American Passages 05 - A Literary Survey - Masculine Heroes

Unit 5
MASCULINE HEROES
American Expansion, 1820–1900
Authors and Works concepts of American citizenship, identity, and mas-

culinity?
Featured in the Video: ■ What are the distinguishing characteristics of
James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers and The Last the epic? How do writers in Unit 5 draw on and
of the Mohicans (novels) transform the tradition of the epic?
John Rollin Ridge (Yellow Bird), The Life and ■ What characterizes the historical novel? What
Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (novel) historical periods or events did nineteenth-century
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Drum-Taps (poe- historical novelists see as appropriate subjects for
try), Preface to Leaves of Grass (literary criticism) their books? Why were historical novels so popular
among nineteenth-century American readers?
Discussed in This Unit: ■ What genres count as literature? How do let-
Catharine Maria Sedgwick, “Cacoethes Scribendi” ters, memoirs, and songs challenge the traditional
and “A Reminiscence of Federalism” (short sto- borders of “the literary”?
ries), Hope Leslie (novel) ■ What is a “frontier”? How have American ideas
Cherokee Memorials, “Note on the Accompany- about the frontier changed over time?
ing Memorials,” “Memorial of the Cherokee ■ What kinds of attitudes toward nature and the
Council,” and “Memorial of the Cherokee Citi- environment were prevalent in nineteenth-century
zens” (political petitions) American culture?
Corridos (Mexican and Mexican American musical ■ How did the concept of Manifest Destiny
tradition) impact nineteenth-century American political poli-
Caroline Stansbury Kirkland, A New Home—Who’ll cies and literary aesthetics?
Follow? (literary sketches) ■ What kinds of ideals and values do corridos
Louise Amelia Smith Clappe, “California, in 1851 advocate? How did corridos influence the develop-
and 1852” (letters) ment of Chicano literature?
Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, The Squatter and the ■ What are the distinguishing characteristics of
Don (novel) free verse? How did Whitman’s development of free
Nat Love, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love (auto- verse influence subsequent American poetry?
biography) ■ What ideals of masculinity helped shape the
nineteenth-century figure of the American hero?
■ How were symbols and language usually asso-
ciated with Anglo-American “patriotism” borrowed,
Overview Questions appropriated, and transformed by African Amer-
ican, Native American, and Latino writers and
■ How did racial tensions complicate and chal- artists?
lenge the expansionist goals articulated in many ■ How have American attitudes toward land-
American texts of the nineteenth century? scape and the environment changed over time?
■ How did gender impact immigrants’ experi- ■ How were the figures of the bandit and the out-
ences and opportunities in the American West? law represented in popular texts of the mid- to late
■ How do texts by African American, Native nineteenth century? What kinds of myths came to
American, and Latino writers expand and transform surround these figures?
2 U N I T 5 , M A S C U L I N E H E R O E S
Learning Objectives cal events we have traditionally associated with the
“frontier.” Along these lines, we might think of the
After students have viewed the video, read the head- frontier as a permeable zone where distinct cultures
notes and literary selections in The Norton struggle and mix, or as a space of contact and con-
Anthology of American Literature, and explored re- test among diverse groups. The Spanish word “la
lated archival materials on the American Passages frontera,” which describes the borderlands between
Web site, they should be able to Mexico and the United States, is perhaps a more
useful term than “frontier.” Because the concept of a
1. understand the conflicts and tensions inherent in border does not contain a fantasy of “free land” or
the American concept of the “frontier”; uninhabited space, it is a more realistic way to
2. discuss the importance of gender in shaping the describe a place where cultures meet and where
experiences and opportunities of immigrants and trade, violence, and cultural exchange shape a vari-
inhabitants of the American West; ety of individual experiences.
3. discuss the importance of race and ethnicity in Whatever term we adopt, there are no simple
shaping the experiences and opportunities of ways to define or conceptualize nineteenth-century
immigrants and inhabitants of the American American expansion, a problem faced by all of the
West; writers featured in Unit 5, “Masculine Heroes:
4. understand nineteenth-century American debates American Expansion, 1820–1900.” As they recorded
about the relationship between humans and the and commented on the difficult issues that arose as
natural environment and explain the impact of European-Americans moved west and north, the
those debates on the development of American writers in Unit 5 also struggled with related issues
literature. of gender and race and their role in the formation of
American identity. This unit explores representa-
tions of gender and American expansion in a wide
variety of nineteenth-century works, including the
Instructor Overview musical corridos that developed in the southwestern
borderlands and texts composed by James Fenimore
In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner delivered a paper Cooper, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, the Cherokee
entitled “The Significance of the Frontier in Amer- Memorialists, Caroline Stansbury Kirkland, John
ican History” at the World’s Columbian Exhibi- Rollin Ridge, Louise Amelia Smith Clappe, Walt
tion in Chicago. Looking back over the course of Whitman, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, and Nat
American history, Turner concluded that the pres- Love. By focusing on these diverse authors, Unit 5
ence of unexplored land—“free land,” as he termed also traces the geographic movement of Anglo-
it—gave a unique dynamism to American culture. American expansion, from the push into upstate
For Turner, the frontier was “the meeting point New York and the “northwest territories” of Illinois
between savagery and civilization.” Ever since and Ohio, to the colonization of California. Unit 5
Turner made this famous pronouncement, Amer- provides contextual background and classroom
icans have been debating the definition and signifi- materials designed to explore the way these writers
cance of the “frontier.” As many scholars have both celebrated and challenged American ideals of
pointed out, “frontier” is a term used by conquerors. masculinity and expansion. The video for Unit 5
It masks a reality of imperial invasion and colonial- focuses on three influential creators of masculine
ism under a veil of innocence and exceptionalism. heroes: James Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge,
That is, the idea of “free land” does not take into and Walt Whitman. Cooper wrote the Leather-
account the many other peoples who were dis- Stocking Tales about Natty Bumppo, a man who
placed—sometimes violently—to make way for lives on the border between Native American and
European-American expansion. As historian Patri- white culture and articulates tensions between “civi-
cia Nelson Limerick puts it, “the term ‘frontier’ blurs lization” and “nature.” John Rollin Ridge voiced his
the fact of conquest.” outrage at the atrocities committed by white
To combat this problem, scholars have suggested Americans in California with his tale of the Mexican
other ways of thinking about the lands and histori- outlaw hero Joaquin Murieta. More sanguine about
U N I T 1 1 , I MN O
SDT RE U
R N
C TI SOTR POOVRETRRVAI IETW
S 3
expansion, Walt Whitman used his innovative free- ideas about landscape shaped contemporary aes-
verse poetry to glorify the vastness of America’s ter- thetics? How did Walt Whitman’s development of
ritories while adopting a tolerant, inclusive attitude free verse influence modern American poetry? How
toward all of its diverse inhabitants and to celebrate did the historical novel shape subsequent literary
the poet as American hero. All of these writers cre- traditions? How have American ideas about the
ated innovative literary styles and enduring themes relationship between humans and their natural
that continue to influence American ideas about environment changed over time? How have notions
land, gender, and race. of the “frontier” shaped American culture and
In its coverage of these writers and texts, the politics?
video for Unit 5 introduces students to the complex-
ities of the concept of the “frontier” and fore-
grounds the relationship between expansion and
constructions of masculinity. How do these texts Student Overview
represent the violence and exploitation that were
part of American expansion? How do they figure the In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner delivered a pa-
expulsion of indigenous people from their tradi- per entitled “The Significance of the Frontier in
tional lands? How do they reconcile American American History” at the World’s Columbian Exhi-
ideals of democracy, equality, and freedom with the bition in Chicago. Looking back over the course of
reality of conquest? How does race intersect with American history, Turner concluded that the pres-
gender in the formation of American identity? What ence of unexplored land—“free land,” as he termed
new literary forms emerge from the tensions of rep- it—gave a unique dynamism to American culture.
resenting American expansion? Unit 5 helps answer For Turner, the frontier was “the meeting point
these questions by offering suggestions on how to between savagery and civilization.” Ever since
connect these writers to their cultural contexts, to Turner made this famous pronouncement, Amer-
other units in the series, and to other key writers of icans have been debating the definition and sig-
the era. The curriculum materials help fill in the nificance of the “frontier.” As many scholars have
video’s introduction to territorial expansion and pointed out, “frontier” is a term used by conquerors.
gender by exploring writers who articulated other, It masks a reality of imperial invasion and colonial-
diverse experiences, such as the Cherokee Memo- ism under a veil of innocence and exceptional-
rialists (who protested the federal government’s ism. That is, the idea of “free land” does not take
decision to move them off their traditional home- into account the many other peoples who were
lands), Louise Clappe (a woman who lived in displaced—sometimes violently—to make way
the predominantly male community of a Gold for European-American expansion. As historian
Rush camp), and Nat Love (an African American Patricia Nelson Limerick puts it, “the term ‘frontier’
cowboy). blurs the fact of conquest.”
The video, the archive, and the curriculum mate- To combat this problem, scholars have suggested
rials situate these writers within several of the his- other ways of thinking about the lands and histori-
torical contexts and artistic movements that shaped cal events we have traditionally associated with the
their texts: (1) the transcontinental railroad and “frontier.” Along these lines, we might think of the
“Manifest Destiny”; (2) the California Gold Rush as frontier as a permeable zone where distinct cultures
a site of cultural exchange and conflict; (3) the struggle and mix, or as a space of contact and con-
social identity of the bachelor; (4) the use of test among diverse groups. The Spanish word “la
American flag imagery in Native American Art; and frontera,” which describes the borderlands between
(5) the aesthetic developed by the Hudson River Mexico and the United States, is perhaps a more
School landscape painters. useful term than “frontier.” Because the concept of
The archive and the curriculum materials in Unit a border does not contain a fantasy of “free land” or
5 suggest how these authors and texts relate to those uninhabited space, it is a more realistic way to
covered in other American Passages units: How have describe a place where cultures meet and where
American concepts of masculinity and heroism trade, violence, and cultural exchange shape a vari-
evolved over time? How have nineteenth-century ety of individual experiences.
Whatever term we adopt, there are no simple and Ohio, to the colonization of California. Unit 5
ways to define or conceptualize nineteenth-century explores the way these writers both celebrated and
American expansion, a problem faced by all of the challenged American ideals of masculinity and
writers featured in Unit 5, “Masculine Heroes: expansion. The video for Unit 5 focuses on three
American Expansion, 1820–1900.” As they recorded influential creators of masculine heroes: James
and commented on the difficult issues that arose as Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge, and Walt
European-Americans moved west and north, the Whitman. Cooper wrote the Leather-Stocking Tales
writers in Unit 5 also struggled with related issues of about Natty Bumppo, a man who lives on the border
gender and race and their role in the formation of between Native American and white culture and
American identity. This unit explores representations articulates tensions between “civilization” and
of gender and American expansion in a wide variety “nature.” John Rollin Ridge voiced his outrage at the
of nineteenth-century works, including the musical atrocities committed by white Americans in
corridos that developed in the southwestern border- California with his tale of the Mexican outlaw hero
lands and texts composed by James Fenimore Joaquin Murieta. More sanguine about expansion,
Cooper, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, the Cherokee Walt Whitman used his innovative free-verse poetry
Memorialists, Caroline Stansbury Kirkland, John to glorify the vastness of America’s territories while
Rollin Ridge, Louise Amelia Smith Clappe, Walt adopting a tolerant, inclusive attitude toward all
Whitman, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, and Nat of its diverse inhabitants and to celebrate the poet
Love. By focusing on these diverse authors, Unit 5 as American hero. All of these writers created
also traces the geographic movement of Anglo- innovative literary styles and enduring themes that
American expansion, from the push into upstate continue to influence American ideas about land,
New York and the “northwest territories” of Illinois gender, and race.
Video Overview
➣ Authors covered: James Fenimore Cooper, John Native American and European culture, Natty chal-
Rollin Ridge (Yellow Bird), Walt Whitman lenges notions about American identity. Cooper’s
➣ Who’s interviewed: Sherman Alexie, author and adoption of feminine imagery to describe the Ameri-
filmmaker; Blake Almendinger, professor of English can landscape and his romantic yet ultimately dismis-
(University of California, Los Angeles); Ramon Saldivar, sive view of Native Americans problematizes the role
professor of American literature (Stanford University); of gender and race in the construction of American
April Selley, associate professor of English (College of identity.
Saint Rose); Richard Slotkin, professor of American stud- • John Rollin Ridge, a Cherokee journalist, moved
ies (Wesleyan University) racial minorities from the sidelines of American litera-
➣ Points covered: ture into the spotlight with his creation of Joaquin
• Introduction to nineteenth-century American ideas Murieta, a Mexican outlaw who heroically fights the
about expansion, immigration, and the movement atrocities and injustices perpetrated by white American
west. Westward expansion created new identities and invaders in California. Ridge’s own divided ethnicity
conflicts over who and what was American. Writers (he had both European and Cherokee heritage) may
responded by creating masculine heroes who both have influenced his exploration of racial tensions in
challenged and celebrated the idea of the “frontier.” his novel.
• James Fenimore Cooper invented the language for • Walt Whitman was more celebratory of American
subsequent literature about American expansion with expansion than either Cooper or Ridge, but also more
his Leather-Stocking Tales, which focus on the adven- inclusive and tolerant of diversity. Heeding Emerson’s
tures of Natty Bumppo. A man living on the border call for a national poet and a “true American voice,”
between “wilderness” and “civilization” and between Whitman wanted his epic poetry collection Leaves of
V I D E O O V E R V I E W 5
Video Overview (continued)
Grass to express the plurality of voices that constitute More sanguine about expansion, Walt Whitman glorified
America. His innovative style and development of free the vastness of America’s territories while adopting a tol-
verse was foundational for modern American poetry. erant, inclusive attitude toward all of its diverse inhabi-
• These authors constructed ideals of American mas- tants. All of these writers created innovative literary styles
culinity and American expansion that are marked by and enduring themes that continue to influence American
tensions and contradictions. Celebrating Manifest ideas about land and about masculinity.
Destiny and industrialization while also writing nostal- • What to think about while watching: How do these
gically about the people and cultures destroyed by authors both celebrate and challenge nineteenth-century
American expansion, they created a complex portrait American expansionist goals? What racial and ethnic
of the American frontier and the American hero that groups inhabited the American West? How did racial ten-
continues to shape popular culture in this country. sions shape the American movement west? How do the
writers and texts explored in the video create new Ameri-
can heroes and new ideals of masculinity? How have
PREVIEW their efforts influenced American culture and literature?
• Preview the video: In the nineteenth century, the United • Tying the video to the unit content: Unit 5 expands
States acquired vast new territories as a result of explo- on the issues outlined in the video to further explore the
ration, wars, treaties, and land purchases. As people of contradictions and tensions inherent in American ideas
different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds began about the “frontier” and about borderlands. The curricu-
moving into these territories, tensions developed over lum materials offer background on Native American,
who and what should be considered “American.” Writers Mexican, Mexican American, African American, and
responded by creating a literature centered on masculine European-American writers and texts not featured in the
heroes who both celebrate and question the ideals of video. Introducing literature by women into the discussion
American expansion. James Fenimore Cooper wrote the of the movement west, the curriculum materials build on
Leather-Stocking Tales, a series of five historical novels the video’s examination of the construction of masculinity
about the adventures of Natty Bumppo. A man who lives and gender norms. Unit 5 offers contextual background
on the border between Native American and white cul- to expand on the video’s introduction to the political
ture, Natty articulates tensions between “civilization” and issues, historical events, and literary styles that shaped
“nature.” John Rollin Ridge voiced his outrage at the the literature of masculinity and western expansion in the
atrocities committed by white Americans in California United States.
with his tale of the Mexican outlaw hero Joaquin Murieta.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THE VIDEO
How do place and time shape What is an American? How How are American myths
the authors’ works and our does American literature create created, challenged, and
understanding of them? conceptions of the American reimagined through this
experience and identity? literature?
Compre- Why did thousands of people go What different groups inhabited What is “Manifest Destiny”? Who
hension to California in the 1840s and the American West in the nine- was excluded from the America
Questions
1850s? teenth century? that nineteenth-century propo-
nents of Manifest Destiny
envisioned?
Context What was the difference between Why did Cooper use female body What is the relationship between
Questions Ridge’s and Whitman’s views of imagery to describe the American Joaquin Murieta, the outlaw hero,
the railroad and the people who landscape? What role did women and Natty Bumppo, the woods-
worked on it? What role did the play in American expansion? How man who lives on the border
railroad play in American did this role conform to and devi- between Native American and
expansion? ate from nineteenth-century ideals white culture? How do these char-
of femininity and domesticity? acters challenge the societies they
live in? How are they implicated in
the very systems they oppose?
Exploratory How did Cooper bring American How did Ridge critique U.S. policy How did Walt Whitman’s ideals of
Questions history into his works? What in California in his novel The Life inclusiveness shape American lit-
events did he see as appropriate and Adventures of Joaquin erature and American poetry?
for his historical novels? How did Murieta? How did his creation of
his use of American history affect a bandit hero affect American
subsequent American literature? mythology and the development
of later American literary heroes?
TIMELINE
Texts Contexts
1820s James Fenimore Cooper, Precaution: A Novel Missouri Compromise (1820)

(1820), The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground Slave rebellion suppressed in Charleston, South
(1821), The Pioneers, The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea Carolina (1822)
(1823), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Red Bureau of Indian Affairs established (1824)
Rover (1828) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both die on
Catharine Maria Sedgwick, A New-England Tale July 4, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration
(1822), Redwood (1824), Hope Leslie (1827) of Independence (1826)
Democratic Party formed (1828)
1830s Catharine Maria Sedgwick, “Cacoethes Scribendi” Indian Removal Act (1830)
(1830) Anti-Slavery Society founded (1833)
Caroline Stansbury Kirkland, A New Home—Who’ll Texas gains its independence from Mexico (1836)
Follow? (1839) U.S. troops force the removal of Cherokee Indians
(1838)
T I M E L I N E 7
TIMELINE (continued)
Texts Contexts
1840s Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” (1844) Migration to Oregon over the Oregon Trail begins
(1843)
U.S.-Mexican War; annexations include California
(1846–48)
Seneca Falls convention on universal suffrage
(1848)
California Gold Rush begins (1849)
1850s John Rollin Ridge, The Life and Adventures of Compromise of 1850 strengthens Fugitive Slave Act
Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit while admitting California as a free state and
(1854) abolishing slave trade in the District of Columbia
Louise Amelia Smith Clappe, “California in 1851, (1850)
1852. Residence in the Mines” (1854) Sioux Indians give up land in Iowa and Minnesota
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855) to U.S. government (1851)
1860s Walt Whitman, Drum-Taps (1865) Transcontinental telegraph service established

between New York and San Francisco (1861)
American Civil War (1861–65)
Homestead Act (1862)
Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet at
Promontory Point, Utah (1869)
1870s Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Who Would Have Battle of Little Bighorn (“Custer’s Last Stand”)
Thought It? (1872) (1876)
1880s Walt Whitman, Specimen Days (1882) President James Garfield assassinated (1881)
Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, The Squatter and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Don (1885)
1890s Massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1890)
1900s Nat Love, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love Orville and Wilbur Wright achieve first powered
(1907) flight, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (1908)
Ford Model T goes into production (1908)
AUTHOR/TEXT REVIEW
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)

