19th century, Antebellum

Influenced by European Romantic Era

Uniquely American

Literature—Washington Irving, James FenimoreCooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

Art—Hudson River School

Thomas Cole, Frederick Edwin Church, Fitz Henry Lane, John James Audubon, George Catlin

Arwhoolies—Call and response; instrument = voice

Cornfield HollerOh, etc.I won't be here long.Oh, etc.Oh, dark gonna catch me here,Dark gonna catch me here.Oh, etc.

Cole believed the intellect was paramount in creating great works of art. He wrote, "If the imagination is shackled, and nothing is described but what we see, seldom will anything truly great be produced in either Painting or Poetry."

(left) Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), Portrait of Thomas Cole, c. 1845, pencil on paper, John Wilmerding Collection; National Gallery of Art

Whip-poor-will, 1830 Pileated Woodpecker, 1831

1. What else was happening in America at the time these paintings were created (1826-1857)? List as many things as you can.

2. Write a thesis statement that reflects how one or more of these paintings reflects an emerging ideal about democracy in America OR an emerging concept of American identity. (Remember, a good thesis

statement does more than restating the question.)