Exam 9: Jeffersonian Democracy, 1800-1814

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Non-intercourse Act

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American pride in their victory in the War of 1812 generated a strong urge to define the United States as fundamentally different from England. Hatred of the British prompted some to propose that the United States make German its official language. This movement obviously did not succeed, but during the course of the 1800s, Noah Webster developed a more practical solution. He noticed that a new American form of English had arisen over the 150-year colonial period; in 1828, he codified this new idiom in his Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language . Webster's dictionary included such uniquely American words as skunk and squash , and it replaced British spellings such as colour with American versions such as color .At the same time, a group of poets called the Hartford Wits became the first well-known creative authors on American soil. The most prominent of the Hartford Wits was Francis Scott Key. Other Wits composed such enduring songs as "Hail Columbia." At the same time, the first American magazine of note-the North American Review -began publication in 1815. The very title of the magazine denoted Americans' attempt to separate culturally from Europe. In the graphic arts, talented painters in early America crafted pictures with patriotic themes, expressing their gratitude for liberty. The best remembered are portraits of the founding fathers, many of them painted by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)and John Trumbull (1756-1843). Trumbull was also known for his patriotic images, the most popular of which is Declaration of Independence (1819), a depiction of a fictional gathering of the Founding Fathers (no such meeting ever took place)that today appears on the back of the two-dollar bill.The most notable artistic expression of early American nationalism developed in architecture, though, as American architects, identifying with the ancient republican Romans, revived classical architectural styles and motifs in a style known as neoclassicism. Thomas Jefferson (who designed the University of Virginia and his home, Monticello)and Charles Bulfinch (who designed the Massachusetts State House in Boston)excelled in this flourishing realm. Pierre l'Enfant, the French architect commissioned to design the capitol buildings in Washington, D.C., also participated in this revival; this explains the plethora of neoclassical architecture found today in Washington, D.C.