At the height of his fame in the early nineteenth century, James
Fenimore Cooper was America’s foremost novelist and one of the most
successful writers in the world. Judgments on his stature as a novelist
have been less generous since that time, but few would dispute the cul-
tural significance of his innovative tales. Building on the example of
the British novelist Sir Walter Scott, Cooper wrote the first American
historical novels and in the process made subjects such as Native
Americans, the western wilderness, and the democratic political sys-
tem compelling and popular topics for fiction.
Cooper was raised in Cooperstown, the village his father founded in
the forests of upstate New York. His third novel, The Pioneers, is closely
based on his memories of growing up in this frontier community.
Cooper was sent to Yale as an adolescent, but was quickly expelled for
his poor academic performance and his habit of playing pranks. In need
of a career, he enlisted in the merchant marines and the navy, experi-
ences he would later draw on in his popular seafaring novels, including
The Pilot and The Red Rover. Cooper inherited a substantial estate from
his father in 1810, left the navy, and married Susan De Lancey, a woman
from a wealthy New York family. Expecting to live as a privileged
landowner, he was distressed when the following years brought finan-
cial setbacks, debt, and the loss of much of his inherited land.
In 1820, Cooper changed the course of his life when he wrote his
first work of fiction, Precaution, a conventional novel of manners set
in England. According to legend, Cooper wrote the book only because
his wife challenged him to make good on his boast that he could write
a better novel than the one she was reading. Despite his initial offhand
attitude toward writing, Cooper took the American Revolution as the
subject for his second book and composed the first important
American historical novel, The Spy (1821). It met with enormous criti-
cal and financial success. In 1822 he moved his family to New York
City to pursue his new career in earnest. Cooper founded the “Bread
and Cheese” in the city, a social club for men committed to nurturing
American culture. Through the club, Cooper associated with leading
New York merchants, professionals, and artists, including many of the
Hudson River School painters, whose depictions of nature are so fre-
quently associated with Cooper’s literary descriptions of the American
wilderness. In 1823 Cooper published The Pioneers, the first of his five
Leather-Stocking novels and the most autobiographical of his books.
In it he introduced Natty Bumppo (known as the “Leather-Stocking”),
who seized the American imagination as the independent backwoods
hunter and friend to the Indians. Figured as a sort of personification
of the American wilderness, Natty helped construct the mythology of
the frontier and fuel American nostalgia for an idealized past before
“civilization” intruded into the woods. Cooper followed The Pioneers [1161] John Wesley Jarvis, James
with other successful novels, including The Last of the Mohicans, Fenimore Cooper (1822), courtesy of
which chronicles Natty’s adventures in upstate New York during the the New York State Historical
French and Indian War of 1754–63. Assocation.
J A M E S F E N I M O R E C O O P E R 9
At the peak of his success, Cooper took his family on a grand tour
of Europe, where they were introduced to prominent political figures
and artists. He continued writing and publishing novels from abroad,
but many of these works were poorly received by the American press.
Bitter at what he perceived as the American public’s betrayal of him,
Cooper announced in 1834 that he was going to give up novel writing
and retire in seclusion to Cooperstown. From that point on he had
a vexed relationship with his American audience, a problem exacer-
bated by his frequent involvement in petty lawsuits and his increas-
ingly conservative harangues about the sociopolitical state of the
country. Despite his threat to stop writing, Cooper actually wrote pro-
lifically until his death, producing a total of thirty-two novels, along
with several political tracts, works of history, and biographies.
T E A C H I N G T I P S
■ Because it was set in England and featured only English char-

acters, Cooper’s first novel, Precaution (which he published anony-
mously), was assumed to be the work of a British citizen. Reviewers
also concluded that the author was a woman because the novel cen-
tered on domestic scenes and social manners. Perhaps distressed by
this misreading of his nationality and gender, Cooper focused many of
his subsequent novels on American subjects and masculine heroes.
After you give your students this background information, ask them to
think about the strategies Cooper uses to identify his work as both
“manly” and “American.” What does Cooper see as appropriate behav-
ior for a man and for an American? Which characters represent his
ideals of American masculinity? How might his books respond to the
notion, current in nineteenth-century America, that novel reading was
a frivolous and feminine pursuit?
■ Although Cooper features prominent Native American charac-
ters and describes tribal customs in detail in his most famous novels,
he was not personally familiar with Native American culture. In fact,
even though many of his American readers took him to be an expert,
Cooper’s knowledge of Indian culture came largely from books, leg-
ends, and stereotypes. Ask your students to think about how Indians
are portrayed in Cooper’s novels, especially in The Pioneers and/or The
Last of the Mohicans. You might have them pay special attention to the
way he creates two separate versions of Native American character,
celebrating “noble savages” like Uncas and Chingachgook while por-
traying other Native Americans as ferocious, barbarous, and inhu-
mane. How does the Mohicans’ doomed fate work to make them sym-
pathetic and nonthreatening to Cooper’s white audience? What kinds
of prejudices do Cooper’s negative depictions of the Mingo tribe
appeal to? How are Cooper’s stereotypes similar to or different from
twentieth-century stereotypes depicted in Westerns, comic books, and
other popular media?
Q U E S T I O N S C O O P E R W E B A R C H I V E
Comprehension: Settings in works of fiction are often invented to [1161] John Wesley Jarvis, James
symbolize or encapsulate the conflicts that will be developed in the Fenimore Cooper (1822), courtesy of
the New York State Historical
story. How does Cooper describe the frontier community of
Association. Cooper is best known for
Templeton in The Pioneers? How does the town function as a con- his frontier novels of white-Indian rela-
tact point between “civilization” and the wilderness? What kinds of tions. The Pioneers (1823), The Last of
hardships do the townspeople face? What is their vision of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie
“progress”? (1827), The Pathfinder (1840), and The
Comprehension: In 1863, German critic Gustav Freytag argued that Deerslayer (1841) are known collectively
the typical plot of a five-act play had a pyramidal shape. This pyra- as the Leatherstocking Tales.
[6974] Matthew Brady Studio, James
mid consists of five stages: an introduction to the conflict, rising
Fenimore Cooper (c. 1850), courtesy of
action (complication), climax, falling action, and a dénouement the National Archives and Records
(unraveling). Although this pattern, known today as Freytag’s pyra- Administration. Brady photographed a
mid, originally referred to drama, critics have applied the concept number of famous Americans around
to fiction as well. How might we use Freytag’s pyramid to analyze 1850. This portrait of Cooper was taken
the plot development of The Pioneers? In what stage of the pyramid shortly before the author’s death in 1851.
would the chapters “The Judge’s History of the Settlement” and [7314] Thomas Cole, Landscape Scene
from The Last of the Mohicans (1827),
“The Slaughter of the Pigeons” fall? What is the nature of the con-
courtesy of the New York State Historical
flict between Judge Temple and Natty Bumppo? How are their val- Association. A founder of the Hudson
ues opposed? River School, Cole painted several
scenes from James Fenimore Cooper’s
novels. Cole was concerned that such
Climax
industrial developments as the railroad
would spoil the beauty of the Catskills.
[7734] Blake Allmendinger, Interview:
“Male Bonding/Homo-Eroticism in
Cooper’s Novels” (2001), courtesy of
Annenberg Media. Blake Allmendinger,
➔
professor of English at UCLA and author

➔
of The Cowboy: Representations of

Labor in American Work Culture and Ten
Most Wanted: The New Western
Literature, discusses male bonding and
Rising Action Falling Action homo-eroticism in Cooper’s novels.
[7735] Richard Slotkin, Interview:
(Complication) “Cooper’s Critical American Hero,
Relationship to Indians” (2001), courtesy
of Annenberg Media. Richard Slotkin, pro-
FREYTAG’S fessor of American Studies at Wesleyan
➔
PYRAMID University, discusses Cooper’s hero and

his relationship with Native Americans.
Introduction Dénouement
Slotkin’s trilogy on the myth of the fron-
to conflict (Unravelling)
tier in America includes Regeneration
through Violence, The Fatal
Environment, and Gunfighter Nation.
Context: Catharine Maria Sedgwick drew upon Cooper’s development [7530] F. O. C. Darley, The Watch [from
of the American historical novel when she wrote Hope Leslie in the Cooper Vignettes] (1862), courtesy
1827. How does Hope Leslie compare to The Pioneers? Why do you of Reed College. Cooper established a
think Sedgwick chose to write about the Puritans rather than the pattern in American literature of different
French and Indian War and post-Revolutionary period that Cooper races relating outside the bounds of so-
chronicled? How does each book narrate the settlement of new ter- ciety. In the example of Natty Bumppo
and Chingachgook, white masculinity is
ritory by European-Americans? How are the novels’ portraits of
developed through an ethnic “other” in
Native American characters similar? How are they different? the American wilderness.
J A M E S F E N I M O R E C O O P E R 11
Context: Cooper was an enthusiastic admirer of the paintings of the
Hudson River School artists. In a review of one of Thomas Cole’s
paintings, Cooper asserted that the picture was “the work of the
highest genius this country has ever produced” and “one of the
noblest works of art that has ever been wrought.” Cole, in return,
was an admirer of Cooper’s prose and painted several scenes based
on Cooper’s descriptions of the landscape in The Last of the
Mohicans. Why do you think Cooper and Cole were so interested in
and enthusiastic about one another’s work? How are their interests
and subject matters similar? What do their attitudes toward land
and landscape have in common?
Exploration: In both “The Judge’s History of the Settlement” and “The
Slaughter of the Pigeons,” Cooper describes the way “settlement”
and “civilization” exploit and disrupt the natural abundance of the
wilderness. While the Judge tends to view this process as “improve-
ment,” Natty condemns it as destructive and wasteful. What is
Cooper’s position, on the environmental impact of European-
American settlement? In what respects does he seem to side with
the Judge’s position, and in what respects does he seem to side with
Natty? How does The Pioneers raise environmental issues that still
concern us today? How do contemporary debates about issues such
as logging old-growth forests, salmon fishing, and drilling for oil in
the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge grow out of some of the same
controversies raised in The Pioneers?
Exploration: In 1895 Mark Twain published “Fenimore Cooper’s
Literary Offences,” a hilarious indictment of Cooper’s unrealistic
dialogue and heavy-handed plots. What, in Twain’s view, are
Cooper’s biggest “offences” against “literary art”? Why do you think
Twain singled out Cooper? How did the development of both real-
ism and regionalism (styles with which Twain is associated) repre-
sent a break with Cooper’s style?
Exploration: Natty Bumppo has been described as the “first Amer-
ican hero” in U.S. national literature. What qualities make Natty
heroic? How does he deal with the tensions between “wilderness”
and “civilization” that structure life in and around Templeton? How
does he deal with his existence on the border between Native
American and Euro-American culture? How did Cooper’s creation
of Natty influence American literature? What subsequent literary
heroes share some of Natty’s qualities?
Exploration: In her article “ ‘I Have Been, and Ever Shall Be, Your
Friend’: Star Trek, The Deerslayer and the American Romance,”
critic April Selley argues that the male-male bonding between Natty
and his Native American sidekick Chingachgook laid the ground-
work for later American heroes and their ethnic sidekicks (Journal
of Popular Culture 20.1 [Summer 1986]: 89–104). These ethnic side-
kicks, Selley argues, tend to be more effeminate, and thus enhance
the masculinity of the European-American hero. Two famous exam-
ples of European-American heroes and ethnic sidekicks are the
Lone Ranger and Tonto, and Captain Kirk and Spock. Do you agree
with Selley’s reading of Cooper’s characters? Can you think of other
examples that fit this model?
Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789–1867)

Catharine Maria Sedgwick was one of the leading figures in early-
nineteenth-century American literary culture. Although she is less well
known today, she set a pattern for the development of both domestic
novels and historical novels in this country. Male writers such as
James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant respected
Sedgwick as a peer, while female authors such as Lydia Maria Child
and Harriet Beecher Stowe regarded her as a literary role model. Born
into a wealthy Massachusetts Federalist family, Sedgwick was the
sixth of seven children. Her father, a prominent politician who occu-
pied the position of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives dur-
ing Washington’s administration, took an interest in her education and
provided her with a background in literature that would inspire her
later development as a writer.
Sedgwick never married, choosing instead to devote herself to her
writing and to caring for her parents and brothers. She spent time liv-
ing in the homes of several of her brothers, and their unflagging sup-
port for her was a source of both private comfort and professional help
and encouragement. Like many of her siblings, she renounced her par-
ents’ strict Calvinist faith for the tolerance and religious freedoms of
the Unitarian Church, which she joined in 1821. Sedgwick’s conver-
sion was the impetus behind her first novel, A New-England Tale,
which exposes the harshness of Calvinist theology. She hoped the
novel would help convert readers who had not yet “escaped from the
thraldom of orthodox despotism,” as she put it. While her subsequent
novels were more tempered in their critiques of orthodox religion,
[5519] A. B. Durand, Catharine M.
many of these later works were infused by Unitarian values. Sedgwick (c. 1832), courtesy of the
Sedgwick’s most celebrated novel is Hope Leslie, which takes the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-
sixteenth-century Puritan colony in Massachusetts as its setting. 113381].
Portraying Native American characters in a positive light, the novel
advocates interracial friendships and recasts the Pequot War as an act
of unfounded aggression against the Indians. While Hope Leslie con-
siders the possibility of interracial marriage, it ultimately remains
ambivalent about intimate relationships between Europeans and
Indians. Sedgwick wrote several other novels and also produced many
pieces of shorter fiction, which she published in collected editions and
in magazines and literary journals.
Although she was sympathetic to causes such as abolitionism,
Indian rights, and women’s rights, Sedgwick never took an active role
in these movements. Unlike many other nineteenth-century women
writers, she was uncomfortable with overt political activism and
tended to be conservative in her political commitments. In her posthu-
mously published autobiography, she claimed that “an excessive love
of approbation” made her reluctant to challenge social conventions.
Although her legacy is perhaps less radical and her works less didacti-
C AT H A R I N E M A R I A S E D G W I C K 13
S E D G W I C K A R C H I V E cally political than those of the many female authors she inspired,
[1210] John Underhill, The Figure of the Sedgwick was a pioneer among women writers and an important and
Indians’ Fort or Palizado in New England insightful analyst of American society.
and the Manner of the Destroying It By
Captayne Underhill and Captayne
Mason (1638), courtesy of the Library of T E A C H I N G T I P S
Congress [LC-USZ62-32055]. In 1636,

■ In an 1824 book review, a literary critic mistakenly attributed
English settlers engaged in a genocidal
campaign to wipe out the Pequot tribe Sedgwick’s second novel, Redwood (which she published anony-
native to New England. Captain John mously), to James Fenimore Cooper. Sedgwick found the mistake amus-
Underhill included this sketch of the ing, commenting, “It is to be hoped that Mr. C’s self-complacency will
Puritans and their Narragansett allies not be wounded by this mortifying news.” Ask students to think about
destroying a Pequot village in his News the assumptions about gender and authorship that underwrite Sedg-
from America (1638). wick’s witty comment. Why might the reviewer have made the mistake
[1363] Anonymous, John Winthrop
he did? What does Sedgwick’s work have in common with Cooper’s?
(c. 1640s), courtesy of the American
Antiquarian Society. John Winthrop was ■ Writing twenty-five years before Hawthorne’s famous indictment
the first governor of Massachusetts Bay of that “d—d mob of scribbling women,” Sedgwick offered a satiric por-
Colony. His somber-colored clothing trait of the phenomenon of female authorship in her short story
marks him as a Puritan, while his ornate “Cacoethes Scribendi.” Ask students to consider the nature of Sedg-
neck ruff indicates his wealth and social wick’s critique. How does the story question the quality of nineteenth-
status. century women’s writing? How does the title—which translates as
[5519] A. B. Durand, Catharine M.
“writer’s itch”—mock women writers’ pretensions and productivity?
Sedgwick (c. 1832), courtesy of the
Library of Congress [LC-USZ62- What was Sedgwick’s own position within the culture of women writ-
113381]. Sedgwick’s novel Hope Leslie ers that she satirizes? How might she have defended her own work
is notable for its positive depiction of from the criticisms she levels at other women writers in the story?
Native Americans, its presentation of the
Pequot War as an act of European
aggression, and its depiction of interra- Q U E S T I O N S
cial marriage.
Comprehension: What separates the “opposed and contending par-
ties” Sedgwick chronicles in her story “A Reminiscence of
Federalism”? How do national party politics divide the small settle-
ment of Carrington, Vermont? What is the narrator’s attitude
toward the characters’ devotion to their political parties?
Comprehension: How does Sedgwick characterize the three women
who compete for Everell Fletcher’s affections in Hope Leslie? How
does the novel deal with his relationship with Magawisca, the
Pequot woman? What is Magawisca’s fate?
Context: The “secluded and quiet village of H.,” which is the setting
for “Cacoethes Scribendi,” is populated almost solely by women.
How does the dominance of women affect the community? What is
the women’s relationship to the few men in the area? How does
Sedgwick’s description of this female village compare with other
writers’ accounts of western communities populated almost exclu-
sively by men (works by Love, Clappe, or Ridge, for example)?
Context: How do the Native American characters in Hope Leslie artic-
ulate their attachment to their traditional lands? How do their atti-
tudes toward their land and their culture compare with those
expressed by the Cherokee memorialists?
Exploration: How does Sedgwick’s portrait of the Pequot War in Hope
Leslie undermine or challenge historical accounts of that event writ-
ten by Puritans? How do Nelema and Magawisca’s moving descrip-
tions of the slaughter of the Pequots compare to John Underhill’s
account of the war? Or William Bradford’s?
Exploration: Sedgwick’s brother felt that his sister’s first novel, A New-
England Tale, had alienated some of its readers by its “unfavorable
representation of the New England character.” In response,
Sedgwick determined to provide less hostile descriptions of
Puritans and their descendants in her subsequent work. How does
she portray the Puritan community in Hope Leslie? Which Puritans
are sympathetic? How does she portray John Winthrop? How does
her representation of Winthrop compare to his authorial persona in
his Journal?
Cherokee Memorials
At the end of the eighteenth century, the Cherokee tribe was living in
the mountain areas of northern Georgia and western North Carolina,
on land guaranteed to them by the United States in the 1785 Treaty of
Hopewell and the 1791 Holston Treaty. The Cherokee Nation had its
own government, governing council, and by 1827 its own constitution,
making it an independent sovereign nation. Increasingly, however,
white settlers refused to respect Cherokee sovereignty and began
encroaching on Cherokee land—especially when gold was discovered
there in 1829. These illegal incursions by white settlers and prospec-
tors were the basis for a series of ongoing disputes among the
Cherokee Nation, the state of Georgia, and the federal government of
the United States. In 1830 the United States Congress, with the sup-
port of President Andrew Jackson, attempted to legislate a permanent
solution to the dispute by passing the Indian Removal Act by a nar-
row margin. The act stipulated that the government could forcibly
relocate Native Americans living within their traditional lands in east-
ern states to areas west of the Mississippi designated as “Indian
Territory.” With this stroke, the federal government officially sanc-
tioned the prevalent racist view that Native Americans had no valid
claims to their homelands and should be moved westward to make
way for white settlers and white culture.
During the debates over the Indian Removal Act, many Cherokee
writers penned impassioned letters, pamphlets, and editorials to
defend their tribe’s right to its sovereignty and its land. Drawing on a
long tradition of eloquence and a high rate of literacy and fluency in
English among tribe members, the Cherokee produced articulate and
compelling defenses of their position. In some cases they appealed to
Congress and the courts directly with their letters and memorials—
the nineteenth-century equivalent of petitions. The Cherokee Council,
which was the official leadership body of the tribe, composed its own
memorial to send to Congress, while also submitting twelve other
memorials written by Cherokee citizens who, as the council put it,
[6823] F. W. Greenough, Se-Quo-Yah
“wish to speak of their wishes and determination . . . themselves.”
[Sequoiah] (c. 1836), courtesy of the
John Ridge (the father of John Rollin Ridge), who held the position Library of Congress, Prints and
of council clerk, probably authored the Council’s official memorial Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-
with the help of the other council members. The document uses for- 4815].
C H E R O K E E M E M O R I A L S 15
mal, polished, legalistic language to articulate its claim that the forced
removal of the Cherokee would be unnecessary, contrary to estab-
lished agreements, and immoral. In its efforts to appeal to its white
audience, the memorial stresses the Cherokees’ commitment to “civi-
lization” and their wish to “pursue agriculture and to educate their
sons and daughters in the sciences,” thus implying that the Cherokees’
willingness to assimilate with white culture should strengthen their
claim of sovereignty. At the same time, the memorial also insists on
the Cherokees’ separateness from the United States and on their his-
torical claim to their land—a claim that long predates the arrival of
Europeans in America. Perhaps most powerfully, the memorial skill-
fully employs American republican ideals of independence, natural
rights, and self-government to point out the hypocrisy of nineteenth-
century American policy and to support the Cherokees’ claims. The
citizens’ memorials use many of the same rhetorical strategies, but are
generally characterized by less formal language than the document
composed by the council. The Cherokee memorials provided a model
of rhetoric for subsequent Native American protest literature, such as
William Apess’s “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (fea-
tured in Unit 4).
Tragically, for all their eloquence, the memorials were not effective.
The state of Georgia, backed up by the federal government, continued
to exert pressure upon the tribe to remove. Eventually, Ridge and some
other leaders came to believe that resistance was futile and signed the
Treaty of New Echota, agreeing to cede Cherokee lands to the state of
Georgia. Most of the tribe, however, did not agree with the treaty and
did not want to vacate their lands. In 1838, the United States govern-
ment enforced the treaty by sending in federal troops and private con-
tractors to compel the Cherokee to move west to what is now
Oklahoma. One-third of the tribe died on the forced westward march,
along what came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
■ Scholars have noted that the official memorial of the Cherokee

