The American Renaissance

The American Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 19th century, roughly from the 1830s to the 1860s, characterized by a flourishing of American literature, art, and intellectual thought. Influenced by Romanticism, it emphasized individualism, nature, and democracy. Key figures included writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman, who explored themes of identity and morality. It was also marked by the transcendentalist philosophy, promoting spiritual intuition over rationalism. This period laid the foundation for a distinctly American voice in the arts, reflecting the nation’s values and aspirations during a time of great social and political change.