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 LESSON PLAN #3
THE EARLY REPUBLIC AND WESTERN EXPANSION
1800S TO 1850S

Objectives:

Understand how both landscape art and genre painting can provide the viewer with a feeling for a time in history as well as for differing regional perspectives.

Slides:

Discussion:

From the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, through the War of 1812 and the subsequent "Era of Good Feelings," Americans struggled to build a new society and form a unique American identity. Artists began to paint landscapes in addition to portraits. A sense of nationalism revealed itself in ordinary, humble scenes representing democratic America. As early as 1800, Americans began moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase added 830,000 square miles of western land to the country. As Americans pushed westward, their interest in and their relationship to the land was intensified by monumental landscape paintings of the West (and other "unfamiliar" places) and more intimate landscapes of the East. Genre painting also matured as artists became fascinated with the people occupying the American land. View the slides above, focusing your discussion on the information from Introduction and Discussion.

What kind of life do the students think that the Westerners in Boatmen on the Missouri led as opposed to the people on the East Coast in Recreation? Why might people living in East Coast cities want to own landscape scenes or scenes of frontier life? How is the landscape in View Near the Village of Catskill different from the landscape in Rainy Season in the Tropics? Which landscape seems more settled or lived in? How has the artist made the landscape in Rainy Season in the Tropics seem unfamiliar and exciting?

Activity 1:

Have the students write a journal entry from the perspective of one of the people in Boatmen on the Missouri and one from Recreation. Ask students to look closely at the slides; they should write about things inspired by the visual information in the paintings. Ask them to compare the two journal entries. Which two people did they choose and why? Which character did they prefer being?

Activity 2:

Have the students draw or create a collage of the schoolyard in genre style -- the different types of students, the everyday activities taking place, etc. Then have them portray the schoolyard in the style of a landscape. The landscape might be a small area, like a clump of earth coming up from the cement, or the entire yard -- as long as the focus is on the physical aspects of the yard and not the actions that take place within the yard. Compare the two visions of the school-yard -- as a place of social interaction between students and as an urban geographical location. Have students compare their work with the actual schoolyard; are any parts of the schoolyard idealized or omitted in the students' work? Why?

Terms:

  • steamboat: a boat powered by steam. Before steam was used for fuel on boats, riverboats had to rely on current, wind, and human power. Steamboats were faster and more powerful; they could travel against the flow of the river, and they could carry more cargo.

Suggested Reading:

Blos, Joan W. Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal 1830-32. New York: Scribner, 1980.

Brown, Marion Marsh. Sacagewa: Indian Interpreter to Lewis and Clark. Chicago: Children's Press, 1988.

Sherrow, Victoria. Huskings, Quilting, and Barn Raisings: Work-Play Parties in Early America. New York: Walker, 1992

Introduction | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Slide List | Museum Visit