Council employs pointed, though unstated, references to the language
and logic of the Declaration of Independence. Most powerfully, by
appealing to the ideals of independence and of natural human rights,
the official memorial effectively points out the disjunction between
American rhetoric of freedom and equality and the government’s
despotic treatment of the Cherokee. Ask students to consider the rela-
tionship between the Cherokee memorials and foundational American
documents such as the Declaration of Independence. You might have
students examine the Cherokee syllabary, and then discuss the way the
Cherokee might be considered a culture in transition between oral and
written expression. The Cherokee were the first tribe in the United
States to develop a complete syllabary—that is, a written script that
included characters for the vowel and consonant sounds of their lan-
guage, thus enabling them to write in Cherokee.
■ In its opening paragraphs, the “Memorial of the Cherokee
Citizens” uses less formal language than the “Memorial of the C H E R O K E E M E M O R I A L S
Cherokee Council.” It is sometimes characterized as reflecting tradi- W E B A R C H I V E
tional Cherokee oratorical practices in its rhetoric and language, while [5595] Gales and Seaton’s Register,
the Council’s memorial is written in the conventional style of Register of Debates, House of
eighteenth-century government documents. Yet, by its closing, the Representatives, 23rd Congress, 2nd
Memorial of the Cherokee Citizens adopts more formal, legalistic lan- Session, Pages 1007 through 1008,
guage and sounds quite similar to the memorial of the Council. Ask Cherokee Memorial (1835), courtesy of
the Library of Congress. This is a record
students to consider the shift in tone and language in the Memorial of
of Congress’s reception of the Cherokee
the Cherokee Citizens. Why might the memorialists have chosen to Council Memorial. Despite their peti-
close their petition on a more formal note? What are the advantages tions and appropriation of the republi-
and disadvantages of the two different styles at work in the memorial? can ideals of natural rights and inde-
pendence, the Cherokee people were
forced off their lands in 1838.
Q U E S T I O N S [5916] John Ross to Abraham Lincoln,
September 16, 1862 [Re: Relations
Comprehension: How are the “Memorial of the Cherokee Council”
between the U.S. and the Cherokee
and the “Memorial of the Cherokee Citizens” different from one Nation] (1862), courtesy of the Library
another? Why do you think the Cherokee chose to submit multiple of Congress. During the early nineteenth
memorials from different groups in the tribe rather than a single century, Cherokee politics were highly
memorial? factionalized. Author John Rollin Ridge’s
Context: The Cherokee Council’s memorial points out that, histori- grandfather, Major Ridge, argued that it
cally, the “phraseology, composition, etc.” of treaties between was useless to resist the U.S. government
and hence supported removal. John
the United States and the Cherokee were “always written by the
Ross led the opposing faction, which
Commissioners, on the part of the United States . . . as the urged complete resistance.
Cherokees were unacquainted with letters.” Given the council’s [6823] F. W. Greenough, Se-Quo-Yah
awareness of this problem, what is the significance of the memori- [Sequoiah] (c. 1836), courtesy of the
als’ status as written texts? How does the Cherokees’ “unlettered” Library of Congress, Prints and
history impact their written presentation of their situation? Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-
Context: What kinds of attitudes toward land and land ownership do 4815]. Half-length portrait of Sequoyah
holding a tablet that shows the
the Cherokee memorials endorse? How do their feelings about their
Cherokee alphabet. Sequoyah devel-
relationship to their land compare to nineteenth-century white oped a Cherokee syllabary that enabled
writers’ attitudes toward land (in works by Cooper, Clappe, or his people to write in their own lan-
Kirkland, for example)? guage.
Exploration: How do the Cherokee memorials compare to early [8688] Arch C. Gerlach, editor, Map of
national documents proclaiming American sovereignty (such as the Early Indian Tribes, Culture Areas, and
Declaration of Independence or the Constitution)? How do the Linguistic Stocks [from The National
Atlas of the United States, U.S. Dept. of
Cherokee memorials exploit traditional American rhetoric of free-
the Interior, Geological Survey] (1970),
dom and natural rights to their own ends? courtesy of the General Libraries,
Exploration: How does William Apess draw upon the rhetorical University of Texas at Austin. The
strategies and language developed by the Cherokee memorialists in Cherokee Nation originally lived in the
his “Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man”? How do Apess’s southeastern part of what is now the
reform goals compare to the memorialists’ goal of retaining posses- United States, but after the unsuccessful
sion of their homeland? petitions of the Cherokee memorials, the
Cherokee people were removed to
Exploration: In The Return of the Native: American Indian Political
present-day Oklahoma.
Resurgence, sociologist and political scientist Stephen Cornell
traces three basic stages in American Indian political resurgence.
Cornell argues that while in the early contact period, Native
American groups were able to maintain authority and status by
playing European colonial powers off one another, in the years fol-
lowing the American Revolution, American Indian nations suffered
a loss of land, social cohesion, and economic independence as
C H E R O K E E M E M O R I A L S 17
America expanded westward. This dislocation and disempower-
ment was in turn followed by militant activism in the 1960s and
1970s. Where do the Cherokee memorials fit into this continuum
and what resistance strategies do they use? How do their resistance
strategies compare to those of the Sioux during the Ghost Dance
(Unit 1), or the Costanoans during the revolt against the Franciscan
missionaries (Unit 7)?
Corridos
The corrido, a narrative ballad usually sung or spoken to music, was
the most important literary genre of the southwestern border region,
where it achieved its greatest popularity between the 1830s and the
1930s. Developed by Mexicans and Mexican Americans living in the
former Mexican province of Nuevo Santander (currently Texas, New
Mexico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas),
corridos drew upon traditional Spanish ballad
forms to articulate singers’ experiences of cultural
conflict in the borderlands. The word “corrido” is
derived from the Spanish correr (“to run”), signaling
the rapid tempo and brisk narrative pace that usual-
ly characterize these songs. Corridos do not have
refrains or choruses; rather, the lyrics move the lis-
tener through the narrative quickly and without
digression. Often composed within a short musical
range of less than a single octave, corridos enable
the performer to sing at high volume. Singers are
often accompanied by guitar or the bajo sexto, a
twelve-string guitar popular in Texas and New
Mexico.
Corridos were usually composed to record politi-
cal and social conflicts, current events, and extraor-
dinary occurrences. While they were sometimes
printed and distributed as broadsides, their primary
mode of circulation was through oral performance.
Some of the most famous of these broadsides were
illustrated by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada
on topics such as the Ku Klux Klan, the American
“mosquito” (invaders), and episodes of violence in
the Southwest. In this way, Latinos’ borderland
experiences—and political protests—were recorded
in the memories and artistic expression of the peo-
ple who learned the corridos. Many nineteenth-
century corridos are still sung and recorded, and
Mexicans and Mexican Americans continue to com-
pose new corridos: popular musicians who use the
[7354] José Guadalupe Posada,
corrido form include Los Tigres del Norte and the late singer Selena.
Verdaderos Versos de Macario Romero
[The Truth about Macario Romero] Today, as then, corridos function as a kind of “musical newspaper”
(1912), courtesy of the Library of of the poor and oppressed; as musician and author Elijah Wald ex-
Congress [LC-DIG-ppmsc-04557]. poses in Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and
Guerrillas, contemporary corridos record the stories of drug traffick-
ers, government corruption, bloody battles in Chiapas, and immigrant
hardship in the United States.
Traditional corridos were a product of the dynamic culture within
the border communities, where Mexicans, European Americans, and
Native Americans vied for land rights, employment opportunities, and
political authority. Expressing intercultural conflict from a Mexican
point of view, the ballads often focus on an “outlaw” hero who defends
his rights—as well as those of other Mexicans—against the unjust
authority of Anglo rinches (“rangers”) or other officials empowered by
the American government after its annexation of Texas. The rinches
were the Texas Rangers, who are sometimes celebrated outside of the
corrido tradition as proponents of law and order in the Southwest. In
reality, the Rangers were part of the European-American colonization
movement and were partially responsible for the enormous number of
lynchings of Mexicans and Chicanos in Texas and other areas of the
Southwest.
Corridos serve as records of these and other injustices. Most cor- C O R R I D O S W E B A R C H I V E
rido heroes are driven to crime only as a last resort or out of an honor- [5615] Anonymous, Disturnell Map of
able desire to avenge wrongs that have been perpetrated against them. Mexico (c. 1850), courtesy of the
For example, Gregorio Cortez kills two Texas sheriffs after they shoot Benson Latin American Collection,
his brother, and Rito Garcia shoots Anglo officers after they invade his University of Texas at Austin. Although
home without a warrant. Corridos also celebrate figures who chal- the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo offi-
lenge political boundaries through their labor, such as vaqueros (“cow- cially ended the Mexican-American War
in 1848, disputes continued between the
boys”) and smugglers. “Kiansis,” a corrido that asserts the vaqueros’
Mexican and U.S. governments concern-
superiority to Anglo cowboys, chronicles the Mexican cattlehands’ ing, among other issues, the border of
drive into the American territory of Kansas. These songs provide an Texas.
important counter story to western novelist Owen Wister’s famous [5936] José Guadalupe Posada,
racist claim that only Anglos make good cowboys. Wister is the author Corrido: Fusilamiento Bruno Martinez
of The Virginian, an early cowboy novel, and was a classmate of (1920s), courtesy of Davidson Galleries.
President Theodore Roosevelt (a popular target of early corridos’ Political and social statements figured
importantly in Posada’s art. This
fury), who led the Rough Riders.
Revolutionary-era print shows a charro
Some corridos close with their heroes’ triumphant return to the bravely facing a group of onrushing fed-
Mexican community, while others narrate their capture, imprison- erales. The title translates as The
ment, or execution. Whatever their fate, the men who are the subject Execution of Bruno Martinez.
of corridos are always celebrated as heroes because they defend their [6318] Lee Russell, Backyards of
rights courageously and skillfully. Effectively translating political Mexican Homes. Alamo, Texas (1939),
ideals of protest and resistance into a popular form, corridos func- courtesy of the Library of Congress
[LC USF34-032141-D]. Corridos grew
tioned as powerful expressions of Mexican and Mexican American cul-
out of the experience of the borderlands
tural pride. Today, they are recognized as one of the most important of the Southwest. As an oral history of a
foundations for the rich Chicano literary tradition that developed in people, they document the everyday
the twentieth century. lives of the people who live in the lands
that were once part of Mexico.
[6392] Mrs. Henry Krausse, Corrido de
T E A C H I N G T I P S los Rangers (Ballad of the Rangers)
(1939), courtesy of the Library of
■ After your students read the featured corridos in their English
Congress. Corridos often expressed dis-
translations (located in the archive), ask them to look at the Spanish content with the oppression of Chicanos
lyrics as you play a recording of a corrido being performed. Even if in the borderlands. This corrido tells of
they do not understand Spanish, they can focus on the rhythm and the 1912 feud between Texas Rangers
repetition of sounds in the original corrido through the lyrics. Ask and Brownsville officials.
C O R R I D O S 19
[7354] José Guadalupe Posada, them to think about how the music influences the effect of the ballad
Verdaderos Versos de Macario Romero and what is lost in the English translation. Since this musical genre
[The Truth about Macario Romero] will be unfamiliar to many students, it might also be useful to play
(1912), courtesy of the Library of
some political protest music that may be more familiar to them—
Congress [LC-DIG-ppmsc-04557].
Handbills printed with the lyrics to popu- sixties folk songs, for example. You can also ask students to compare
lar corridos were often sold to audiences the corrido in form and content to English-language ballads from the
for a small fee. This broadside features same region and era, for example, “The Dying Cowboy” and “The
an illustration by José Guadalupe Dying Ranger.” What rhetorical strategies does each use to develop
Posada. sympathy ( pathos) and to emphasize the moral character (ethos) of
[7505] Anonymous, Music in Mexican
the protagonist?
Isurrecto Camp (1911), courtesy of the
■ Traditionally, corridos are composed by men, performed by men,
Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-
115488]. This photo emphasizes and written about men. Ask students to consider how ideals of mas-
the close relationship between music culinity inform the corridos in the archive. What makes the male sub-
and politics in the borderlands as musi- ject a hero? How does he deal with adversity, capture, or defeat? How
cians and armed men pose in a is masculinity tied to ethnicity in these corridos? Ask your students to
Revolutionary camp during the Mexican pay attention not only to the corridos’ portraits of the courageous
Civil War. deeds of their heroes, but also to their descriptions of men who cry
[9064] Anonymous, El Corrido de
and men who complain.
Gregorio Cortez (c. 1910), courtesy of
Pedro Rocha and Lupe Martínez. This
corrido takes as its subject the murder of Q U E S T I O N S
an Anglo-Texan sheriff by a Texas
Mexican, Gregorio Cortez, and the Comprehension: What motivates the heroes of the corridos in the
ensuing chase, capture, and imprison- archive? What kinds of values do they espouse? How do they com-
ment of Cortez. It formed the basis for pare to their Anglo adversaries and rivals?
Americo Paredes’ novel, With a Pistol in
Context: Compare the corrido about Gregorio Cortez to John Ridge’s
His Hand.
novel, Joaquin Murieta. What do these title characters have in com-
mon? How do they interact with Anglo authority figures? How do
their stories end? How does the corrido as a genre impact the por-
trait of Gregorio Cortez? How would Ridge’s account of Murieta’s
life be different if it had been written as a corrido?
Exploration: While corridos were most popular between 1830
and 1930, they are still composed and sung today. Late-twentieth-
century corridos include the “Recordado al Presidente,” about
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Texas, and the
“Corrido de Cesar Chavez,” about Chavez’s organization of the
United Farm Workers and their successful protest for better work-
ing conditions. How do the lyrics of these later corridos compare to
the earlier corridos? What kinds of shifts in values do you see? How
are the heroes of these later ballads different from heroes like
Gregorio Cortez or Jacinto Trevino? How are they similar?
Exploration: Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street consists of a
series of vignettes, each of which revolves around the young hero-
ine, Esperanza. What analogies do you see between the structure of
characterization used in the corridos and in Cisneros’s novel?
Caroline Stansbury Kirkland (1801–1864)
Appearing well before either “regionalism” or “realism” had estab-
lished themselves as literary movements, Caroline Kirkland’s early
writings anticipate these developments to such a degree that many
critics now consider her to be among their founders. Born to a liter-
ary, middle-class family in New York, Caroline Stansbury received a
good education at a series of distinguished schools and academies. In
1828, she married William Kirkland and moved to Geneva, New York,
where the couple had four children and founded and ran a girls’
school. In 1835, the Kirklands moved to Detroit, in the Michigan
Territory, where William accepted a job as principal of the Detroit
Female Seminary. He soon began purchasing large parcels of land in
the Michigan backcountry and eventually moved his family to the
frontier village of Pinckney, which he hoped would grow and thus
increase the value of his land. The move into the backcountry inspired
Kirkland to write her first work, a collection of realistic and often
humorous sketches of frontier life called A New Home—Who’ll
Follow?, written under the pseudonym of “Mrs. Mary Clavers.”
In 1843, after William lost the family’s landholdings and capital to a
swindling land agent, the family was forced to return to New York.
There, Kirkland taught school and continued her writing career, pub-
lishing pieces in magazines and literary journals. In 1846, William
died suddenly, leaving Kirkland to support herself and their children.
Building on her literary connections, Kirkland took a job as the editor
of the Union Magazine of Literature and Art, a position she held until
1851. Under her guidance, the magazine maintained a commitment to
supporting both literary realism and women’s writing. She also suc-
cessfully compiled and sold several popular “gift books” (expensively
printed books containing stories, essays, and poems, often given
as gifts in the nineteenth century). Her literary celebrity enabled her
to generate popular support for social reforms as well as for philan-
thropic work supporting the Union soldiers during
the Civil War.
Today Kirkland is remembered chiefly for her
innovative, realistic descriptions of western pioneer
life in A New Home. Explicitly reacting against other
writers’ romanticized visions of the West, Kirkland
was committed to providing her readers with an
honest description of both the hardships and the
joys of frontier life. Kirkland was also unique in
offering a portrait of the West from something other
than a masculinized point of view; rather than
focusing on heroic tales of cowboys, outlaws, and
dangerous adventures in the wilds of nature,
Kirkland took as her subject the everyday experiences of hardworking [4340] Thomas Cole, Home in the
women. Her witty, insightful commentary on problems of baking and Woods (1847), courtesy of Reynolda
ironing and getting along with one’s neighbors is filtered through the House, Museum of American Art.
persona of her narrator—an educated, middle-class woman who takes
women’s concerns seriously. Although her narrator in A New Home
sometimes seems snobbish and overly invested in class distinctions by
C A R O L I N E S TA N S B U R Y K I R K L A N D 21
K I R K L A N D W E B A R C H I V E today’s standards, Kirkland’s voice marks an important innovation in
[4340] Thomas Cole, Home in the descriptions of the West.
Woods (1847), courtesy of Reynolda
House, Museum of American Art.
Painted just before the artist died in
1848, Thomas Cole’s Home in the ■ Kirkland describes in detail many of the domestic commodities
Woods depicts the pastoral bliss of a
that circulate within her frontier community, both to complain about
settler family amidst the destructive effect
of human intrusion and settlement on her ungrateful neighbors’ habit of borrowing her possessions and to
wilderness. poke fun at pioneer women’s pretensions in owning such luxuries as
[4423] Anonymous, The First Step “silver tea-pots” and fancy dresses. Ask students to think about the role
[Godey’s Lady’s Book] (June 1858), of commodities in Kirkland’s narrative. How does she feel when she is
courtesy of Hope Greenberg, University accused of “introducing luxury” into the community when she dis-
of Vermont. During the nineteenth cen- plays her parlor carpet? How do commodities function to distinguish
tury, a parlor was perceived as a neces-
one “class” of women from another within the village? What kind of
sary room in every home. Even
Americans who lacked room for a for- symbolic importance do the women in Pinckney attach to their furni-
mal parlor adorned their living spaces ture and household goods? How does gender structure the people of
with decorative objects, such as the Pinckney’s attitudes toward domestic objects, both decorative and use-
paintings and bureau-top items in this ful? You might refer students to the contextual material on parlors fea-
drawing. tured in Unit 8.
[5806] J. F. Queen, Home Sweet
■ Realism is usually thought of as a post–Civil War development in
Home II (1871), courtesy of the Library
American literature, probably because male writers did not adopt it
of Congress [LC-USZC4-2056].
Homesteading was often romanticized in until the 1860s and 1870s. Kirkland’s work provides clear evidence of
American literature and decorative arts, an earlier incarnation of realism, yet she has never received the kind
as in this popular pastoral print of a of critical attention afforded to the male writers who are seen as real-
woman feeding sheep. ism’s “pioneers”—writers like Mark Twain and William Dean Howells.
[8703] Arch C. Gerlach, ed., Map of Ask students to think about the assumptions that inform our catego-
Territorial Growth—1830 [from The rization and canonization of particular American writers. How does
National Atlas of the United States, U.S.
gender impact writers’ reputations? How do we decide what consti-
Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey]
(1970), courtesy of the General tutes a “school” or “movement” within American literature?
Libraries, University of Texas at Austin.
Spurred by the belief in Manifest Destiny
Q U E S T I O N S
and the search for a Northwest Passage,
the United States acquired new land Comprehension: How do men and women experience frontier life
through wars, treaties, and purchase. differently, according to Kirkland’s analysis in A New Home? What
distinct problems and anxieties do women encounter in their new
homes in the West?
Comprehension: Chapter 36 is titled “Classes of Emigrants.” What
characterizes the different “classes” that Kirkland describes? Which
classes does Kirkland respect? Which does she condemn? How do
issues of class structure Kirkland’s portrait of life in the village of
Pinckney?
Context: In many ways, Kirkland’s sketches of frontier life read like
letters home or journal entries. How does her project in A New
Home compare to Louise Clappe’s descriptive letters about life in
the mines in California? How are the narrative personae that these
writers develop similar? In what respects do they differ? What kind
of audience does each writer assume?
Exploration: A New Home—Who’ll Follow? sold well and received
favorable notices from important reviewers such as William Cullen
Bryant and Edgar Allan Poe. Yet Kirkland’s book marks a distinct
shift from previous popular descriptions of frontier life—it is nei-
ther romanticized nor sentimental nor filled with tales of mascu-
line heroism and adventure. Why do you think Kirkland’s work
appealed to nineteenth-century readers? Do you think she appealed
to the same kind of audience that read Cooper and Nat Love?
Louise Amelia Smith Clappe (1819 –1906)

