A Divided America(1840-1890)By: Karoline Gonzales

Estefania GutierrezJavier HurtadoAlejandra Valle

Unique?• Although slaves weren't immediately free, the legal freedom for slaves

came with the 13th Amendment, which occurred on December of 1865, resulting in finally devouring slavery! More than 4million African Americans were liberated which motivated for both black and whites to begin working together to rebuild their Union and creating a better one.

• Another event that occurred between 1860-1900 was on April 12, 1861 which was when the first shots were fired to Fort Sumter, when the Civil War had just begun. Although it took 617,000 Americans to die in order for civil war to end, it happened, and on April 18, 1865 it finally finished.

Civil War

Major political, social, economic, & cultural events and trends

• Political: On November 6, 2011 Abraham Lincoln was voted 16 president of the United States. He was in office until April 14 ,1864 when he was assassinated. So vice president Johnson was in office until he was impeached in 1868. In the year 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified, giving Blacks but not women the right to vote. In the year 1974 the 43rd congress had 7 black men in it. In December 1890 the Battle of Wounded Knee started and finished causing the death 200 Native American women and children massacred by U.S. troops. In 1883 the Civil Rights Act of 1975 was declared unconstitutional, discriminating African Americans again.

• Social: During this time there was a new law passed called the fugitive slave law which stated that in future any federal marshal who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave could be fined $1,000 and any person aiding a runaway slave by providing shelter, food or any other form of assistance was liable to six months' imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. During this time period African Americans were sold as slaves. Most were discriminated and treated as if they were animals. Another big issue during this time was the Civil War, A war that took place in United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, eleven southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America the other twenty-five states supported the federal government .After four years of warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation.

• Economic: By 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, 16 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas, and a third of the nation's income came from manufacturing. Urbanized industry was limited primarily to the Northeast; cotton cloth production was the leading industry, with the manufacture of shoes, woolen clothing, and machinery also expanding.

Major Achievements in the U.S• An achievement that was conjured in American during the time period

of 1860-1900 was on November 6, 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected President of United States. Electing Abraham Lincoln as President was the first step of the process to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln began the development of creating the Emancipation Proclamation which announced "That all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free," which was issued on January 1, 1863 by Abraham Lincoln.

• Although slaves weren't immediately free, the legal freedom for slaves came with the 13th Amendment, which occurred on December of 1865, resulting in finally devouring slavery! More than 4million African Americans were liberated which motivated for both black and whites to begin working together to rebuild their Union and creating a better one.

Slavery

Prominent international figures• Abraham Lincoln was an important prominent figure because other than

being the 16th president of the USA, he led this country through the American Civil war. One example of how he did it was that he promoted the pass of the 13th amendment and ended slavery.

• Andrew Johnson was a very prominent figure because he was the first president to be impeached. He was president right after Lincolns assassination. He became the most prominent war democrat from the South and supported Lincoln's military policies during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. As president, he took charge of Presidential Reconstruction – the first phase of Reconstruction – which lasted until the Radical Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1866 elections.

Abraham Lincoln

Prominent American Writers• Mark Twain: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21,

1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a great and famous American author during this time. He is known for works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Prince and the Pauper. Most of Twains books were based on childhood adventures that also included popular issues of this time period including slavery and African American discrimination. I believe he used all the surrounding event during this time to write his works.

• John Muir :(21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books told of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. His activism helped save Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park and other natural parks. I believe that his style of writing, naturalist, was one of the styles started in this time.

Mark Twain

Predominant Writing

• Realism was a type of writing that started during this time. Realism showed through different types of work, reflecting of this time period. During the late 1800s realism was one of the most popular styles of writing. Realism in American Literature spanned the years from 1865-1900. It was a time of great turmoil in American History, with the Civil War just ended and the inevitable aftermath of so much devastation reconstruction and urbanization.

• Naturalism was a writing technique in which authors write about their surroundings as in nature, trees plants mountains and anything the can be viewed or seen.

Major Literary Movements• Realism (1800-1840) Began during the nineteenth century, and started

after a reaction against eighteenth century Neoclassism• Modernism (1890-1940) Provided radical breaks with traditional modes of

Western art, thought, religion, social conventions, and morality• Naturalism (1865-1900) a movement that started because of social

conditions that has inescapable force in shaping human character• Transcendentalism- started when the transcendentalists believed that

“intuition and the individual conscience ”transcend” experience and thus are better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason

Predominant themes in writing?• Realism• Naturalism• Transcendentalism• African American Rights • Anti-African American Rights

Sources• Spark Notes. 2011. 13 September 2011 http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/lit/literaryterms/section6.php• Mr. Gaither. “American Literature major movements and terms.” GPS Junior English American Literature. 13 September

2011. http://staff.gps.edu/gaither/default.htm• Campbell, Donna M. “Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events 1860-1869”. Washington State University. Donna M.

Campbell. 31 August 2011. 9 September 2011 http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/1860.htm• Patel, Andrew. “The Accomplishments of President Abraham Lincoln”. Abraham Lincoln Research Site. 9 September 2011.

http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln87.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain• http://government.arts.cornell.edu/assets/courses/S05/611.pdf