Summary
Highlights
Before the War of 1812, many Americans were skeptical of the American experiment due to failures like the Articles of Confederation and partisan bickering. The Embargo Act of 1807 showed the US wasn't a major world player, and British incursions like impressment made Americans feel subservient. However, after the war, a new confidence and national pride emerged, with Americans believing they had won the war handily. This video series will explore the spread of nationalism after what was dubbed the "second war for independence".
To understand nation-building, it's crucial to clarify 'state' and 'nation'. A 'state' (or country) is a political entity defined by a central government and borders, easily identified on a map. A 'nation,' however, is a collective of people sharing commonalities and identifying with one another, a more nebulous concept. Not all nations reside in a single state, and not all states are comprised of a single nation. Nation-building focuses on creating bonds between people, and in the 19th century, this often meant combining nation and state to form a 'nation-state,' where identity was tied to participation in the state.
This video series will examine three types of nation-building in the United States: cultural, political, and economic. This particular video will delve into cultural nationalism, while subsequent videos will cover the other two.
In the 19th century, language was a key way to create identity. While most US citizens spoke English, it raised the question of how to build an American identity around a language named for another country. Noah Webster addressed this by publishing the first dictionary of the American language in 1828. This "American Dictionary of the English Language" changed spellings and substituted words to reflect American English, proclaiming its distinctiveness from its British past and becoming the standard for American writers.
The early 19th century saw the rise of a distinct American literary tradition, primarily through a group of writers known as the Knickerbockers. Authors like James Fenimore Cooper (e.g., "The Last of the Mohicans") exploring how Europeans were transformed by their experiences in the Americas, becoming self-sufficient and individualistic. Washington Irving's folk tales like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" provided uniquely American stories. Like Webster's dictionary, the Knickerbockers created an image of American distinctiveness, portraying Americans (specifically, the "free/white" population) as different and supposedly better than their European ancestors.
Patriotic songs, such as "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," echoed the theme of American distinctiveness, promoting values like liberty, freedom, sacrifice, and the frontier. Visual arts also contributed to this. John Trumbull's paintings depicted important historical events like the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with his imagery becoming deeply ingrained in the American consciousness. American landscapes were also popular, with the Hudson River School artists capturing the beauty of the Hudson Valley as it transformed into a "civilized" space.
Writers, musicians, and artists successfully fostered national pride by promoting the idea of American distinctiveness and exceptionalism. This belief still resonates with many Americans today. However, this process of nation-building was not unique to the US; similar movements occurred in Canada, Latin America, and Europe during the same period. The next video will explore political and economic nationalism.