Born in New Jersey and educated at female academies in New
England, Louise Clappe had an unusual background for a participant
in and chronicler of the Gold Rush. She was raised
by her father, a mathematics professor, after her
mother’s early death, and then by a guardian after
she was orphaned in 1837. Her thorough education
left her with a well-rounded knowledge of arts and
literature.
In 1848, Louise Smith married Fayette Clapp, a
young medical apprentice (Smith would later change
the spelling of her married name to “Clappe”).
Infected with “gold fever,” he moved with his new
wife to San Francisco in 1849 at the beginning of the
Gold Rush. From San Francisco, the couple moved
on to the mining camps springing up throughout
northern California, where Fayette hoped to estab-
lish a profitable medical practice. In 1851 and 1852, the Clapps lived [7357] Sarony and Major, View of San
in Rich Bar and nearby Indian Bar, two boomtowns on the East Fork Francisco, Taken from the Western Hill at
of the Feather River. The mining camps were makeshift and primitive, the Foot of Telegraph Hill, Looking
presenting their inhabitants with difficult living conditions, especially Toward Ringon Point and Mission Valley
[detail] (c. 1851), courtesy of the Library
during the rainy winter. Clappe was one of relatively few women to
of Congress [LC-USZC2-1716].
live among the miners and prospectors—the first California census of
1850 indicates that the population of the state was over 90 percent
male—but as Clappe’s letters make clear, more women were immigrat-
ing to California along the Oregon Trail as the decade progressed.
While living in the mining camps, Clappe began writing descrip-
tive letters about her experiences to her sister, Molly, who lived in
Massachusetts. Drawing on traditions of literary letter writing begun
by Caroline Kirkland and by Margaret Fuller in her Summer on the
Lakes, in 1843 (published in 1844), Clappe produced articulate epistles
about her encounters. Witty, keenly observant, and often filled with lit-
erary references, Clappe’s letters paint a vivid picture of the diversity
and dynamism of the social world created by the Gold Rush. Clappe’s
perspective is surprisingly unconstrained by her status as a “proper
lady”—she records everything she witnesses in the camps, from spe-
cialized mining techniques to incidents of mob justice to the prospec-
tors’ drunken gambling sprees. Her delight in the natural beauty of
northern California also permeates her letters.
Left with an unsuccessful medical practice when the gold in
the area was exhausted, Fayette Clapp moved his wife back to San
Francisco in 1852. Soon after, the couple separated: while Fayette
sailed to Hawaii and eventually returned to the Atlantic coast, Louise
LO U I S E A M E L I A S M I T H C L A P P E 23
C L A P P E W E B A R C H I V E Clappe remained in San Francisco and found work as a schoolteacher.
[1303] Francis Samuel Marryat, The In 1856, she formally filed for divorce and changed the spelling of her
Winter of 1849 (1855), courtesy of name from “Clapp” to “Clappe.” In 1878, she retired from schoolteach-
Bancroft Library, University of California, ing and moved back to New England, where she lived until her death.
Berkeley. This illustration of residents try- Louise Clappe eventually published the letters she had written to
ing to navigate San Francisco’s flooded her sister from the mining camps, using the title “California, in 1851
streets shows how rapidly growing cities
and 1852. Residence in the Mines.” The letters appeared serially
and towns suffered from poor planning
and local weather conditions. between 1854 and 1855 in the San Francisco magazine The Pioneer,
[5228] Anonymous, Montgomery Street, where they became known as the “Shirley Letters” because Clappe
San Francisco, 1852 (n.d.), courtesy of signed them with the pseudonym “Shirley” or “Dame Shirley.” If
the Library of Congress, Prints and Clappe hoped to gain fame or fortune from her writings, she published
Photographs Division [LC-USZ62- a little too late, for public excitement over the Gold Rush had waned
55762]. Rapid, primarily Euro-American by 1854. Nonetheless, her letters have been important to historians for
immigration during the Gold Rush
their unique perspective on life in the California mining camps, and
brought California to statehood in
1850, as a “free state” that forbade her work is now recognized as an important literary accomplishment.
slavery. Yet demand for land and forced
labor caused a genocidal-scale popula-
tion decline among California Indians.
[5841] Currier and Ives, Gold Mining in ■ Clappe frequently employs literary allusions, referencing
California (c.1871), courtesy of the Shakespeare, Greek mythology, Romantic poets, and British writers
Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-1755].
such as Charles Dickens who would have been her contemporaries.
This Currier and Ives lithograph presents
a romantic and sanitized portrayal of life Ask your students to consider the function of these self-conscious
in the gold fields. In actuality, the mining assertions of “literariness” in Clappe’s letters. How do they affect the
process took an incredible toll on both tone and voice of the letters? Why might Clappe have been interested
miners and the surrounding environ- in including these allusions in her work?
ment. ■ In Letter 12, Clappe tells her sister that she is committed to giving
[5599] Louise Amelia Smith Clappe, let-
her a “true picture” of life in the mining camps. Ask your students to
ter from The Pioneer, Letters from the
think about this “documentary” goal in Clappe’s letters. Why does she
Mines (1851), courtesy of the California
History Room, California State Library. A feel bound to report everything that she observes, even the “disagree-
well-educated woman from New Jersey, able subjects”? In many ways, the letters read more like a diary than
Louise Clappe wrote numerous letters to correspondence between two people—Clappe rarely asks about her sis-
her sister about her experiences in the ter or even specifically addresses her. Ask your students whether they
mining camps of California. In 1850 believe Clappe envisioned another, wider audience for her writing, or
less than 10 percent of California’s whether she might have revised the letters before publishing them.
inhabitants were female.
[7357] Sarony and Major, View of San
Francisco, Taken from the Western Hill at Q U E S T I O N S
the Foot of Telegraph Hill, Looking
Toward Ringon Point and Mission Valley Comprehension: Based on Clappe’s letters, what kind of role do you
[detail] (c. 1851), courtesy of the Library think women occupied within the mining camps (which were pop-
of Congress [LC-USZC2-1716]. Less ulated mainly by men)? What kinds of challenges would life in a
than two years after the Gold Rush mining town pose for women? What is Clappe’s attitude toward the
began, San Francisco had become a
other women whom she encounters in Rich Bar? How do issues of
sprawling boom town that drew people
from all over the world. This illustration class seem to color Clappe’s descriptions of women?
shows both a busy city and a very active Context: Compare Clappe’s account of life in Rich Bar with Caroline
harbor crowded with ships. Kirkland’s narrative of life in the Michigan Territory. What do the
two women have in common? How are their accounts of “settling”
in new territory different? How do the different regional character-
istics of the Midwest and California shape their narratives in differ-
ent ways? How does each attempt to create a “true picture” of her
life as a settler?
Context: Examine the illustration entitled The Winter of 1849 featured
in the archive. How does the artist’s depiction of life in a mining
town compare to Clappe’s account of her experiences?
Exploration: Scholars have noted that Bret Harte borrowed heavily
from Clappe’s letters in his stories “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and
“The Luck of Roaring Camp.” Some scholars have also asserted that
Mark Twain may have been inspired by an episode in Clappe’s let-
ters when he wrote “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County.” What does Clappe have in common with these writers of
literary regionalism? Why do you think they achieved greater fame
and financial profit than she did?
Walt Whitman (1819 –1892)

Walt Whitman’s publication of Leaves of Grass in July 1855 repre-
sented nothing short of a radical shift in American poetry. Written in
free verse—that is, having no regular meter or rhyme but instead re-
lying on repetition and irregular stresses to achieve poetic effects—
Whitman’s poems flouted formal conventions in favor of an expansive,
irregular, and often colloquial expression of poetic voice. Whitman
unified his poems through the use of repetition of key opening words
and ideas, parallelism between lines, and lists to bridge together the
diversity he found around him. Critics have tended to see this mode of
verse-making as more democratic, as it allows for both autonomy and
unity in a startling new way. Whitman also flouted convention in his
choice of subject matter: in his efforts to tell the epic story of American
democracy in all its diversity, he excluded almost nothing from his
focus and emphasized the body as much as the soul, the rude as much
as the refined. Figuring himself and his poetry as the visionary rep-
resentation of the American body politic, Whitman constructed an
inclusive, all-embracing identity that could, as he characterized it, [5513] Anonymous, Walt Whitman
“contain multitudes.” In the first edition of Leaves of Grass (which he (1854), courtesy of the Library of
printed himself), he did not include his name on the title page. Congress [LC-USZ62-79942].
Instead, he presented his readers with a picture of himself, dressed in
casual working man’s clothes, as the representative of the American
collective self. Challenging tradition and shocking readers, Whitman’s
book was a revolutionary manifesto advocating a new style and a new
purpose for American literature, as well as a new identity for the
American poet.
No one could have predicted from Whitman’s upbringing that he
would emerge as a revolutionary poet. Born to a working-class family
in New York, Walter Whitman received only six years of formal educa-
tion before going to work at the age of eleven. He started out as an
office boy and later became a printer’s apprentice, a journalist, a
teacher, and finally an editor. Over the course of his career, he edited
or contributed to more than a dozen newspapers and magazines in the
New York area, as well as working briefly in 1848 in New Orleans as
an editor for the New Orleans Crescent. As a newspaperman, he was
exposed to and participated in the important political debates of his
time, usually affiliating himself with the radical Democrats.
W A LT W H I T M A N 25
By 1850 Whitman had largely withdrawn from his journalistic work
in order to read literature and concentrate on his poetry. Given the
ambition of the project—Whitman intended Leaves of Grass to be an
American epic, that is, a narration of national identity on a grand, all-
encompassing scale—it is perhaps unsurprising that he continued
revising, rearranging, and expanding this collection for the rest of his
life. Between 1855 and 1881 he published six different editions of
Leaves of Grass. Many literary critics were shocked by Whitman’s
convention-defying style, reviewing the work as “reckless and inde-
cent” and “a mass of stupid filth.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, however,
praised the book in a private letter to Whitman as “the most extraordi-
nary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced.” Elated
by this generous praise, Whitman immediately circulated Emerson’s
letter and supplemented it by anonymously writing and publishing
several enthusiastic reviews of his own book.
In subsequent editions of Leaves of Grass, Whitman caused more
controversy with his inclusion of a number of sexually explicit poems.
The cluster titled Enfans d’Adam (Children of Adam) in the 1860 edi-
tion focuses on the “amative” love between man and woman, while
Calamus celebrates the “adhesive” love that erotically links man and
man. While many nineteenth-century critics do not seem to have
grasped the homoerotic import of Whitman’s “Calamus” poems, the
sensuality and explicitness of all the “sex” poems made the collection
extremely controversial.
With the onset of the Civil War, Whitman threw himself into nurs-
ing wounded soldiers in the hospital wards of Washington. His collec-
tion Drum-Taps, including his moving elegy on the death of Abraham
Lincoln, records his struggle to come to terms with the violence and
devastation of the war. Whitman remained in Washington after the
war, serving as a clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Dismissed as a
result of his controversial poetry, he found another government job in
the Attorney General’s office in 1865. Whitman suffered two severe
blows in 1873 when he had a paralytic stroke and then lost his mother
to heart disease. Devastated, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, to be
near his brother. Although he was physically weakened, Whitman con-
W H I T M A N W E B A R C H I V E
tinued working on his poetry, meeting with influential artists and
[5130] Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass intellectuals of the time, and even making several journeys to the
(Brooklyn, 1855), courtesy of the Library American West to see first-hand the expansive landscape he lovingly
of Congress. Frontispiece and title page
chronicled in his work. In 1881, he composed his final edition of
to the first edition, first issue of
Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Whitman Leaves of Grass, and in 1882, he published a prose companion to his
became a new kind of American hero, poetry entitled Specimen Days.
writing exuberantly about the exploits of
Americans and their beautiful land.
[5513] Anonymous, Walt Whitman,
Washington, D.C. 1863, courtesy of the ■ Although students will probably pick up on the homoerotic
Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-98624].
imagery of many of Whitman’s poems with little difficulty, it is worth
Whitman spent much of the Civil War
working in Washington hospitals, tend- reminding them that the male-male eroticism was not so clear to
ing to the needs of wounded soldiers. nineteenth-century readers, who were far more scandalized by his
His view of war and life would be for- explicit descriptions of heterosexual sex. You might point out that the
ever changed by this experience. term “homosexual” did not exist in 1860, so Whitman’s poems were
struggling to construct a new sexual identity and create a new language [5758] Thomas Eakins, “Naked
for erotic love between men. Ask your students to analyze stanzas VII Series”—Old Man, Seven Photographs
and VIII of Live Oak, with Moss and/or the “Twenty-eight Bathers” sec- (c. 1880), courtesy of the Getty
Museum. The model in these photo-
tion in Song of Myself in this context. Why does Whitman adopt a fem-
graphs looks strikingly like Walt
inine persona in his narration of the “Twenty-eight Bathers”? How Whitman. Debate continues as to
does Whitman struggle with his commitment to being a “public,” whether or not the image is indeed of
national poet and his desire to record his private erotic feelings in Live the poet “undisguised and naked.”
Oak, with Moss? How does he describe his love for men, given that a [6242] Phillips & Taylor, Walt Whitman,
vocabulary for homosexuality was unavailable to him? Half-Length Portrait, Seated, Facing Left,
■ Although the early editions of Leaves of Grass contain many elo-
Wearing Hat and Sweater, Holding
Butterfly (1873), courtesy of the Library
quent celebrations of the vastness and grandeur of the American con-
of Congress [LC-USZ62-77082]. Eve
tinent, Whitman had actually done very little traveling when he wrote Sedgwick has noted that during the
them (his trip to New Orleans was his only significant travel experi- nineteenth century, before the term
ence until late in life). Ask students to think about why cities and land- “homosexual” was invented, Whitman’s
scapes Whitman could only imagine affected him so deeply. To what writings, image, and name came to
kinds of cultural myths and ideals was he responding? How might function as a code for men to communi-
Whitman’s lyrical descriptions of America’s geographic expanse and cate their homosexual identity and their
homoerotic attractions to one another.
demographic diversity have impacted his readers’ ideas about the
Whitman was often photographed and
landscape and the nation? liked to present himself in a variety of
■ When he wrote “The Poet” in 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson pro- personae.
claimed that “Poets are liberating gods . . . they are free, and they make [6287] Frank Pearsall, Walt Whitman,
free.” He wished for the emergence of a poet “without impediment, Half-Length Portrait, Seated, Facing Left,
who sees and handles that which others dream of, traverses the whole Left Hand under Chin (1869), courtesy
scale of experience, and is representative of man.” Have students read of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-
89947]. Modernist poet Hart Crane
Emerson’s essay and stage a debate whether Whitman has indeed
considered himself an artist in
answered this passionate plea for a truly American poet. Whitman’s tradition of optimism and
exuberance. Both tried to represent
America and modernity.
Q U E S T I O N S
[8267] Blake Allmendinger, Interview:
Comprehension: Critics have called Whitman’s 1855 Preface to Leaves “Whitman’s Celebration of Expansion”
of Grass a literary declaration of independence. What does Whit- (2001), courtesy of Annenberg Media.
Blake Allmendinger, professor of English
man call for in a national literature? Why does he feel America
at UCLA and author of The Cowboy:
needs one? What kind of role does he envision for the new Representations of Labor in an American
American poet? Work Culture and Ten Most Wanted: The
Comprehension: In Song of Myself, Whitman attempts to reconcile New Western Literature, discusses
and bring into harmony all the diverse people, ideas, and values Whitman’s celebration of expansion.
that make up the American nation. Which groups of people does he [8912] Allen Ginsberg, excerpt from “A
choose to focus on particularly? How does he describe people of Supermarket in California,” a dramatic
reading from American Passages: A
different races, social classes, genders, ages, and professions?
Literary Survey, Episode 15: “Poetry of
Context: Whitman was the most photographed American writer of the Liberation” (2002), courtesy of
nineteenth century (there are 130 extant photographs of him). He Annenberg Media. Walt Whitman had a
frequently sent pictures of himself to friends and admirers and tremendous influence on generations of
included portraits of himself in his editions of Leaves of Grass. free-verse poets, including Allen
Consider how Whitman presents himself in the portraits featured Ginsberg. This is a dramatic reading of
in the archive. How does he manipulate clothing and expression to an excerpt from Ginsberg’s poem “A
Supermarket in California,” in which he
achieve different effects? How does his self-presentation change
addresses Whitman.
over time? Why do you think Whitman might have been so interest-
ed in circulating photographs of himself?
Exploration: Why do you think Whitman’s poetry was so controver-
sial in the mid-nineteenth century? (Consider both his poems’ for-
W A LT W H I T M A N 27
mal qualities and their subject matter as you answer this question.)
Do his poems still seem controversial? In what ways? Where do
you see Whitman’s influence in later developments in American
poetry? (Do you see echoes of Whitman in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl,
for example?)
Exploration: What is “epic” about Song of Myself ? Can you think of
other American texts that might be described as epic? What do
these texts have in common? What defines an epic?
John Rollin Ridge (Yellow Bird) (1827–1867)

