nineteenth century
In September 1835, Emerson founded the Transcendental Club
with notables like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau,
Elizabeth Hoar and Margaret Fuller
In 1840, Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and George Ripley founded
the magazine, The Dial, with Margaret Fuller editing
The Dial became the leading mouthpiece for the transcendental movement
Emerson, its editor for two years, began publishing his poems and essays in the magazine
By the 1840s, Emerson became recognized as the leader of the Transcendental movement
In addition to his writings, Emerson made a living as a popular lecturer in New England
Audiences were captivated by his speaking style
Emphasized self-reliance and nonconformity, he championed authentic American literature, and insisted that each individual find their own relation to God
“. . . man as a reformer. . . our life is common and mean yet each person has felt his own call to cast aside all evil customs and to be in his place a free and helpful man, a reformer, a benefactor, not content to slip along through the world like a footman or a spy but a brave and upright man, who must find or cut a straight road to everything excellent in the earth, and not only go honorably himself, but make it easier for all who follow him, to go in honor and with benefit”

78. Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was one of the best known transcendentalist thinkers of his age
He met Ralph Waldo Emerson, who became a patron and advisor to him and who introduced him to the leading Although he could never make a living from his writings, Thoreau’s work now comprises over 20 volumes
His writing is rich and complex and intended to nudge readers to reconsider the beliefs that make up their lives
Politically, Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist

79. Henry David Thoreau: Walden (1854)
From , Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living by living in an isolated log cabin on land owned by Emerson
While at Walden, Thoreau did an incredible amount of reading and writing, yet he also spent much time "sauntering" in nature
Thoreau lived a life of simplicity at Walden
In 1854, Thoreau published an account of this period entitled “Walden,” which became one of the great classics of American literature; indeed of world literature
It offers a social critique of the West with its emphasis on consumerism and its widespread destruction of the natural environment
The book invites one to the examine one’s life and to the realization of one's potential
Henry David Thoreau
A Modern Replica of Thoreau’s Walden Cabin
Walden Pond