American Renaissance (Literature) - 1541 Words

HISTORIC POINT OF VIEW: 1830-1880 In the nineteenth century, America was seen as the land of promise, the land of future. Travellers, like Alexis de Tocqueville, arrived to find the most unequivocal proofs of prosperity and rapid progress in agriculture, commerce, and great public works. (Democracy in America, 1835) They saw a nation in full enjoyment of prolonged prosperity. The nation territory now comprised thirty-one states, with a population of approximately twenty-three million people. In the East, several branches of industry were being developed. In the mid-west and the South, the agriculture was profitable, and there were railways that connected the settled parts of the country. The expansion of industry and population,†¦show more content†¦Unionists and Confederalists entered the war with high hopes for an early victory. However, the North had bigger advantage. It overran the population of the South by thirteen million people spread within twenty-three states against eleven. Along with its manpower, the Northern states, unlike the South, had abundant facilities for the manufacture of arms and ammunition, clothing, and other supplies. The South, on the other hand, had its advantages too. Since the fighting was on its own soil, it could protect its military front with a minimum of effort and upon a smaller war budget than the North. In 1865, with the Union victory, slavery was effectively abolished, as well as the question of whether a state has the right to secede from the country. But the failure of Reconstruction, which continued until 1877, left the Southern whites in a position of firm control over its black population, denying them their Civil Rights and keeping them in a state of economic, social and political servitude. As a consequence, the United States remained bitterly divided. In 1873 there was a serious depression in the economy of the nation, when the Philadelphia banking firm Jay Cooke and Company declared bankruptcy, causing the economy of the United States to collapse. Out of the countrys 364 railroads, 89 went bankrupt. A total of 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. Unemployment reached 14 percent byShow MoreRelatedThe Influence Of The Harlem Renaissance On African American Literature1144 Words   |  5 PagesThe Affect of the Harlem Renaissance on African American Literature The second half of the eighteenth century introduced a new expression to the literary world. The new expression was a voice that belonged to the African American writers. The African American writers wrote with a flair and brought a new perspective to the realm of literature. 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