John Rollin Ridge was born in the Cherokee Nation (present-day
Georgia) into a prominent Native American family. Both his father and
his grandfather were Cherokee chiefs, landowners, and slave-owners.
During Ridge’s youth, the tribe was troubled by white settlers’ increas-
ing encroachment on its lands and by mounting pressure from the
United States government to relocate to less desirable lands in Indian
Territory (present-day Oklahoma). A rift developed in the tribe
between those who were determined to defend their homeland against
white incursions and those who advocated compliance with white
demands. The Ridge family led the faction that wished to accommo-
date U.S. federal policy and was instrumental in signing the treaty that
led to the infamous Trail of Tears migration (1838–39). More than one-
third of the Cherokee who made the forced march to Oklahoma died
in the process, leaving many members of the tribe bitterly angry at
leaders like the Ridges, who were viewed as traitors for having advo-
cated the disastrous treaty. In 1839 three members of the Ridge family
were assassinated, presumably for the role they had played in agree-
ing to the migration. John Ridge, just twelve years old at the time,
[1190] Anonymous, Joaquin, the determined to avenge his father’s death and to reassert his family’s
Mountain Robber (c. 1848), courtesy of leadership of the tribe.
the California State Library.
Despite his commitment to Cherokee politics, Ridge also identified
with his white mother’s cultural heritage. He frequently wrote about
the need for Native Americans to assimilate to white culture and
become “civilized.” He believed that Native Americans risked extinc-
tion unless they acculturated themselves to white values and customs.
Sent to school in New England for a time, he received a classical edu-
cation and showed an early love for literature, writing his first poems
around the age of ten.
Ridge’s life was radically disrupted in 1849 when he shot and killed
a man during a brawl. Rather than face prosecution for the crime, he
fled first to Missouri and then joined a Gold Rush party headed for
California. There he worked briefly as a miner, but found the labor
strenuous and unprofitable. He soon found work as a writer, journal-
ist, and editor in the newspapers and literary journals springing up in
the boomtowns of northern California.
In 1854, Ridge published The Life and Adventures of Joaquin
Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, which is considered the first
novel written in California and the first novel published by a Native
American. His editor used Ridge’s Cherokee name, “Yellow Bird,” on
the title page of the original edition, perhaps to highlight the novelty R I D G E W E B A R C H I V E
of the author’s ethnicity. The work is a fictionalized account of the [1184] Anonymous, John Rollin Ridge
experiences of a legendary Mexican bandit who, though fundamen- and Daughter Alice (c. 1860), courtesy
tally a noble person, is driven to a life of crime by the persecution he of Western History Collections,
suffers at the hands of Anglos. After having his profits stolen, his land University of Oklahoma Libraries. John
seized, his brother unfairly executed, and his mistress raped before his Rollin Ridge was born into an important
Cherokee family in Georgia. His father
eyes, Joaquin Murieta vows revenge and embarks on a crime spree,
was assassinated for signing the treaty
targeting the authorities of the Anglo establishment. While Ridge’s that led to the Trail of Tears. Ridge later
story of Murieta is loosely based on a series of actual robberies and married a white woman and rejoined
raids carried out by Mexican outlaws in California in the early 1850s, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
the tale is not modeled strictly on fact. Ridge’s hero is a composite of Issues of assimilation and resistance res-
several shadowy bandit figures about whom little historical informa- onate in his literary works as in his life.
[1190] Anonymous, Joaquin, the
tion is known—though at least three of them do seem to have shared
Mountain Robber (c. 1848), courtesy of
the first name “Joaquin.” Despite its fictional status, Ridge’s account
the California State Library. The fact that
of the adventures of Joaquin Murieta quickly came to be accepted as no verifiable portrait of Murietta exists
fact (by the 1880s, respected historians were citing details from his only enhances the legend of the
novel in the footnotes of their books on California history). As it California outlaw. Murietta’s exploits
gained currency, Ridge’s story was also widely pirated and embellished were often exaggerated, and many acts
by other novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters. Although Ridge’s committed by other bandits were erro-
literary endeavors did not make very much money—he had received neously attributed to him.
[4246] John Rollin Ridge, First page of
no profit from his novel by the time he died in California in 1867—he
Joaquin Murieta (c. 1854), courtesy of
did create an enduring California legend and folk hero. University of Oklahoma Press. This sen-
sational novel tells the story of a
Mexican American outlaw who seeks
revenge on marauding Anglo American
■ Some critics have claimed that the story of Joaquin Murieta miners during the California Gold Rush.
appealed to Ridge because it shares some important similarities with The work was originally attributed to
“Yellow Bird,” Ridge’s Cherokee name.
his own life. Ask students to consider this theory. How does the dis-
[4249] John Rollin Ridge, Title page of
ruption of Murieta’s life by sudden violence compare to Ridge’s early The Life and Adventures of Joaquin
history? How does Murieta’s obsession with revenge resonate with Murieta, The Celebrated California
Ridge’s own experiences? You might also ask students to consider the Bandit (1955), courtesy of University of
more general similarities between the Cherokees’ forced migration Oklahoma Press. This is considered both
from their traditional lands in Georgia to less desirable land in the first novel written in California and
Oklahoma and the dispossession of Mexican miners and ranchers in the first novel written by a Native
American. Its publishers identified author
California in the mid-nineteenth century.
John Rollin Ridge by his Cherokee
■ Ridge concludes his novel by citing its “lesson” for his readers: name, “Yellow Bird.”
“There is nothing so dangerous in its consequences as injustice to indi- [5832] Charles Christian Nahl, Joaquin
viduals—whether it arise from prejudice of color or from any other Murieta (1859), courtesy of Bancroft
source . . . a wrong done to one man is a wrong to society and the Library, University of California at
world.” Ask students to contemplate this moral and its applicability to Berkeley. Charles Christian Nahl and
the story of Joaquin Murieta. How does the novel justify this moral? John Rollin Ridge are two of the many
artists inspired by the legend of Joaquin
How does Ridge use his narrative to generate sympathy for Murieta?
Murieta. Here Murieta is depicted as a
Spanish American–style hero.
[6403] McKenney & Hall, John Ridge, a
Q U E S T I O N S
Cherokee (c. 1838), courtesy of the
Comprehension: What drives Joaquin Murieta to a life of crime? What Library of Congress [LC-USZC4-3157].
groups are the targets of his criminal activity? What groups and Author John Rollin Ridge was born into
individuals does he spare? What kind of code does he live by? a prominent Cherokee family. His father,
John Ridge, was educated in New
Context: Compare Ridge’s portrait of Joaquin Murieta to the corridos’
England and married a white woman.
descriptions of Latino bandits living on the border between Texas
J O H N R O L L I N R I D G E ( Y E L LO W B I R D ) 29
The family favored assimilation and and Mexico. How do these texts participate in similar traditions?
accommodation. How do their descriptions of outlaws differ? How do these different
[8277] John Rollin Ridge, Excerpt from
kinds of texts (novels and ballads) use different strategies to shape
The Life and Adventures of Joaquin
their readers’ attitudes toward the outlaws and border cultures that
Murieta, the Celebrated California
Bandit. they portray?
Exploration: In 1967, Chicano activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales pub-
lished an epic poem which took the life of Joaquin Murieta as its
subject. Compare Gonzales’s I Am Joaquin—Yo Soy Joaquin with
Ridge’s earlier novelistic account. How does Gonzales’s position as
a late-twentieth-century activist and as a Chicano shape his portrait
of Murieta?
Exploration: Although Ridge’s narrative of Joaquin Murieta’s life owes
more to fiction than to fact, it was quickly accepted by many read-
ers and even some professional historians as an accurate historical
account. Why do you think the figure of Joaquin Murieta (or at
least Ridge’s description of him) was so appealing that people were
anxious to believe in his reality? Why has the story of his life
become such an important myth within California history? Can you
think of other outlaw figures who occupy similarly important posi-
tions within the mythology of other regions of the United States?
Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton (c. 1832 –1895)

Maria Amparo Ruiz was born into an aristocratic Latino family on the
Baja peninsula in Mexico. Her grandfather, Don Jose Manuel Ruiz,
owned a vast tract of land around Ensenada and served as the gover-
nor of Baja. The family’s control of the area came to an end during the
Mexican-American War (1845–48), when the American army occupied
Baja and forced the surrender of its citizens. It was during this period
that Maria Ruiz met Captain Henry S. Burton, an army officer from
New England, and began a romantic relationship with him. At the
close of the war, she took advantage of the terms of the Treaty of
Guadelupe-Hidalgo to move to Alta California with her mother, where
the two became American citizens. In 1849, Maria Ruiz married
Henry Burton in Monterey, California. Embarking on a new life
within a social circle made up of both native Latino Californio land-
holders and Anglos, she soon mastered the English language and
gained a reputation for her beauty and her air of “true aristocracy,” as
one admirer put it. In 1853, the Burtons purchased the Jamul Ranch,
a large parcel of land near San Diego, solidifying their position within
California society.
In 1859, Henry Burton received military orders to return east and
the family moved to the Atlantic coast. He was soon promoted, first to
major and then to brigadier-general in the Union Army. Her husband’s
high-ranking position within the army enabled Ruiz de Burton to cir-
culate in elite East Coast society and to see the inner workings of U.S.
political and military life first-hand, experiences she would later draw
upon in her novels. Henry Burton died of malarial fever in 1869, leav-
ing Ruiz de Burton a thirty-seven-year-old widow with two children.
Ruiz de Burton returned to California after her husband’s death,
undertaking a variety of land and business ventures in an attempt to
secure her family’s financial situation. She started a cement plant, a
commercial-scale castor bean factory, and a water reservoir on her
Jamul property, but turned little profit through these enterprises. Ruiz
de Burton also found herself involved in a number
of complicated legal battles over land titles, attempt-
ing both to safeguard her legal right to the Jamul
Ranch and to claim her grandfather’s Ensenada tract
in Baja. When she died in Chicago, she was in the
midst of raising political and financial support for
her claim to the Mexican land.
Despite her financial and legal entanglements,
Ruiz de Burton found time to begin a literary career
in the 1870s, publishing two novels for an English-
speaking audience. Both books critique the domi-
nant Anglo society and express Ruiz de Burton’s
resentment over the discrimination and racism
experienced by many Latinos residing within the United States. Her [7359] Fanny F. Palmer, Westward the
first novel, Who Would Have Thought It? (1872), which denounces Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1868),
what she viewed as the hypocritical sanctimoniousness of New courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-
England culture, was published anonymously, probably because its USZC2-3757].
biting satire of Congregationalist religion, of abolitionism, and even of
President Lincoln made it controversial. In 1885, Ruiz de Burton
turned her attention to the situation in California in The Squatter and
the Don, a fictional account of the land struggles experienced by many
Californio families after U.S. annexation. The book is a historical
novel about the relationship between Mercedes Alamar, the beautiful
daughter of an aristocratic Californio family, and Clarence Darrell, an
American who is affiliated with the Anglo squatters trying to claim the
Alamar family’s land. Chronicling the demise of the feudal Spanish
rancho system in California, the novel questions whether the imposi-
tion of American monopoly capitalism (depicted in a scathing critique
of the railroad industry) is an improvement over the old way of life.
Because Ruiz de Burton writes from the perspective of the conquered
Californio population, her work serves as an important corrective to
Anglo writers’ often celebratory, imperialist narratives of western
expansion. Although Ruiz de Burton’s work is not free from racist R U I Z D E B U R T O N W E B
stereotypes—she portrays poor white squatters, Jews, African A R C H I V E
Americans, Indians, and the Chinese in racist terms—it does provide a
[1891] Rand McNally and Co., New
unique perspective on crucial issues of race, class, gender, and power and Enlarged Scale Railroad and County
in nineteenth-century America. Map of California Showing Every
Railroad Station and Post Office in the
State (1883), courtesy of the Library of
Congress, Geography and Map Division
■ The Squatter and the Don was originally published under the
[LC Railroad maps, 189]. The expansion
of railroads plays a key role in the over-
pseudonym “C. Loyal,” shorthand for the term “Cuidado Leal” (Loyal
turning of Californio culture in Maria
Citizen), a conventional closing used in official government correspon- Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s novel The
dence in nineteenth-century Mexico. Ask students to think about why Squatter and the Don. Later maps like
Ruiz de Burton might have adopted this pen name. How does it res- this one redefined territory through
onate with her novel’s critique of American political structures? Does industrial transportation, political units,
M A R I A A M PA R O R U I Z D E B U R T O N 31
and government communications out- this pseudonym suggest that she continued to see herself as a Mexican
posts, guiding investment and commerce. citizen even after her decision to become an American? Or was she
[5240] Helen Hunt Jackson, Ramona
reformulating the Mexican ideal of “loyal citizenship” within an
manuscript page (c. 1883), courtesy of
American context?
Colorado College, Tutt Library Special
■ Ruiz de Burton wrote and published both of her novels in
Collections. Jackson wrote Ramona
hoping that the novel would call atten- English even though many of her central characters were Latino.
tion to the mistreatment of California’s Given this information, ask students to consider what kind of audi-
Indians much as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s ence Ruiz de Burton envisioned for her novels. To whom was she
Uncle Tom’s Cabin had to the plight of addressing her critiques of American society? Why might she have
slaves. chosen this audience? How did she work to make her stories—and her
[5761] N. Currier, The Battle of
political points—appealing to English-speaking readers?
Sacramento (1847), courtesy of the
Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-1966].
Americans charge against Mexicans dur- Q U E S T I O N S
ing the battle near Rancho Sacramento,
just north of Chihuahua, Mexico, on Comprehension: What is a “squatter”? What is a “Don”? Who is the
February 28, 1847. The heroism of the novel’s hero and what qualities does he embody?
American soldiers contrasts with the Comprehension: What kinds of discrimination do the resident
limpness of the Mexican forces and
Californios face in The Squatter and the Don? How do the squatters
reflects American biases.
[6856] Oriana Day, Mission San Gabriel
jeopardize their claims to their ranches? What kinds of tactics do
Arcangel [Oil on canvas 20 x 30 in.] the Californios adopt in their efforts to maintain their land?
(late 19th century), courtesy of Fine Arts Context: How does Ruiz de Burton portray the railroad industry in
Museums of San Francisco; gift of Mrs. The Squatter and the Don? How do the railroad monopolies impact
Eleanor Martin, 37556. As Ruiz de the San Diego community in the novel? What does the railroad
Burton makes clear, Mexican society was come to symbolize in the novel?
well established in California before the
Exploration: Both Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don and
era of the Gold Rush. Missions often
maintained large herds of cattle to pro- Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona are sentimental novels about eth-
vide their residents with a reliable source nically diverse people living in the rapidly changing culture of
of meat. nineteenth-century California. (See Unit 7 for an explanation and
[7264] William S. Smith, The New Ship discussion of the sentimental novel.) How do these two texts share
“Mechanic’s Own,” Built for the similar concerns? How are they different? How do their portraits of
Mechanics’ Mining Association by Native American characters compare? How does their treatment of
Messrs. Bishop & Simonson, Sailed from
interracial marriage compare?
New York, Augt. 14th, 1849, for
California (1849), courtesy of the Library
of Congress [LC-USZ62-114923]. Ships
like the Mechanic’s Own provided the Nat Love (1854 –1921)
crucial link between the United States Born into slavery in Tennessee, Nat Love eventually found fame as
and the western territories of California “Deadwood Dick,” the cowboy celebrated in western lore, dime novels,
and Oregon. Writers such as Maria and his own autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love
Amparo Ruiz de Burton, John Rollin Ridge,
(1907). Because of Love’s tendency toward hyperbole, his account of
and Louise Amelia Smith Clappe wrote
of the arrival of Euro-Americans in what his life is sometimes understood as part of the western “tall tale” tradi-
had been Mexican American territory. tion. But his story also reflects the important reality of African
[7359] Fanny F. Palmer, Westward the American participation in the culture of the American West and func-
Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1868), tions as a crucial corrective to the stereotype of the “Old West” as the
courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC- exclusive dominion of white men. In fact, at least five thousand
USZC2-3757]. Less than two years after African American men worked as cowboys, while countless others
the Gold Rush began, San Francisco
traveled through and settled in western lands in the nineteenth cen-
had become a sprawling boom town
that drew people from all over the tury.
world. This illustration shows both a Freed from slavery as a boy at the close of the Civil War, Love soon
busy city and a very active harbor moved west to seek adventure and employment. He quickly found
crowded with ships. work as a ranch hand, cattle rustler, and “brand reader” (the skilled
hand who sorts cattle in mixed herds) in Texas, Arizona, and through-
out the West. As Love’s narrative demonstrates, the life of a
nineteenth-century cowboy was a difficult one, demanding specialized
knowledge and skills. Responsible for driving herds of cattle from the
western ranches to the northern stockyards over hundreds of miles of
arduous terrain, cowboys spent months at a time on the trail. Love
was deservedly proud of his survival skills on the trail and his mastery
of cattle-driving techniques. His talents at roping livestock and his skill
on a horse earned him the moniker “Deadwood Dick”—a nickname he
retained all his life—when he won a rodeo competition in Deadwood,
South Dakota. Love’s narrative indicates that he found a deep satisfac-
tion in western life, celebrating the freedom of the open range and the
“brotherhood of men” which bound cowboys to one another. Aside
from his opening chapters, which critique the institution of slavery,
Love does not often address issues of race except to express contempt
for Native Americans and Mexicans. It seems clear that his solidarity
with other cowboys and his pride in his individual accomplishments
are more central to his narrative than a critical analysis of interracial
relationships and tensions on the frontier. For Love, the frontier
[5307] Anonymous, Deadwood Dick
seemed to function as a place where he could be valued for his skills
(Nat Love) in My Fighting Clothes
rather than his skin color. (c. 1870–90), courtesy of Duke
By 1890, the Old West of open land and extensive cattle ranching University, Rare Book, Manuscript, and
that Love celebrates in his autobiography had changed dramatically. Special Collections Library.
Railroads had made long cattle drives unnecessary, and the increasing
settlement and fencing off of land had blocked the old cowboy trails.
With his occupation outmoded by technology, Love responded by find-
ing new employment and new challenges as a “Pullman Porter” on
the Pullman rail line, a service job occupied almost exclusively by
black men. Although the color line barred him from becoming a more
highly paid manager or mechanic on the railroad, Love does not
record dissatisfaction or resentment over his relegation to a service
position. Rather, as his descriptions of his exciting adventures on the
range give way to tame accounts of customer service and rail line pro-
cedure, Love insists on the gratification he finds in his role as a porter.
For him, riding the railroad provided an opportunity to travel exten-
sively, come in contact with a variety of people, and “justly appreciate
the grandeur of our country.”
■ During both his career as a cowboy and his stint as a railroad

worker, Love records his feelings of awe for the natural beauty and
vast expanses of the United States. Ask students to think about his
relationship to the western landscape and to America as a nation. At
the close of Chapter XX, after detailing the beauties of the land, Love
exhorts his reader to “let your chest swell with pride that you are an
American.” He goes on to proclaim, “I have seen a large part of
America, and am still seeing it . . . America, I love thee, Sweet land of
Liberty, home of the brave and the free.” How does the landscape con-
tribute to Love’s sense of pride in his country? How does Love’s status
N AT LO V E 33
L O V E W E B A R C H I V E as a former slave complicate his celebration of the “liberty” and “free-
[1012] Anonymous, Devil’s Gate on the dom” of the United States? You might ask students to look at images
Sweetwater (1880), courtesy of the of Yosemite or the Grand Canyon as they think about this issue.
Denver Public Library. This classic view ■ When Love is taken captive by the Native Americans he calls
of Devil’s Gate and the Sweetwater River “Yellow Dog’s Tribe,” he attributes their generosity in sparing his life
in Natrona County, Wyoming, lay along both to his own bravery and to the fact that he is black, since, as he
the route of the Oregon Trail. This is the
puts it, the tribe “was composed largely of half breeds, and there was a
type of landscape that was ranched and
tamed by men like Nat Love. large percentage of colored blood in the tribe.” Despite this acknowl-
[1052] S. J. Morrow, Deadwood in edgment of shared racial heritage, Love conspicuously distances him-
1876: General View of the Dakota self from the Native Americans who adopt him. Ask students to
Hillside Above (1876), courtesy of the consider the racial politics of this scene. How does Love respond to
National Archives and Records his captivity? How does he portray his Native American/African
Administration (NARA), Still Pictures American captors? What seems to be his role within the tribe’s social
Branch. Rapidly growing settlements
hierarchy and how might it be influenced by race? How and why does
sprang up as merchants supplied goods
and services to miners. Saloons and he escape?
gambling halls added to the largely law-
less conditions found in boomtowns
Q U E S T I O N S
such as Deadwood, South Dakota.
[5296] Better Known in the Cattle Comprehension: What kinds of labor does Love perform over the
Country as Deadwood Dick, by Himself course of his life? How does he make his career choices? What
(1907), courtesy of Academic Affairs
motivates his transition from one job to another?
Library, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Nat Love, who was also Context: Readers might expect Love to be somewhat bitter about the
known as Deadwood Dick, wrote a development of the railroad since it led to the demise of his cowboy
1907 autobiography that recounted his lifestyle, yet he embraces his career as a Pullman Porter. What does
post-slavery experiences as both a cow- Love find appealing about the railroad? Does his attitude reflect a
boy and a railroad worker in the Old typically American attitude toward technological change? What
West. insights do his discussions of rail line procedure give us into the
[5306] Anonymous, Nat Love
corporate structure and philosophy of the Pullman Company in the
(Deadwood Dick) in Pullman Porter
Uniform (c. 1890s), courtesy of nineteenth century? What is Love’s attitude toward the manage-
Academic Affairs Library, University of ment of the railroad? How does his portrait of the railroad compare
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This pho- to Ruiz de Burton’s?
tograph of Love was taken shortly after Context: Examine the photographs of Nat Love featured in the
he began his career as a railroad porter archive, particularly the image of him in his cowboy gear and the
in 1890. The image of the wild, long- image of him wearing his Pullman Porter uniform. In what kinds of
haired, gun-toting cowboy was replaced
conventions of portraiture do these photographs engage? How do
with that of the clean-cut, uniform-
wearing company man. Love’s different “costumes” impact viewers’ understanding of his
[5307] Anonymous, Deadwood Dick identity in these pictures? Where are there points of overlap
(Nat Love), In My Fighting Clothes between these photographs of two very different stages in Love’s
(c.1870–90), courtesy of Duke life?
University, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Context: In 1880, George M. Pullman, the president and founder of
Special Collections Library. This photo of the Pullman Palace Car Company, began to transform the prairies
Nat Love is from The Life and
south of Chicago into a model town for his railroad-car production
Adventures of Nat Love Better Known in
the Cattle Country as Deadwood Dick by workers. By creating the town Pullman hoped to improve the
Himself. Love was one of thousands of morale and health of his workers, while simultaneously increasing
ex-slaves who sought a new life in the productivity and decreasing strikes and labor unrest. This model
West following the Civil War. extended to the other workers for the Pullman Company, such as
porters like Love. Compare Love’s view of working for the Pullman
Company to Pullman’s philosophy.
Exploration: Why do you think pop cultural representations of the
“Old West” usually portray both cowboys and pioneers as Anglo-
Americans? How does Nat Love’s autobiography challenge tradi-
tional images of cowboy life? Does Love’s narrative also participate
in certain stereotypes?
Exploration: Compare Nat Love’s depiction of African American–
Native American relations to those in Briton Hammon’s “Narrative”
(Unit 7). How does each author respond to his captors? To what
extent can each of the captivities be read on a spiritual or symbolic
level? To what extent does race affect the nature of their captivities?
Suggested Author Pairings
J A M E S F E N I M O R E C O O P E R , C A T H A R I N E M A R I A
S E D G W I C K , A N D T H E C H E R O K E E M E M O R I A L I S T S
Writing in the first half of the nineteenth century, these authors

