As the American Revolution came to an end, the people left behind in this new country were tasked with creating a destiny for themselves. There was an intense hunger across the nation for proclaiming themselves and finding more of a connection with nature and the self despite the rising tensions over subjects like slavery.

The entire basis of the Romantic period was nature. People had the idea to celebrate the natural world and themselves, but how was this really possible? During this time, the Industrial Revolution began, and urban life and consumerism expanded. This greatly opposed the romantic embodying of nature that many people claimed to be experiencing.