1. Transcendentalists and Gothics – The Background

2. Less European influence – more distinctive national expression
Transcendentalism, a philosophy of individualism and self-reliance, dominated the period
Believed that the transcendent (spiritual) reality is the ultimate reality, not the material world.
God, humanity and nature share a universal soul.

3. Through the senses we learn the facts and laws of the physical world
Through the senses we learn the facts and laws of the physical world. We learn to use this information through our own powers of reason (our ability to think) to create science and technology, for instance. But there is another realm of knowledge that goes beyond, transcends, what we learn from books (ESP, sixth sense, intuition, etc.)
The most influential Transcendentalist writers were Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Every writer of the time was affected by this outright challenge to Puritanism.

4. Utopian communities become popular.
The most famous is BROOK FARM which attracted many writers including Nathaniel Hawthorne.
1848 – First women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY – Elizabeth Cady Stanton was keynote speaker.
Mexican War ( ) was viewed by Abolitionists as an attempt to extend slavery into new territories.