explored issues of Euro-American incursions into traditional Native
American lands in the eastern United States. Cooper and Sedgwick
both worked in the tradition of the historical novel. Though they
focused on different time periods and geographic settings in their
most famous works—Sedgwick set Hope Leslie in the Puritan commu-
nity in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, while Cooper set his
Leather-Stocking novels in the Great Lakes region in the eighteenth
century—they both grappled with the questions of the evolving
American character and the racial tensions that complicated Native
American and Euro-American relations. Although Cooper and Sedg-
wick are sympathetic to many of their Native American characters,
they still rely on stereotypical depictions and often present Native
American culture as anachronistic and untenable in the modern
world. The Cherokee memorials contrast interestingly with the works
of Cooper and Sedgwick because the memorialists insist so force-
fully on the living, vibrant, and evolving nature of Native American
societies.
M A R I A A M P A R O R U I Z D E B U R T O N , L O U I S E A M E L I A
S M I T H C L A P P E , A N D J O H N R O L L I N R I D G E
Burton, Clappe, and Ridge all write eloquently about the enormous
economic and cultural changes shaping California at the end of the
nineteenth century. Because they write from very different points of
view—Ruiz de Burton as a Latina woman interested in the plight of
displaced Latinos, Clappe as a white woman living in a Gold Rush
boomtown, and Ridge as a Cherokee émigré to California who identi-
fies with embattled Latinos—they supplement each other to create a
rich picture of the diverse culture of California during the Gold Rush
and railroad booms. Ridge’s masculinist depiction of Joaquin Murieta
as an outlaw hero makes an interesting contrast to Ruiz de Burton’s
explorations of powerful female characters and to Clappe’s depiction
of her own position as a woman in an environment dominated by male
miners.
S U G G E S T E D A U T H O R PA I R I N G S 35
W A L T W H I T M A N A N D T H E C O R R I D O S
Both Whitman’s work and the corridos can be characterized as poetry

that seeks to define a new kind of American hero. While the corridos
adhere to formal conventions and metrical structure in a way that
Whitman’s poetry does not, they use their lyrics to question bound-
aries and celebrate resistance to rules and dominant conventions.
These two poetic forms have had a lasting and ongoing influence on
American verse and music—Whitman’s development of free verse
transformed American poetry, while the spirit of the corridos contin-
ues to live in contemporary Latino verse and song.
C A R O L I N E S T A N S B U R Y K I R K L A N D A N D N A T L O V E
Though they come from very different backgrounds and espoused

extremely different values, Kirkland and Love both employed an auto-
biographical mode to narrate their impressions of life on what they
considered the “frontier.” Kirkland’s interest in “domesticating” the
West makes an effective contrast to Love’s celebration of his time
roaming the plains as a cowherd with no permanent home. (The
extent to which Kirkland’s model won out might be gauged by the fact
that Love soon found the cowboy life untenable and took to the more
domestic position of porter on the railroads.) Kirkland’s female
perspective is reflected in her chronicles of everyday experiences of
hardworking women, an aspect of western life that usually went un-
reported. Love, on the other hand, is much more interested in con-
structing himself as a masculine hero and turns to “tall tales” and
accounts of exciting adventures more often than realistic description
to narrate his adventures in the West.
CORE CONTEXTS
America Unbridled: The Iron Horse and Manifest Destiny
The development of the railroad system transformed American

culture, physically binding the country together and enabling people
to travel long distances in short periods of time and in relative com-
fort. The railroad broke traditional geographic barriers that had
restricted trade, commodity flow, and immigration, thus speeding
the process of American expansion and producing unprecedented
economic opportunities. In their early stages of development at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, railroads were constructed
mainly to link urban, metropolitan areas in the East. But with the
ascension of the concept of Manifest Destiny over the course of the
nineteenth century, Americans’ desire for a transcontinental railroad
intensified. A moral justification for expansion, Manifest Destiny
refers to the popular belief that American control of the land that
stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific was inevitable and divinely
sanctioned. Because of this culturally arrogant conviction of the
United States’s “right” to western lands, American
policy makers had few scruples about displacing
Native Americans, Mexicans, and other groups who
already inhabited the land from the Great Plains to
California.
The transcontinental railroad seemed symbolic of
America’s destiny to stretch “from sea to shining
sea,” so public interest in and support for the rail-
roads increased over the century. The nation’s total
mileage of track multiplied from 9,000 in 1850 to
30,000 in 1860. By 1870 there were 94,000 miles of
railroad track in the United States, and by 1900 there were 199,000. [7363] Union Pacific Railroad, Map of
While some of this construction filled out the urban eastern network, the Union Pacific Rail Road and Its
much of it went into the grand project of building the transcontinental Connections (1868), courtesy of the
lines that ran across the sparsely settled plains and through the rugged University of Michigan and the Making
mountains and canyons of the West. Railways were also important to of America Project.
the development of National Parks. As Joshua Scott Johns points out
in the online exhibit “All Aboard: The Role of the Railroads in
Protecting, Promoting, and Selling Yellowstone and Yosemite National
Parks,” “From the earliest days of discovery to the crucial National
Park Act of 1916, the process of park development
was shaped by needs of the railroads—from acquir-
ing investors to selling mass-market tourism, they
modified their advertising strategies to win the
patronage of new passengers with the promise of
fulfilling their expectations of the West in ‘America’s
playgrounds.’ ”
Although the railroads were the first “big busi-
ness” enterprise in the United States and created
enormous profits for the tycoons that ran them, the
transcontinental project was largely fueled by gov-
ernment grants. Issuing both federal land and cash
grants, the government subsidized the Union Pacific
and the Central Pacific railroads’ work of laying
track from Omaha to Sacramento. The dubious
financial practices of the men who ran the rail-
roads—they controlled every aspect of the rail sys-
tem from real estate to construction and thus found
it easy to engage in profiteering—earned them the
pejorative title “robber barons.” Maria Amparo Ruiz
de Burton offers a searing critique of the robber
barons’ monopolistic business practices in her novel
The Squatter and the Don. Featuring the four men
who headed the California railroad monopoly
(known as the “Big Four”) as characters in her book,
she indicts their immoral business manipulations and unfair control [1768] Anonymous, Poster circulated in
Philadelphia in 1839 to discourage the
over the economic resources of the state. In the novel, the Big Four, in
coming of the railroad (1839), courtesy
collusion with Congress, ensure the failure of a proposed rail line, of the National Archives and Records
interfere with the prosperity of San Diego, and create financial hard- Administration (NARA), Still Pictures
ships for honest working people. As Ruiz de Burton so vividly demon- Branch.
A M E R I C A U N B R I D L E D 37
strates in her portrait of the fate of San Diego, exclusion from the rail
line could spell doom for a town.
While the railroad could have an enormously stimulating effect on
local economies, promoting growth through easy immigration and the
efficient transport of commodities, it could also lead to the failure of
certain economies and the destruction of certain ways of life. By expe-
diting the immigration of European American settlers, the railroad
hastened Native Americans’ expulsion from much of their traditional
western land. The railroad famously led to the demise of the culture of
the cowboys, making long-distance cattle herding obsolete because
livestock could be transported more efficiently by rail car. Nat Love’s
career as a cowboy came to an end with the growth of the rail system,
a setback he responded to by simply taking a job as a porter on the
railroad. The expansion of the railroad also enabled the destruction
of natural resources: the ease with which lumber could be shipped led
to the demise of the white pine in the Great Lakes region. While
buffalo herds were already endangered by wasteful European Amer-
ican hunting practices long before the completion
of the transcontinental railroads, the trains sealed
their doom by allowing passengers to shoot defense-
less animals from inside the cars. As the train ap-
proached a herd, passengers opened the windows,
pointed their rifles, and fired at random. The ani-
mals they killed were usually left to rot where they
fell.
Nor was the railroad without physical dangers
for its human passengers and employees. In its early
years, travel by rail was a somewhat risky enter-
prise, as fires and derailments were common. But
the dangers of riding in a train could not begin to
compare to the hazards of laying track and building
the rail line. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific
exploited inexpensive labor, hiring primarily African
[7358] Anonymous, Joining the Tracks Americans and Irish and Chinese immigrants to do the difficult work
for the First Transcontinental Railroad, of constructing the transcontinental line. The Chinese workers
Promontory, Utah Territory, 1869, (referred to as “coolies”) who manned the Central Pacific crews, in
courtesy of the National Archives particular, faced extremely dangerous working conditions as they
and Records Administration (NARA),
graded and hauled the road through the rugged Sierra mountains.
Still Pictures Branch.
Many Chinese men died in the process of laying the transcontinental
railroad. While the completion of the transcontinental line in May of
1869 was a much-celebrated national event—a golden spike was
installed where the railroads met at Promontory, Utah—it is impor-
tant to remember that this industrial feat came at the high price of
many human lives.
Railroad companies also relied on exploitative labor practices to
provide service to passengers within the cars. The porter positions on
the Pullman Palace Car Company, for instance, were occupied almost
exclusively by African American men who were not eligible for better-
paying jobs as engineers or mechanics. Judging from his autobiogra-
phy, Nat Love apparently found satisfaction in his career as a Pullman
Porter, but perhaps he did not feel comfortable recording any resent- “A M E R I C A U N B R I D L E D ”
ment or disappointment he might have felt. Eventually, labor dissatis- W E B A R C H I V E
faction came to a head in the railroad industry. In 1893, railroad [1768] Anonymous, Poster circulated in
employees banded together to form the American Railway Union. A Philadelphia in 1839 to discourage the
large-scale strike known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 crippled coming of the railroad (1839), courtesy
rail transit, and the Pullman employees went on strike in 1894. While of the National Archives and Records
none of these early attempts at labor organization resulted in signifi- Administration (NARA), Still Pictures
Branch. This poster cites public safety,
cant reforms, they did lay the groundwork for later, more successful
local commerce, and even the city’s
protests. self-identity as potential casualties of a
In the American imagination, railroads were symbols of optimism new railroad running through
and democracy, creating economic opportunity and connecting the Philadelphia.
vast expanses of the country. And in important ways, the railroads [2020] Anonymous, President Theodore
really did function like this. People were able to travel through the Roosevelt and John Muir at Yosemite
country with new ease and speed and many Americans felt their coun- National Park (1903), courtesy of the
National Park Service. Concerns about
try to be more unified as a result. In their development of efficient
preserving wilderness increased as the
timetables, the railroads even created the Standard Time Zones that frontier disappeared. John Muir and
put citizens on the same schedules, a phenomenon that was originally President Roosevelt helped ensure the
known as “railroad time.” Whatever its potential as an agent of democ- success of early conservation efforts.
racy and unity, however, the railroad also enabled monopolies, natural Railroads played a crucial role in estab-
destruction, and human exploitation. lishing and maintaining national parks.
[3712] Anonymous, Chinese Man
Carrying Buckets (“Utah”) (c. 1890),
Q U E S T I O N S courtesy of the Denver Public Library,
Western History Collection. Chinese
Comprehension: What is the concept of Manifest Destiny? laborers were an indispensable part of
Comprehension: What was the transcontinental railroad? How was the effort to build the western segment
it constructed? Why was it so important to nineteenth-century of the transcontinental railroad. Bret
Americans? Harte’s “The Heathen Chinee” can be
Comprehension: Read the anti-railroad broadside featured in the contrasted with Chinese immigrants’
poems written on the walls of Angel
archive. This piece of propaganda was part of a campaign to curtail
Island, the Ellis Island of the West Coast.
railroad expansion in the urban areas of the East. What are the [7358] Anonymous, Joining the Tracks
writer’s objections to the railroad? What kinds of dangers does the for the First Transcontinental Railroad,
railroad pose to the community? Promontory, Utah Territory, 1869, cour-
Context: How does Walt Whitman describe the railroad in his poetry? tesy of the National Archives and
Why might it have been an important symbol for him? Records Administration (NARA), Still
Context: Consider why Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton featured the Pictures Branch. The ceremonial com-
pletion of the transcontinental railroad
California railroad tycoons in her novel. Why did she use their real
was signaled by the driving of a golden
names? What risks did she take in doing so? What is the effect of spike inscribed with the words “May
the insertion of these “real people” into a piece of historical fiction? God continue the unity of our Country
Context: What was Nat Love’s position on the Pullman line? Why do as this Railroad unites the two great
you think he included photographs of his experience working for Oceans of the world.”
the railroad in his autobiography? What do the photographs tell [7359] Fanny F. Palmer, Westward the
you about the nature of his work? What kind of satisfaction did he Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1868),
courtesy of the Library of Congress
find in his job?
[LC-USZC2-3757]. The railroad and
Exploration: Why do you think escaping slaves adopted the symbolic telegraph divide civilization and wilder-
term “railroad” to describe their support system? What did the ness in this 1868 lithograph. The ten-
Underground Railroad have in common with a real railroad? Why sion between the crowded settlement
might this symbol have appealed to abolitionists and runaways? and the open landscape hints at both
Exploration: Rail travel is no longer the primary mode most the expansion of America and the abun-
Americans use for long-distance travel. What kinds of transporta- dance of unsettled land.
[7363] Union Pacific Railroad, Map of
tion have replaced the railroad? Do they occupy a similar position
A M E R I C A U N B R I D L E D 39
the Union Pacific Rail Road and Its in the popular imagination? Can you think of any industrial or tech-
Connections (1868), courtesy of the nological developments of the twentieth century that have created
University of Michigan and the Making the same kind of national excitement that the transcontinental rail-
of America project. This map shows the
road did in the nineteenth century?
route of the transcontinental railroad
from the Atlantic to the Pacific; it was Exploration: In “The Virgin and the Dynamo” (The Education of Henry
completed in 1869 after just seven years Adams), Henry Adams claims that “his historical neck [was] broken
of construction. Union Pacific and by the sudden irruption of forces totally new” when he viewed the
Central Pacific Railroad companies dynamo and steam engines at the Gallery of Machines at the Great
worked from Sacramento, California, Exposition of 1900. What was so revolutionary about turn-of-the-
and Omaha, Nebraska, respectively, to century technology that it would have this impact on Adams? What
meet at the midpoint of Promontory,
place did the railroads take in this technological revolution?
Utah.
Competing Claims: The California Gold Rush
On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in

California at Sutter’s Mill in the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. The find sparked a
national and international craze as people from
all over the world were seized by “gold fever” and
headed to California to “strike it rich.” Known as
“Forty-niners” or “Argonauts” after the adventurers
in Greek mythology who hunted the Golden Fleece,
the immigrants contributed to an unprecedented
population explosion in the American West. Over
the course of a few months San Francisco was
transformed from a village of 459 people to a city
with more than 20,000 residents. The Gold Rush
[1303] Francis Samuel Marryat, The immigrants were overwhelmingly male, but beyond their sex they
Winter of 1849 (1855), courtesy of did not have much in common: the mines drew white Americans
Bancroft Library, University of California, from the East Coast and the South, African Americans (both slaves
Berkeley. and freemen), Europeans, South Americans, Australians, and
Mexicans. In California, these diverse groups encountered the
Hispanic and Native American populations that already inhabited the
area. The many nations, colors, classes, and creeds
represented in the gold fields made nineteenth-
century California a place where access to
resources, distributions of power, and notions of
social order were debated and contested. Adding to
the instability, few of the Gold Rush immigrants
were interested in permanently settling in Cali-
fornia; instead, they intended to amass a fortune
quickly and then return home.
In reality, few people found the riches that the
legends, stories, and promotional brochures prom-
ised. To the miners’ disappointment, the streets of
[7407] Anonymous, Portsmouth
California were not paved in gold. Mining was dirty, frustrating, tiring
Square, San Francisco, California work. Individual “placer” miners used picks to chip gold from rock
(c. 1851), courtesy of the Library of deposits and pans and “sluice boxes” to sift gold from the dirt and
Congress [LC-USZC4-7422]. gravel of riverbeds. Most miners lived in primitive, makeshift camps
where diseases such as cholera and scurvy were
rampant and mob violence was common. Many men
found that their mining work produced only what
Louise Clappe, in her descriptions of life in the min-
ing camps, called “wages”—enough to live on from
day to day but not enough to save. Commodities in
the boomtowns were extremely expensive since high
demand and scarce resources allowed merchants to
charge steep “gold rush prices.” Gambling halls,
saloons, and brothels set up shop around the mining
camps, selling alcohol and entertainment to the
miners in their leisure time. A cycle of boom and
bust ensured that many miners left California as
poor as they had been when they arrived.
[5841] Currier and Ives, Gold Mining
People who had the foresight to set up businesses outfitting the in California (c. 1871), courtesy of the
miners and supplying them with necessities made more stable for- Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-1755].
tunes. Companies in the East sold camp equipment, mining tools, and
guidebooks to men planning to head to the gold fields. Merchants and
entrepreneurs followed the miners to areas where strikes had been
made and set up boarding houses, grocery stores, saloons, brothels,
and other service businesses. Chinese immigrants, who often faced
systematic discrimination and harassment in the mines, sometimes
opened washhouses providing laundry services for miners. According
to the Museum of the City of San Francisco, by 1876 there were
151,000 Chinese in the United States, of whom 116,000 were in the
state of California. Their experiences did not go unrecorded: as liter-
ary critic Xiao-huang Yin recounts in Chinese American Literature
since the 1850s, early Chinese immigrants recorded their experiences “ C O M P E T I N G C L A I M S ”
in numerous forms, ranging from newspaper stories, to autobiograph- W E B A R C H I V E
ical texts, to writings on the walls of Angel Island by detainees (Angel
Island was a point of entry for many Asian American immigrants), to [1303] Francis Samuel Marryat, The
Winter of 1849 (1855), courtesy of
educational writings by students and scholars who came to America
Bancroft Library, University of California,
to complete their studies. These early testimonials provide an impor- Berkeley. This illustration of residents try-
tant counterpoint to other writings from the gold camps, writings that ing to navigate San Francisco’s flooded
were often negative in their portrayals of Chinese immigrants. This streets shows how rapidly growing boom
alternative vision of life in early California becomes the setting for towns and cities on the West Coast suf-
twentieth-century author Maxine Hong Kingston’s novel China Men fered from poor planning and local
(1980). weather conditions during periods of
expansion.
The rags-to-riches stories of Mexican women making fortunes sell-
[3721] Anonymous, Panning at the
ing tortillas and white women turning enormous profits selling bis- Junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza
cuits also speak to the extraordinary business opportunities in the Creeks, Klondike (c. 1900), courtesy of
mining camps. Many of these businesses were short-lived—boom- the Denver Public Library. Although gold
towns tended to disappear almost as quickly as they sprang up—but miners were primarily men, some
some entrepreneurs turned sizeable profits and were able to follow women, like those pictured here, took
the miners to the next strike. part. Contrary to what most expected,
mining was dirty, tiring work that led
Sometimes, the cultural and racial diversity of the gold fields led to
only a few to wealth.
harmonious and mutually beneficial interaction: miners successfully [3725] Anonymous, Hanging of Gilbert
shared tents, food, domestic labor, and economic partnerships with and Rosengrants at Leadville (1881),
people of other ethnicities and language groups. But tension, conflict, courtesy of the Denver Public Library.
and hostility could also characterize intercultural encounters in the Frontier justice was often swift and pub-
C O M P E T I N G C L A I M S 41
lic. Here, residents of Leadville, mining camps. Because few mining towns had established police
Colorado, turn out in large numbers to forces or stable systems of justice, miners could often get away with
watch the hanging of two men in 1881. using violence and intimidation to harass their competition and force
[5228] Anonymous, Montgomery Street,
rival “placers” from their claims. Eventually, official United States pol-
San Francisco, 1852 (n.d.), courtesy of
the Library of Congress, Prints and icy formalized discrimination toward non-American miners with the
Photographs Division [LC-USZ62- passage of the Foreign Miners’ Tax Laws of 1850 and 1852. Levying a
55762]. Rapid, primarily white immigra- steep licensing tax on all non-citizen miners, the Foreign Miners’ Tax
tion during the Gold Rush brought was aimed first at French- and Spanish-speaking miners and eventu-
California to statehood in 1850, as a ally at Chinese immigrants to the gold fields. The tax laws were con-
“free state” that forbade slavery. Yet, troversial, drawing protests from both the affected miners and the
demand for land and forced labor
merchants and entrepreneurs who made a living by supplying those
caused a genocidal-scale population
decline among California Indians. miners. John Rollin Ridge’s account of Joaquin Murieta chronicles the
[5240] Helen Hunt Jackson, Ramona abuses and harassment suffered by Mexican miners—harassment that
manuscript page (c. 1883), courtesy of seemed particularly unjust since many Latinos had settled in the
Colorado College, Tutt Library Special California territory long before Anglos arrived. Murieta is forced off
Collections. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote his mining claim and his farm by unfair land laws and strong-arm tac-
Ramona hoping to call attention to the tics. After enduring a variety of other outrages, he is driven to a life of
mistreatment of California’s Indians,
crime to avenge the injustices he and his fellow Mexicans have suf-
much as Harriet Beecher Stowe had to
the plight of slaves with Uncle Tom’s fered. Ridge’s novel thus mounts a subversive critique of official
Cabin. American policy toward the many non-Anglo miners who lived in
[5841] Currier and Ives, Gold Mining in California in the nineteenth century.
California (c. 1871), courtesy of the Eventually, gold became scarcer, European Americans solidified
Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-1755]. their dominance in California, and corporate, industrialized mining
This Currier & Ives lithograph presents a replaced the labor of the individual “placer” miners. New strikes in
romantic and sanitized portrayal of life
Nevada, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Montana briefly revived “gold
in the gold fields. In actuality, the mining
process exacted an incredible toll on fever” at various points later in the nineteenth century, but the peak of
both miners and the surrounding envi- the dynamic, diverse, vibrant culture that characterized the California
ronment. Gold Rush communities had passed by the mid-1850s.
[7407] Anonymous, Portsmouth Square,
San Francisco, California (c. 1851),
courtesy of the Library of Congress Q U E S T I O N S
[LC-USZC4-7422]. In July 1846, just

