Title: The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
Introduction
The American Frontier
Transcendentalism
Slave Narratives
The Civil War
Unlikely American Heroes and Heroines
The Implications of Rapid Change
Conclusion
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Content: The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century | Encyclopedia.com
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The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
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The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century
Introduction
The American dream of the nineteenth century was marked by a heightened sense of individualism and self-interest—a natural response to America's relatively new freedom from British rule. With a mere twenty-five years of independence behind them, Americans entered the 1800s intent on exploring the vast wilderness that lay west of their former colonies. This frontier mindset called for a rugged individualism that quickly replaced the community-oriented thinking that once motivated the American colonists. With the push west came the forced expulsion of Native Americans and, later, a frenzied scramble for California gold. Nineteenth-century Americans also witnessed wave upon wave of immigration, the nightmare of the Civil War, and a period of industrialization that seemed to alter the American economy and culture overnight. Competitiveness took the place of cooperation as Americans fought to control the development and seize the wealth of their hard-won country. In this century of rapid expansion, the notion of the "self-made man" took on a new meaning. The American Frontier
One of the first to explore the American West was Meriwether Lewis. Raised between Virginia's frontier and its settlements, young Lewis learned wilderness skills, including how to hunt and fish, and was also exposed to refined plantation society, from which he acquired knowledge about surveying, geography, and natural history. After serving in the Virginia militia, Lewis rose through the ranks to become President Thomas Jefferson 's private secretary.