Our 16 year old daughter is reading A History of the American People and writing a daily essay. Here's one essay on the book, regarding America's westward expansion in the 1800's:
During the 1880s, American expansion was at its highest boom. Immigrants came daily from across the sea, and more and more people picked up stakes and headed to the West, where the opportunities were unparalleled. Never before had such a huge horizon loomed, waiting to be explored by willing and courageous families. The land was priceless, yet the settlers could acquire large homesteads for such a small amount- it was too good to be true, and many enterprising young men were lured westward, where they set up new lives and thrived.
With the constant flow of people across the country, businesses were quick to take advantage of the demand. Whole towns sprung up in less than ten years. And with the expansion of population, the transportation services must be drawn westward as well. Railroads snaked into the wilderness, bringing new civilization opportunities to the American West. With the Mississippi at the settlers' disposal, they quickly set to outdo each other in the size of ships and speed of transport along the river. The once lonely and forsaken wilderness was beginning to bring prosperity to the country as a whole.
While all this land and population expansion was occuring, the country seemed too busy to devote its masterminds to literature. The most brilliant of men of the time went into politics. But when Texas was being annexed, and the west coast was being populated by eager Americans, talented men in the East began to bend their minds toward literature. Certain Europeans had berated the U.S. for not contributing to the international pool of good literature. Indeed, the flow of books had been scarcely a trickle after the War for Independence. But it began flow faster now. Poets such as Emerson and Longfellow came on the scene, writing their poetry on the hearts of Americans. And novelists like Edgar Allen Poe and Harriet Beecher Stowe were widely celebrated. Americans began to read more literature, but especially that which was written by their fellow countrymen. Familiar phrases from the writings of the above literary artists became household sayings, and a part of the language today. Each author affected the culture in a unique way, for good or evil. But all the populace thought of at the time was that it was strictly American, strictly their own. And therefore, beloved by all.
