Antebellum experienced rapid societal change stemming from the industrialization and rapid urbanization of north, marking the economic transition to capitalism. With the shift to capitalism, individualism developed from the change in the value of individual labor and nostalgia for the frontier. As the increasingly moral middle-class became more solidified, the wage gap increased, and the northerners became increasingly economically different from the south, the reform impulse grew. Reform impulse borrowed from the rhetoric of the individualism, exploring its discrepancies concerning the working class, women, and both enslaved and freed African-Americans.
Individualism and the reform impulse reacted to the rapidly changing northern society. …show more content…
For example, Edgar Allen Poe 's "The Tell-Tale Heart: A Murder 's Confession" echoed Emerson 's idea "society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members" : he wrote a story about an urban man losing his humanity to frustration with his lack of privacy—symbolized by his hatred of the old man 's eye--and his paranoia about society—metaphorically symbolized by his paranoia about the police knowing about his crime. Political literature, especially campaign biographies, focused the ideal of manhood as "[easiness] in solitude," showing the move toward romanticized frontier values. Campaign biographies, a genre perfected by Andrew Jackson, sought to personify the candidates by "grit, smarts, stubbornness, and love of country" by using the rhetoric of individualism. For example, David Crockett 's autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Davy Crockett" described helping a neighbor, calling waiting for employers to settle the area "now way to live." He utilized the rhetoric of individualism not only fulfills the Jacksonian values but also rejects capitalism 's creation of dependencies. Individualism 's had large, varied presence in literature and politics. Thus, individualism—through its adaptability—shaped the reform
Individualism and the reform impulse reacted to the rapidly changing northern society. …show more content…
For example, Edgar Allen Poe 's "The Tell-Tale Heart: A Murder 's Confession" echoed Emerson 's idea "society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members" : he wrote a story about an urban man losing his humanity to frustration with his lack of privacy—symbolized by his hatred of the old man 's eye--and his paranoia about society—metaphorically symbolized by his paranoia about the police knowing about his crime. Political literature, especially campaign biographies, focused the ideal of manhood as "[easiness] in solitude," showing the move toward romanticized frontier values. Campaign biographies, a genre perfected by Andrew Jackson, sought to personify the candidates by "grit, smarts, stubbornness, and love of country" by using the rhetoric of individualism. For example, David Crockett 's autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Davy Crockett" described helping a neighbor, calling waiting for employers to settle the area "now way to live." He utilized the rhetoric of individualism not only fulfills the Jacksonian values but also rejects capitalism 's creation of dependencies. Individualism 's had large, varied presence in literature and politics. Thus, individualism—through its adaptability—shaped the reform