Disunited States of America: Literature in the Nineteenth Century

What is America?  Whose America is it?  In 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of Johnson v. M’Intosh, stating that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands. Their "right of occupancy" was subordinate to the United States' government and "right of discovery.”  Think about what it means to claim the right of discovery and what this might mean about being American. 

Beginning with the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, we will consider the many and diverse voices that make up an American literary tradition. We will read and discuss the great writers of the American Renaissance—Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman—and the dissenting voices represented by Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Jacobs, and Rebecca Harding Davis.

I'd like you start by assuming that our culture is made up of stories. We tell stories all the time to our families and friends and sometimes strangers. And writers in the nineteenth century are no different. They write essays, poems, and stories to try to understand themselves and the people around them. As you read, I hope you will think about what it means to you to "be American." Will your new reading change the way you think? Many of these writers might hope so.