Comprehension: What was a “placer” miner?
two months after the start of the U.S.-
Mexican War, John B. Montgomery, cap- Comprehension: What different groups came to California during the
tain of the U.S.S. Portsmouth, raised the Gold Rush? What did they have in common? What kinds of ten-
American flag in San Francisco for the sions and conflicts arose between groups?
first time. Days later the U.S. army took Context: Compare Louise Clappe’s descriptions of life in Rich Bar with
all of Upper California, though the war the photograph of Deadwood, South Dakota, and the illustration of
raged on for two more years. It was the a California mining camp in the winter of 1849 featured in the
first and by far the easiest victory for the
archive. How does Clappe react to the makeshift quality of mining
United States.
[8597] State of California, Chinese
town buildings and the coarseness of mining town society?
Immigration (1877), courtesy of Vincent Context: How does Louise Clappe’s gender structure her narrative of
Voice Library, Michigan State University. her experiences in Rich Bar? What roles and opportunities are
The California Chinese Exclusion Act of available to women in the camp community? How does she
1877 was the result of growing anti- describe her interactions with other women?
Chinese sentiment and a shaky labor Exploration: Many Americans’ notions of the Gold Rush come from
market. Chinese workers came to the
theme park reenactments and popular culture references. What
region in large numbers during the
1850s, drawn by the prospect of work references to the Gold Rush have you encountered in popular cul-
from the Gold Rush and railroads. Many ture? How is the Gold Rush portrayed? Why do you think the Gold
white laborers resented the Chinese tak- Rush occupies such an important place in the American national
ing jobs in an overcrowded market. imagination?
Exploration: Can you think of other moments in American history
that have spurred the same kind of immigration, development,
and/or excitement that the Gold Rush inspired (such as the late-
twentieth-century “dot.com” boom, for example)? How do these
periods of tremendous economic opportunities challenge the status
quo? How do they enable new social formations?
Paradise of Bachelors: The Social World of Men

in Nineteenth-Century America
Although both “bachelor” and “spinster” refer to unmarried individu-

als, the titles were far from equivalent in nineteenth-century American
culture. While “old maids” were often perceived as socially undesir-
able, bachelors found social acceptance and even encouragement for
their unmarried state. All-male social clubs flourished, with fraterni-
ties, professional clubs, service clubs, and “mystical orders” such as
the Masons enjoying enormous growth in member-
ship over the course of the nineteenth century. Often
involving elaborate initiation ceremonies intended
to create intimate bonds between members, these
organizations took over some of the traditional func-
tions of the family and provided sanctioned social
outlets for men to interact with other men without
the presence of women.
The work of westward expansion also created
social formations in which men frequently lived
without women and came to depend on other men
for domestic comforts, economic assistance, and
companionship. While Native American groups in
the western United States continued to live in com-
munities with roughly equal numbers of men and
women, African American, Chinese, Latino, European, and Anglo- [1092] William J. Carpenter, Life on the
American immigrants for the most part lived and worked in commu- Plains (1915), courtesy of the Library of
nities with radically skewed sex ratios. The 1850 census in California, Congress [LC-USZ62-99804].
for example, revealed that more than 90 percent of the state’s popula-
tion was male. Certain professions, such as cattle herding and mining,
attracted a high proportion of unmarried or unattached men because
the labor was strenuous, time-consuming, and often necessitated liv-
ing in primitive and makeshift camps—a lifestyle that was perceived
as inappropriate or even dangerous for women. Nat Love’s account of
his life as a cowboy stresses the masculine values and codes of loyalty
that bound cowboys together as a “brotherhood of men.” Sharing
physical hardships, economic concerns, and domestic chores, the
cowboys in Love’s narrative develop an intense camaraderie out of
their interdependence.
Miners in the Gold Rush camps of California, too, found themselves
surrounded by other single men hoping to “strike it rich.” As historian
Susan Lee Johnson observes, the scarcity of women led to “drastically
altered divisions of labor in which men took on tasks that womenfolk
PA R A D I S E O F B A C H E LO R S 43
would have performed back home.” The most common type of house-
hold in the mining camps was a tent or cabin inhabited by two to five
men who constituted an interdependent economic unit. They usually
worked together at mining their claim, performed domestic chores for
one another, and put their earnings in a common fund which was
divided evenly among members of the household. Men who had never
before cooked learned to prepare stew, bread, beans, and pies; and
men who had never before done laundry learned to wash and mend
clothes. Some men, disillusioned with the often futile search for gold,
set up businesses performing chores normally associated with women,
making a living by cooking food and doing laundry for the miners.
These experiences with domesticity could exacerbate racial tensions—
more than one miner commented negatively on the strange food and
outlandish domestic practices of the different ethnic groups that he
encountered in the camps—but the household intimacy inherent in
camp life could also transcend racial difference. White men amicably
shared tents, food, and economic responsibilities with Chinese,
African American, and Latino miners. Critics have
often been puzzled by the fact that Nat Love, who
was African American, rarely mentions issues of
race in his account of his life on the open range. But
it seems clear that, in Love’s experience at least, race
was often secondary or irrelevant in the face of the
economic and social interdependence that united
the cowboys.
Without the presence of women, the always
unstable line dividing the homosocial from the
homosexual—that is, dividing non-sexual male
bonding activities from sexual contact between
men—became even more blurred. As traditional
notions of “normal” gender roles were challenged
and unsettled, men could display both subtly and
[3889] Thomas Eakins, The Swimming openly the erotic connections they felt for other men. When the min-
Hole (1884), courtesy of the Amon ers at Angel Camp in southern California held dances, half of the men
Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. danced the part of women, wearing patches over the crotches of their
pants to signal their “feminine” role. Men routinely shared beds in
mining communities and on the range, and cowboys and miners set-
tled into partnerships that other men recognized (and sometimes
referred to) as “bachelor marriages.”
It is difficult to find unambiguous references to homosexual rela-
tionships in nineteenth-century American writings, partly because
there was no vocabulary to express such relationships at the time (the
term “homosexual” did not exist until the late nineteenth century).
Walt Whitman, who had several intimate relationships with men,
struggled with this absence of language in his poetic efforts to describe
and record his passionate same-sex relationships. In his Calamus
poems and the “Twenty-eight Bathers” section of Song of Myself, for
example, Whitman produced moving, evocative portraits of male
homosexual love. But he often felt compelled to “shade and hide [his]
thoughts,” as he put it, because he was unable to speak as explicitly
as he might have liked. Interestingly, Whitman’s descriptions of
heterosexual encounters caused more public outrage than his “Cala-
mus” poems did, perhaps because his homoerotic imagery was
new and innovative, and thus unfamiliar to much of his audience.
Still, the implications of Whitman’s poetry certainly reached some
of his readers. Eve Sedgwick has noted that Whitman’s writings,
Whitman’s image, and Whitman’s name came to function as a kind of
code for men to communicate their homosexual identity and their
homoerotic attractions to one another: “Photographs of Whitman,
gifts of Whitman’s books, specimens of his handwriting, news of
Whitman, admiring references to ‘Whitman’ which seem to have func-
tioned as badges of homosexual recognition, were the currency of a
new community that saw itself as created in Whitman’s image.” While
certainly not all bachelors had homosexual experiences, the creation
and legitimization of new social spheres made up of single men
defined and enabled a variety of masculine identities and same-sex [2061] Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits
relationships. (1849), courtesy of the New York Public
Library.
Q U E S T I O N S
Comprehension: How did all-male social clubs and communities both

replicate and challenge more traditional family structures?
Comprehension: What kinds of domestic tasks did men perform on
the range and in the mining camps? How did they usually divide up
the labor?
Comprehension: Examine the photographs and illustrations of min-
ing camps featured in the archive. What different ethnic groups do
you see represented? How did these groups interact within mining “ P A R A D I S E O F
communities? B A C H E L O R S ”
Context: Walt Whitman had photographs taken of himself with sev- W E B A R C H I V E
eral of his young male companions. Some of his friends were
[1092] William J. Carpenter, Life on the
scandalized or upset by the pictures, calling them everything from
Plains (1915), courtesy of the Library of
“silly-idiotic” to “sickly.” Other friends and acquaintances of Congress [LC-USZ62-99804]. Navajo
Whitman admired the photos and requested copies. Whitman never and cowboy playing cards. These cards
distributed these pictures widely, instead keeping them to himself or show the type of interethnic male-male
sharing them only with a limited circle of friends. But in Section VII bonding that we see in James Fenimore
of Live Oak, with Moss, Whitman wrote that he hoped some future Cooper’s novels. This type of interaction
reader would “Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of largely died out when white males
started to bring their families to settle in
the tenderest lover, The friend, the lover’s portrait, of whom his
the West.
friend, his lover, was fondest. . . .” What does Whitman mean in this [2027] Anonymous, Theodore
poetic request to have his portrait hung? By what kind of portrait do Roosevelt, full-length portrait, standing
you think he would like to be remembered? Why do you think he alongside horse, facing left; wearing
might have felt compelled to have his picture taken with his male cowboy outfit (1910), courtesy of the
companions? What do Whitman’s friends’ reactions to the photo- Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-91139].
graphs tell you about the social lives of nineteenth-century men? With his infamous motto “Walk softly
and carry a big stick,” President
Context: In her story “Cacoethes Scribendi” Catharine Maria
Theodore Roosevelt is remembered
Sedgwick (who herself remained unmarried all her life) describes a as a trustbuster, one who worked to
community populated almost solely by single women and widows. strengthen U.S. foreign policy, and one
Does she have the same celebratory view of same-sex communities who was committed to the conservation
that writers like Whitman or Nat Love seemed to have? What kind of frontier land.
PA R A D I S E O F B A C H E LO R S 45
[2061] Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits of camaraderie binds the women together in her story? What
(1849), courtesy of the New York Public divides them?
Library. Durand’s painting depicts Context: Examine Louise Clappe’s descriptions of life in the mining
Hudson River School founder Thomas
town of Rich Bar in her “Shirley Letters.” How does Clappe’s posi-
Cole, left, and poet William Cullen
Bryant in the Kaaterskill Clove. Both tion as a woman in a mostly male community shape her letters?
Cole and Bryant used the interaction What is her sense of the male-male relationships that bind together
between humans and nature as the pri- the community? How does she describe the roles of other women
mary theme for their work. in the town?
[3717] Charles D. Kirkland, Cow Boy Context: Look at Thomas Eakins’s painting Swimming Hole (1884),
(c. 1880), courtesy of the Denver Public featured in the archive. Is this a homoerotic picture? How do you
Library, Western History Collection. As
think nineteenth-century viewers would have responded to it?
the nation’s focus shifted to the West,
the cowboy replaced the frontiersman Exploration: In his poetic celebrations of homoerotic love Whitman
of the eastern woodlands as the popular sometimes felt compelled to “shade and hide” his meanings. Can
icon of American independence and you think of other American writers who sometimes seem to hint at
self-sufficiency. homosexual relationships but do not describe them explicitly?
[3889] Thomas Eakins, The Swimming Hemingway, Dickinson, or Melville (especially in the “Counterpane”
Hole (1884), courtesy of Amon Carter chapter of Moby Dick) might be appropriate figures to think about
Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. The
in this regard. What kinds of imagery and language do these writers
homosocial nature of nineteenth-century
male relations is reflected in this paint- rely on to convey their meanings?
ing, which shows a group of students Exploration: How did social reactions to unmarried men differ from
swimming while their headmaster social reactions to unmarried women in the nineteenth century?
(Eakins) swims nearby. Did single women enjoy the same kinds of opportunities that single
[6242] Phillips and Taylor, Walt men did? How do you think cultural ideas about unmarried indi-
Whitman, half-length portrait, seated, viduals (both men and women) have changed over time in America?
facing left, wearing hat and sweater,
Exploration: How does Melville play on the construction of “the bach-
holding butterfly (1873), courtesy of the
Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-77082]. elor” in his short story “The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus
Eve Sedgwick has noted that even of Maids”? How do the opportunities available to bachelors com-
before the term “homosexual” was in- pare to those open to single women in the story?
vented, Walt Whitman’s writings, image, Exploration: Eve Sedgwick has argued that portraits and records of
and name functioned as a code for men Whitman acted as a kind of code for men to convey homoerotic
to communicate their homosexual iden- feelings to one another. Why do you think they chose Whitman to
tity to one another.
represent their identity? Can you think of any groups that use
images or personalities in a similar way today? What kinds of mate-
rial objects circulate as “code” today?
EXTENDED CONTEXTS
Star Spangled Moccasins: The American Flag

in Native American Culture
In a circa 1874 drawing, the Oglala warrior Sitting Bull depicted a

Native American warrior proudly flying the stars and stripes of an
American flag as he rides into battle. In many ways, this is a puzzling,
even paradoxical, image. Why would the Oglala—who resisted U.S.
encroachment on their lands—engage in a seemingly zealous show of
American patriotism? Why would they embrace the flag of a country
that they had historically perceived as hostile and oppressive? In fact,
at the end of the nineteenth century, many Native
Americans from many different tribes used flag
imagery as a design element in their art, cloth-
ing, and crafts. While some of these objects were
produced for sale or exchange with European
Americans (the tourist trade was a growing compo-
nent of many tribal economies), there is compelling
evidence that many of these artifacts were used,
worn, and treasured by Native Americans them-
selves. Not always literal or exact representations,
Native American flag images often modify or ab-
stract the pattern of the American flag, enlarging
or shrinking the blue field, omitting stripes, or sub-
stituting other shapes for stars. But however the
image is refashioned and transformed in Native
American art, it is nonetheless recognizable as the
American flag. These representations are a testa-
ment to the creativity and inventiveness of the
[7414] William Henry Taylor, Juanita,
Native American artisans who appropriated this symbol of European
Wife of Navajo Chief Manuelito
American power and dominance and adapted it to their own complex (c. 1873), courtesy of Smithsonian
and diverse uses. Institution, National Anthropological
Many of the Great Plains tribes held the traditional belief that flags Archives.
captured in battle were imbued with the power of the enemy, a belief
probably reinforced by the fact that U.S. troops used the flag as a bat-
tle emblem when they attacked Native Americans. Upon capture,
Native Americans believed that the flag transferred its power to its
new owner, thus endowing him with the strength of his adversary. In
this context, Sitting Bull’s drawing of the Oglala warrior carrying the
American flag into combat can be interpreted as a testament to the
warrior’s prowess and triumph in battle. Similarly, the Lakota tradi-
tion of decorating children’s clothing with American flags can be
understood as a method for ensuring their protection and safety
through the flag’s talismanic power. One of the few Lakota survivors of
the massacre at Wounded Knee was a little girl who was found in the
snow, wearing a bonnet beaded with American flag patterns.
Native Americans may also have adopted the flag on occasion as an
expedient way to make their traditional practices seem less threaten-
ing to Reservation authorities. When U.S. authorities banned the
Lakota summer Sun Dance ceremony because they saw it as pagan
and subversive, the Lakota adapted parts of the ceremony into a sanc-
tioned Fourth of July celebration. Because the traditional sacred col-
ors of the Sun Dance are red and blue, the insertion of American flag
imagery did not disrupt the spiritual significance of the ceremony.
Native American art also frequently introduces traditional sacred sym-
bols into the representation of the flag pattern itself. Substituting the
usual five-pointed stars with four-armed Morning Stars and crosses,
Native American artisans transformed the flag into a representation of [7418] Anonymous, Boys’ moccasins,
their own religious and cultural traditions. The varied examples of flag Lakota (n.d.), courtesy of the New York
imagery in Native American art point out the multivalence of this sym- State Historical Association, Thaw
Collection.
S TA R S PA N G L E D M O C C A S I N S 47
“ S T A R - S P A N G L E D bol. For some artists, the representation of the American flag may
M O C C A S I N S ” W E B A R C H I V E have been a means to signify assimilation with the dominant culture,
[1086] Lehman and Duval Lithrs., View while for others, redesigned images of the flag probably served as a
of the Great Treaty Held at Prarie [sic] means of proclaiming their cultural independence.
Du Chien, September 1825 (1835),
courtesy of the Library of Congress
[LC-USZC4-510]. As the United States Q U E S T I O N S
pushed west, conflict between native

