In nineteenth-century America, manifest destiny was the popular belief that American settlers were meant to expand across the continent; it was their destiny.

The author of this passage is Frederick Jackson Turner. Turner was a late-nineteenth-century historian who wrote extensively on the primacy of the Frontier in American culture. He would have agreed with any action that aided the spread of the American people west across the continent, so we can reliably say he would have supported the Mexican War, the construction of the railroads, the Louisiana Purchase, and the consequences of the California Gold Rush. He would not, however, have supported the establishment of specific protected territory for Native Americans—as this would have prevented the American domination of the continent. 

The Cult of Domesticity was the prevailing social attitude towards women in nineteenth-century America – particularly among white, Protestant society. The Cult of Domesticity states that it is the responsibility of women to be pure, pious, domestic and submissive. The woman’s proper place was said to be “in the home.” Generally, the Cult of Domesticity supported the supposed virtue of women as natural care givers to children. The impact of the Cult of Domesticity—which dictated that it was not feminine to accept paid labor—was often extremely negative. By the turn of the twentieth century, less than five-percent of married women were employed and, if a middle-class family lost the male bread-winner the consequences were often disastrous. 

A Vindication of the Rights of Women was written by British feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, in 1792. Wollstonecraft argued against the educational and political theorists of her time who argued that women should be given solely a domestic education. She believed it was important, both for society at large (as women raised children and could be companions to their husbands) and for the dignity of women, that all women be treated as the equals of men. The book was an important contribution to early American feminist thought, as well as to the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. 

The quote is an excerpt from a piece written by the educational reformer Horace Mann in 1848. Mann argued that universal public education was the best way to ensure a virtuous, hard-working, and Republican population. His ideas won some acceptance throughout his time period, but it was a century later when the public school system began to receive widespread recognition for its role in altering the nature of the American population, and even, leading to victory in the Space Race and perhaps (more of a stretch) the Cold War. 

The Hudson River School is a term applied to a form of art popular in the New York area in the mid-nineteenth century. It later spread throughout the country, as second generation artists took up the pursuit. Its proponents focused on a positive depiction of the American landscape as pastoral and beautiful. They believed that humans and nature could, and indeed should, co-exist peacefully; however, they were not known as promoters of Native American culture or lifestyle. 

The term “Gilded Age” was coined by Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. It refers to the period following the end of the Civil War and leading up to the end of the nineteenth century. Twain used the term to highlight the perceived injustices of society at the time. He believed that the thin veneer of American prosperity and growth was covering up massive social and economic iniquity. Indeed, whilst it was a time of great economic growth for the United States, it was also a time when the economy was very top-heavy. Massive industrial conglomerates controlled a huge proportion of the wealth whereas the majority of families lived on or below the poverty line.

The above quote was spoken by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau is generally remembered as an important figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the nineteenth century; however, he also wrote and spoke excessively on the importance of civil disobedience. To Thoreau it was right and necessary to resist injustice in government through disobedience.  

Judith Sargent Murray is one of the most notable early American feminists. She was born in 1751 and did most of her writing at a time when few other women were speaking out against subservience to men. She authored On the Equality of Sexes in 1790—in the essay she outlined why women could be as capable of achieving intellectual greatness and economic independence as men. Murray has served as an inspirational figure for many later American feminists.

The term “Noble savage” was predominantly used to describe Native Americans in United States society. A “Noble savage” became somewhat of an idealized character in American culture, a mythical “other” figure that any encountered real-life Native American individual could be compared to. It was also a term used frequently in European and American literature to portray the natural virtues of man outside of “civilization”.