Rapid and drastic changes in the socio-political life of the country could not but affect the nature of its cultural development. At the beginning of the century, a significant part of the creative energy of the nation was spent on maintaining economic and political stability. In the United States, there was no audience interested in the development of art and the support of those who engaged in it. Even B. Franklin complained that the tiny island of Great Britain had generated more âgreat and sophisticated mindsâ than it would have found throughout the vast expanse of the American continent.
Theatrical and musical life at that time did not receive distribution even in the âculturalâ cities of the Atlantic coast. Theater in America was generally in its infancy: in New England it was considered for too long a "dangerous to the soul" and "causing debauchery" spectacle, which hindered its further development. The more responsive southern public nevertheless did not give the necessary income; the maintenance of individual professional troupes turned into large and unnecessary expenses.
Researchers have noted a clear increase in the anti-intellectual stream in the American culture of the young republic from the beginning to the end of the 30s of the 19th century. Educated citizens then feared that the principles of democracy would lower the overall cultural standard to the lowest possible level.
This time was marked by the introduction (in 1837) and the rapid development of a unified state general education system designed to protect the young generation from ignorance. By the middle of the century, it covered children, starting from a young age and up to and including high school. Higher education, however, remained accessible to not many.
A peculiar and purely American phenomenon was a system of "courses" - educational lectures for adults, founded in 1826 by New England resident Josiah Holbrook. Lecturers arrived in remote settlements in a wagon, later a locomotive, and the public lectures given by them for a while became as much a part of public life as a church, school, local court, saloon or prison. Citizens bought tickets to gather in the evening to listen about the Indians of North America, the life of Mohammed or Oliver Cromwell, the causes of the American Revolution, school education and the reserves of the human brain. This system brought up 1.5 generation of readers, provided a discussion, in particular, of such pressing issues as women's rights and the abolition of slavery, and also provided writers and intellectuals with a stable source of income.
Realistic tendencies have lived in American art since the Revolutionary War. First of all, they appeared in the portrait. Returning after studying in England to his homeland, Stuart (1755-1828) became the founder of the national portrait school of painting. Realistic features were also clearly manifested in genre painting.
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