Comprehension: Look at the artifacts produced by Native American
tribes increased due to territorial dis-
putes. The treaty of 1825 sought to end artisans featured in the archive. How do these representations of
intertribal fighting by establishing fixed the American flag modify its usual design?
tribal boundaries between the Great Context: Critics have noted that the Cherokee memorialists invoke
Lakes and the Missouri River. some of the language and ideas of the American Declaration of
[1087] Frank Bennett Fiske, Shooting Independence to argue their case to the U.S. Congress. How does
the Last Arrow (n.d.), courtesy of the their rhetorical strategy compare to the Native American artisans’
Library of Congress, American Memory.
use of the American flag in the items featured in the archive?
A group of Indians at a ceremony on a
government reservation shoot the last Should these deployments of important American symbols be
arrow toward the sky to symbolize a new understood as simply “patriotic”?
peace agreement and a new way of life. Exploration: Think about moments when flags and flag imagery pro-
[7411] Juanita, Curio loom with unfin- liferate in American culture, such as on the Fourth of July, during
ished weavings (c. 1874), courtesy of a war, or in the wake of a tragedy like the attack on New York’s
Smithsonian Institution, Museum of World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Why do Americans
Natural History. Juanita, the wife of chief
turn to the flag so often at these moments? Even though the display
Manuelito, came to Washington, DC, as
part of a Navajo delegation seeking to of the flag seems to be a symbol of national unity, how might the
resolve a land dispute in the Southwest. flag hold different meanings for different Americans at these times?
This small American flag rug, which she
most likely wove herself, was donated to
the Smithsonian Institution in 1875. Picturing America: The Hudson River School Painters
[7414] William Henry Taylor, Juanita,
Wife of Navajo Chief Manuelito
In 1816 Governor Clinton of New York addressed the American
(c. 1873), courtesy of Smithsonian
Institution, National Anthropological Academy of Fine Arts, urging artists to create new movements and
Archives. This is the earliest known styles that would reflect the superiority of American morals and the
image of the American flag motif being grandeur of American scenery:
used in Navajo rug weaving.
[7416] Anonymous, Tray, Apache, San
For can there be a country in the world better calculated than ours to
Carlos, Arizona (n.d.), courtesy of the
exercise and to exalt the imagination—to call into activity the creative
New York State Historical Association,
powers of the mind, and to afford just views of the beautiful, the won-
Thaw Collection. Starting in the late
1800s, many Native Americans began derful, and the sublime? Here Nature has conducted her operations
incorporating the American flag as a on a magnificent scale: extensive and elevated mountains, . . . rivers of
decorative motif in their arts and crafts. prodigious magnitude . . . , and boundless forests filled with wild
An example can be seen in the crossed beasts and savage men, and covered with the towering oak.
flags that are woven into the design of
this Apache basket. By the 1820s, artists had responded to his call. Thomas Cole caused a
[7418] Anonymous, Boys’ moccasins,
sensation in the New York art world with his large-scale paintings of
Lakota (n.d.), courtesy of the New York
State Historical Association, Thaw the vast panoramas, rugged peaks, steep precipices, rushing waters,
Collection. Reservation period and dramatic light effects of the Hudson River Valley. Cole celebrated
(post–1880) beadwork on these dress the primeval, unspoiled quality of the American wilderness, believing
moccasins shows how the American flag that it represented a perfect spiritual state and was a direct reflection
motif was incorporated into Native of the divine work of the Creator. Cole’s powerful landscapes and inno-
American design. vative ideas soon influenced other artists, including Asher Durand,
Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Martin Johnson Heade.
Originally known as simply “American” or “Native” painters, this
group of artists is usually referred to as the Hudson River School
today, in reference to their early focus on the landscape of the Hudson
River Valley, which was the “frontier” of the late
eighteenth century.
The Hudson River School artists were interested
in highlighting the awesome, monumental quality of
the American wilderness by juxtaposing it against
the minuteness of the human body: many of their
paintings feature tiny human figures who are
dwarfed by the vastness of the landscapes that sur-
round them. But rather than conveying a sense of
alienation or human insignificance, these pictures
instead celebrate an ideal of harmony between peo-
ple and nature. Fundamentally optimistic in their
view of American expansion and the promise of
democracy, the Hudson River School artists pre-
sented images of human industry coexisting in and even complement- [7404] Asher B. Durand, Progress (The
ing the beauty of nature. In Asher Durand’s Progress (1853), for exam- Advance of Civilization) (1853), courtesy
ple, a small city nestles within a stunning landscape, sending rail lines, of Gulf States Paper Corporation,
Warner Collection.
telegraph poles, roads, and steamboats out into the wilderness. A
group of Native Americans looks out over the scene in awe-struck
admiration and happiness. This romanticized vision of industrializa-
tion was part of the Hudson River School’s aesthetic philosophy, which
saw beauty in the contrast between primeval landscapes and pastoral
scenes of towns and farms—an attitude in keeping with much of
the prose and poetry of nineteenth-century America, from James
Fenimore Cooper to Walt Whitman.
The Hudson River School was also noted for its commitment to an
almost scientific attention to detail and clarity in the presentation of
natural landscapes. Artists usually did their prelimi-
nary sketching out of doors, in the midst of the dra-
matic scenery that inspired them, then returned to
their studios to paint the final canvas. While they
were intent on faithfully reproducing the natural
effects they observed, the Hudson River artists were
not afraid to literally move mountains when it
suited their sense of aesthetics. “Composing” land-
scapes by combining elements from different geo-
graphical locations, exaggerating heights and
expanses, and playing with lighting, these artists cre-
ated dramatic panoramas that they believed were
faithful to the spirit, if not the reality, of the American landscape. After
[1181] Albert Bierstadt, Valley of the
reading Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, Cole even painted fictional
Yosemite (1864), courtesy of the
scenes from the novel because it accorded so closely with his sense of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; gift of
America’s identity and character. In their quest for new and spectacu- Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M.
lar effects, the Hudson River artists had journeyed far beyond the Karolik Collection of American
Hudson River by the mid-nineteenth century, traveling to Niagara Paintings, 1815–1865.
P I C T U R I N G A M E R I C A 49
“ P I C T U R I N G A M E R I C A” Falls, the Rocky Mountains, California, and even South America to
W E B A R C H I V E record the expanse and grandeur of the continent.
[1181] Albert Bierstadt, Valley of the
Yosemite (1864), courtesy of the
Q U E S T I O N S
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; gift of
Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Comprehension: How do the Hudson River artists usually depict
Karolik Collection of American human figures? What is the significance of the figures’ size in rela-
Paintings, 1815–1865. The romantic
tion to the vast landscapes?
grandeur and luminism of Albert
Bierstadt’s western landscapes reflect Comprehension: How does Asher B. Durand portray Native Amer-
Hudson River School influences. Realist icans in his 1853 painting Progress? What assumptions underwrite
writers like Bret Harte sought to imbue his treatment of their response to “progress”? Why are they situated
the same landscapes with the gritty reali- on a precipice overlooking the town?
ties of frontier life. Context: Read some of Cooper’s descriptions of the view from the
[1616] Albert Bierstadt, Thunderstorm in
overlook he calls “Mt. Vision” in The Pioneers. How do these literary
the Rocky Mountains (1859), courtesy of
descriptions of the upstate New York landscape compare with the
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
American painter Albert Bierstadt Hudson River School paintings? Why do you think Hudson River
(1830–1902) created some of the most School paintings are frequently chosen as the cover illustrations for
famous landscapes in American paint- editions of Cooper’s novels?
ing, presenting the West as a pristine Context: How do Whitman’s celebrations of the diversity—the “multi-
and idyllic wilderness. tudes”—that make up the American body politic compare with the
[1695] Albert Bierstadt, Sunrise in the
Hudson River School aesthetic? Which of Whitman’s descriptions
Sierras (c.1872), courtesy of the
of American landscapes and cityscapes might fit within the ideals
Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Bierstadt’s peaceful and idyllic land- of the Hudson River School? What parts of America does Whitman
scapes belied the indelible mark that celebrate that would probably fall outside of the scope of the
railroads, ranches, mines, and settle- Hudson River aesthetic?
ments were leaving on the West. Exploration: Many Hudson River School paintings present an ideal-
[2061] Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits ized vision of harmony between humans and nature, between
(1849), courtesy of the New York Public industrialization and the wilderness. Do you think Americans still
Library. Durand’s painting depicts
subscribe to this optimistic view of the relationship between people
Hudson River School founder Thomas
Cole, left, and poet William Cullen and nature? How has the environmentalist movement complicated
Bryant in the Kaaterskill Clove. Both our understanding of “progress”?
Cole and Bryant used the interaction Exploration: Art historians have pointed out that the Hudson River
between humans and nature as the pri- School painters developed a very “masculine” aesthetic. By pictur-
mary theme for their work. ing rugged, remote terrain, these artists interpolate the viewer as an
[2068] Albert Bierstadt, Emigrants
active and intrepid explorer of the wilderness. How might the
Crossing the Plains (1867), courtesy of
Hudson River artists compare to the figure of the explorer/hero in
the National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City. The the literature of exploration?
romantic and spiritual tones of this
painting by Bierstadt mirror the concept
of Manifest Destiny, which held that
American expansion across the conti- ASSIGNMENTS
nent was both inevitable and divinely
sanctioned.
Personal and Creative Responses
[3694] Thomas Cole, The Falls of the
Kaaterskill (1826), courtesy of Warner
Collection of the Gulf States Paper 1. Journal: Imagine that you live next door to Caroline Kirkland in the
Corporation. Thomas Cole village of Pinckney, Michigan. Write a letter to a friend who is curi-
(1801–1848) was one of the first ous about your experience in Michigan. Include a description of
American landscape artists and a how you feel about Kirkland and her family. Do you see her as an
founder of the Hudson River School of asset to the community? How do you feel about the descriptions of
painting. Romantic depictions of wilder-
Pinckney that appear in the book she published?
2. Journal: Imagine that you are a miner in Rich Bar, California. Write ness became popular as the United
a letter to a friend in which you detail your day-to-day life in the min- States continued its westward expansion.
[5931] Worthington Whittredge, The
ing camp. You might also include a description of Louise Clappe.
Old Hunting Grounds (1864), courtesy
How do you and the rest of the miners in the community view her?
of Reynolda House, Museum of
3. Poet’s Corner: Using the translations of the corridos in the archive American Art. The decaying Indian
as models, write your own corrido about a contemporary person canoe among birch trees symbolizes the
whom you view as a hero. Whom did you choose as the subject of sentimental death of Native American
your corrido? How did you use rhythm and repetition in your cor- culture found in James Fenimore
rido? What problems did you encounter in fitting your subject into Cooper’s work and other frontier litera-
the corrido form? ture. After ten years of artistic training in
Europe, Worthington Whittredge
4. Poet’s Corner: Find a short poem that you like that uses conven-
returned to America in 1859, impressed
tional forms of meter and rhyme. Drawing inspiration from with the vast wilderness that still existed
Whitman’s poetry, translate the poem into free verse. How does the in his homeland.
absence of rhyme and meter affect the poem? What problems did [7404] Asher B. Durand, Progress (The
you encounter in translating the poem from one form to another? Advance of Civilization) (1853), courtesy
5. Artist’s Workshop: After looking at the Native American flag art in of Gulf States Paper Corporation,
the archive, draw a design for a piece of clothing or other object on Warner Collection. The Native
Americans in the lower left-hand corner
which you will put your own version of the American flag. Feel free
of this painting observe the steady
to abstract or modify the patterns and designs of the flag. Explain approach of American progress and set-
the significance of the artifact you’ve designed and how your repre- tlement. Depictions of westward expan-
sentation of the flag reflects your vision. sion such as this one helped publicize
6. Multimedia: Referring to himself as the embodiment of America in and legitimize what was seen as
“Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman proclaimed, “I contain multi- American progress, an ideology that
tudes.” What do you think he meant? What kinds of “multitudes” began to be questioned only in the
twentieth century.
made up nineteenth-century American culture? Using the American
Passages archive and slide-show software, create a multimedia
presentation showing the diversity of American culture in the nine-
teenth century. Include captions that explain and interpret the
images you choose.
Problem-Based Learning Projects
1. You are a lawyer hired by the Cherokee tribe to help them fight the
Indian Removal Act, which they believe is unjust and should be
overturned. You need to make your case convincing to the political
authorities who can overturn the act. What courts or government
agencies will you petition? How will you argue your position? What
kind of evidence will you use? What kind of testimony will you
solicit?
2. You are a Mexican or Chinese miner forced off your claim by the
Foreign Miners’ Tax, which you cannot afford to pay. Prepare a peti-
tion to the California legislature in which you argue for your right
to continue mining even though you are not a citizen of the United
States. Be sure to address the issue of how your presence—and the
presence of other “foreign” immigrants—affects the economy, cul-
ture, and environment in California.
3. You have been asked to design an amusement park with a “frontier”
theme. While your goal is to make the park fun, engaging, and
accessible to children and families, you are also concerned that
A S S I G N M E N T S 51
your representation of the “frontier” be accurate. How will you
interpret the idea of the frontier? What will you call your park?
How will you portray the history of American expansion and west-
ward migration? What activities and exhibits will you provide for
visitors to the park?
GLOSSARY
border Sometimes used as a replacement for the culturally insen-

sitive term “frontier.” Borders are places where cultures meet, and
where trade, violence, and cultural exchange shape a variety of indi-
vidual experiences.
corrido A narrative ballad usually sung or spoken to music, the
corrido was the most important literary genre of the southwestern
border region, where it was popular between the 1830s and the 1930s.
Developed by Mexicans and Mexican Americans, the corridos drew
upon traditional Spanish ballad forms to articulate singers’ experi-
ences of cultural conflict in the borderlands. Characterized by a rapid
tempo and brisk narrative pace, these ballads often focus on an “out-
law” hero who defends his rights—as well as those of other Mexi-
cans—against the unjust authority of American officials.
epic A long narrative poem celebrating the adventures and
accomplishments of a hero. More generally, the term “epic” has come
to be applied to any narration of national or cultural identity that has
a broad, all-encompassing scope.
free verse Poetry that does not adhere to conventional metrical
patterns and has either irregular rhyme or no rhyme at all. Walt
Whitman pioneered the use of free verse in American poetry, and his
“Song of Myself ” is a classic example.
frontier Traditionally, the term Americans have used to describe
the unexplored or contested land to the west of the eastern settlements
on the Atlantic coast. Scholars have pointed out that the term “blurs
the facts of conquest” and does not take into account the many other
peoples who were displaced—sometimes violently—to make way for
U.S. expansion.
homosocial/homosexual continuum The relationship between
non-sexual same-sex bonding activities and sexual contact between
people of the same sex. While American culture has traditionally
insisted that homosexuality is distinct from non-sexual same-sex rela-
tionships, scholars and theorists argue that the division between the
two is always unstable.
Hudson River School A group of landscape painters originally
known as simply “American” or “Native” painters, the Hudson River
School acquired its present name because of its early focus on the dra-
matic landscape of the Hudson River Valley in New York. While
Thomas Cole is usually considered the “father” of the Hudson River
tradition, other important painters including Asher Durand, Frederic
Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Martin Johnson Heade contributed to
the development of this movement. Highlighting the awesome, monu-
mental quality of the American landscape, these artists were funda-
mentally optimistic about westward expansion and the promise of
democracy. In their quest for new and spectacular effects, the Hudson
River artists journeyed far beyond the Hudson River by the mid-
nineteenth century, traveling to the Rocky Mountains, California,
and even South America to record the expanse and grandeur of the
continents.
Indian Removal Act of 1830 In 1830 the United States Congress,
with the support of President Andrew Jackson, attempted to legislate
a permanent solution to their land disputes with eastern Native
American tribes by passing the Indian Removal Act. Passed by a nar-
row margin, the Act stipulated that the government could forcibly
relocate Native Americans living within their traditional lands in east-
ern states to areas west of the Mississippi designated as “Indian
Territory” (much of this land was in present-day Oklahoma). With this
stroke, the federal government sanctioned the racist view that Native
Americans had no valid claims to their homelands and should be
moved westward to make way for white settlers and white culture. The
Indian Removal Act enabled the tragic “Trail of Tears” migration, in
which a third of the population of the Cherokee tribe died.
Manifest Destiny The belief that American control of the land
that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific was inevitable and
divinely sanctioned. Because of this culturally arrogant conviction,
American policy makers had few scruples about displacing Native
Americans, Mexicans, and other groups inhabiting the land from the
Great Plains to California.
memorial A direct appeal to Congress, the courts, or another offi-
cial federal body, a “memorial” was the nineteenth-century equivalent
of a petition. The Cherokee tribe produced articulate and compelling
memorials asking the United States Congress to allow them to stay in
their traditional homelands east of the Mississippi. The Cherokee
Council, which was the official leadership body of the tribe, composed
its own memorial to send to Congress, while also submitting twelve
other memorials written by Cherokee citizens. Despite their elo-
quence, the Cherokee memorials were not effective and the tribe was
relocated in 1838.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allmendinger, Blake. The Cowboy: Representations of Labor in an

American Work Culture. New York: Oxford UP, 1992.
Chudacoff, Howard P. The Age of the Bachelor: Creating an American
Subculture. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1999.
Herrera-Sobek, Maria. Northward Bound: The Mexican Immigrant
Experience in Ballad and Song. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1993.
Johnson, Susan Lee. Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California
Gold Rush. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2000.
S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y 53
Leverenz, David. Manhood and the American Renaissance. Ithaca:
Cornell UP, 1989.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. “The Adventures of the Frontier in the
Twentieth Century.” In The Frontier in American Culture, ed. James
R. Grossman. Berkeley: U of California P, 1994.
Matsumoto, Valerie J., and Blake Allmendinger, eds. Over the Edge:
Remapping the American West. Berkeley: U of California P, 1999.
Nelson, Dana D. National Manhood: Capitalist Citizenship and the
Imagined Fraternity of White Men. Durham: Duke UP, 1998.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male
Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia UP, 1985.
Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of
the American Frontier, 1600–1860. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP,
1973.
Yin, Xiao-huang. Chinese American Literature since the 1850s. Chicago:
U of Illinois P, 2000.
FURTHER RESOURCES
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez [videorecording]. Moctesuma Esparza

Productions, Inc.; screenplay by Victor Villaseñor; produced by
Moctesuma Esparza and Michael Hausman; directed by Robert
M. Young. Santa Monica, CA: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home
Entertainment, 2000.
Carved in Silence [videorecording on Angel Island]. Produced and
directed by Felicia Lowe; written by Felicia Lowe and Charlie
Pearson. San Francisco, CA: Felicia Lowe Productions: distributed
by Cross Current Media, 1987.
Corridos Sin Fronteras: A Traveling Exhibition and Educational Web
Site Celebrating the Narrative Songs Known as Corridos. Smithson-
ian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). Smithsonian
Institution, PO Box 37012, QUAD Room 3146, MRC 706. Washing-
ton, DC 20013-7012. Phone (202) 357-3168; Fax (202) 357-4324.
Cowboy Songs, Ballads, and Cattle Calls from Texas [sound recording].
Cambridge: Rounder, 1999.
George Catlin and His Indian Gallery [virtual and actual exhibit].
Renwick Gallery. Smithsonian American Art Museum. 750 Ninth
Street, N.W., Suite 3100. Washington, DC 20001-4505. Phone
(202) 275-1500.
Grossman, James R., ed. The Frontier in American Culture: An
Exhibition at the Newberry Library, August 26, 1994 –January 7,
1995, Essays by Richard White, Patricia Nelson Limerick. Berkeley:
U of California P, 1994.
Herbst, Toby, and Joel Kopp. The Flag in American Indian Art. Seattle:
U of Washington P, 1993.
Johns, Joshua Scott. All Aboard: The Role of the Railroads in Protecting,
Promoting, and Selling Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks.
Aug. 1, 1996 <xraods.virginia.edu/~MA96/railroad/home.html>.
Minks, Louise. The Hudson River School. New York: Knickerbocker
Press, 1998.
Paredes, Américo. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower
Border. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1976.
Phillips, Sandra S., et al. Crossing the Frontier: Photographs of the
Developing West, 1849 to the Present. San Francisco: San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, 1996.
Wald, Elijah. Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns,
and Guerrillas. New York: Harper Collins, 2002.
F U R T H E R R E S O U R C E S 55

American Passages 05 - A Literary Survey - Masculine Heroes

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Unit 5

Authors and Works concepts of American citizenship, identity, and mas-

1820s James Fenimore Cooper, Precaution: A Novel Missouri Compromise (1820)

1860s Walt Whitman, Drum-Taps (1865) Transcontinental telegraph service established

1890s Massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1890)

James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)

■ Because it was set in England and featured only English char-

professor of English at UCLA and author

of The Cowboy: Representations of

PYRAMID University, discusses Cooper’s hero and

Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789–1867)

Congress [LC-USZ62-32055]. In 1636,

■ Scholars have noted that the official memorial of the Cherokee

Cherokee Council.” It is sometimes characterized as reflecting tradi- W E B A R C H I V E

Louise Amelia Smith Clappe (1819 –1906)

Walt Whitman (1819 –1892)

John Rollin Ridge (Yellow Bird) (1827–1867)

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton (c. 1832 –1895)

■ During both his career as a cowboy and his stint as a railroad

Suggested Author Pairings

Writing in the first half of the nineteenth century, these authors

Both Whitman’s work and the corridos can be characterized as poetry

Though they come from very different backgrounds and espoused

America Unbridled: The Iron Horse and Manifest Destiny

The development of the railroad system transformed American

ment or disappointment he might have felt. Eventually, labor dissatis- W E B A R C H I V E

Competing Claims: The California Gold Rush

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in

[LC-USZC4-7422]. In July 1846, just

Paradise of Bachelors: The Social World of Men

Although both “bachelor” and “spinster” refer to unmarried individu-

Comprehension: How did all-male social clubs and communities both

Star Spangled Moccasins: The American Flag

In a circa 1874 drawing, the Oglala warrior Sitting Bull depicted a

pushed west, conflict between native

Problem-Based Learning Projects

border Sometimes used as a replacement for the culturally insen-

Allmendinger, Blake. The Cowboy: Representations of Labor in an

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez [videorecording]. Moctesuma Esparza

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