1830 to 1840 Mostly American Authors

1830 "Godey's Lady's Book" Online Examples: http://www.uvm.edu/%7Ehag/godey/contents.html

1831 "Lion of the West" James Kirke Paulding (b.1778 d.1869) Character based on Davy Crockett's story. More information and video clip: http://www.history.com/classroom/davycrockett/students5.html

1831 "The Liberator" William Lloyd Garrison (b.1805 d.1879) This abolitionist newspaper is researched and documented in the fantastic following site: http://www.theliberatorfiles.com/
July 18, 1845 pledge of "The Liberator":
“We, the undersigned, hereby solemnly pledge ourselves not to countenance or aid the United States Government in any war which may be occasioned by the annexation of Texas, or in any other war, foreign or domestic, designed to strengthen or perpetuate slavery.”

1833 "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man" William Apess (b.1798 d.1839) A Native American Writer:
The whole essay: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/IndiansLookingGlass.htm
An excerpt: "Having a desire to place a few things before my fellow creatures who are traveling with me to the grave, and to that God who is the maker and preserver both of the white man and the Indian, whose abilities are the same, and who are to be judged by one God, who will show no favor to outward appearances, but will judge righteousness. Now I ask if degradation has not been heaped long enough upon the Indians? And if so, can there not be a compromise; is it right to hold and promote prejudices? If not, why not put them all away? I mean here amongst those who are civilized. It may be that many are ignorant of the situation of many of my brethren within the limits of New England. Let me for a few moments turn your attention to the reservations in the different states of New England, and, with but few exceptions, we shall find them as follows: The most mean, abject, miserable race of beings in the world--a complete place of prodigality and prostitution."

1833 Knickerbocker Magazine Charles Fenno Hoffman An online source: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/IndiansLookingGlass.htm

1833 http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/IndiansLookingGlass.htm

1833 Black Hawk or Makataimeshekiakiak autobiography
Full Essay Online: http://www.turtletrack.org/CO_FirstPerson/BlackHawk/BlackHawk_Part_01.htm
An excerpt: "I was born at the Sac village, on Rock River, in the year 1767, and am now in my 67th year. My great grandfather, Wanamaker, or Thunder, according to the tradition given me by my father, Pyesa, was born in the vicinity of Montreal, Canada, where the Great Spirit first placed the Sac nation, and inspired him with a belief that, at the end of four years he should see a white man, who would be to him a father. Consequently he blacked his face, and eats but once a day, just as the sun was going down, for three years, and continued dreaming, throughout all this time whenever he slept. When the Great Spirit again appeared to him, and told him that, at the end of one year more, he should meet his father, and directed him to start seven days before its expiration, and take with him his two brothers, Namah, or Sturgeon, and Paukahummawa, or Sunfish, and travel in a direction to the left of sun-rising. After pursuing this course for five days, he sent out his two brothers to listen if they could hear a noise, and if so, to fasten some grass to the end of a pole, erect it, pointing in the direction of the sound, and then return to him."

1834 Southern Literary Messenger Online source: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/browse.journals/sout.html

1835 Samuel Clemens was born in Hannibal Missouri

1835 Crockett Almanacs David Stern Crocket was "The King of the Wild Frontier," (b.1786 d.1836 at the Battle of the Alamo) Online description of volume 12: (12) Calendar Calculations, Correct for the Whole United States. “I leave this rule for others when I’m dead, Be always sure you’re right, then go a-head.” Davy Crockett’s 1847 Almanac. Daring Adventures in the Back Woods; Wonderful Scenes in River Life; Manners of Warfare in the West; Feats on the Prairies, in Texas and Oregon. Turner & Fisher: No. 74 Chatham Street, New York, No. 15, N. Sixth Street, Philadelphia, [1846]. [36] pp. American Imprints (1846) 46-1037. Rourke, p. 256. Included in the illustrations is “The Ghost of Crockett Scaring John Bull from Oregon” and “John Bull Opposed to Annexation.” The latter shows Crockett sticking a snapping turtle labeled “Texas” onto John Bull’s arise. Drake 8414.
1835 New York Herald was launched in 1835 by James Gordon Bennett; The New York Herald was launched in 1835 by James Gordon Bennett, a Scottish immigrant. 'Bennett originally charged readers 2 cents for the paper, but within a year or so dropped the price to 1 cent -- making the Herald one of the notorious "penny -papers" that became popular in American cities in the mid-1800s. As such, the Herald hungrily reported Gotham's more lurid news: violent or sexual crime stories were a specialty, and more refined readers denounced the paper as salacious and sensationalist. These criticisms bounced off Bennett, who declared defiantly at one point just a few years before the Amistad incident broke: "I have seen human depravity to the core -- I proclaim each morning on 15,000 sheets of thought and intellect the deep guilt that is encrusting our society." This outlook proved popular: by 1860, the Herald's circulation had reached 77,000 -- making it the most widely read daily paper in the nation."
Herald History: http://nyherald.com/herald-history

1836 "Nature" Ralph Waldo Emerson (b.1803 d.1882)
great site: http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature.htm
Excerpt: "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile."
Online: http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature.htm

1836 Graham's Magazine George Rex Graham (b.1813 d.1894) Edgar Allan Poe was hired as an editor and writer in February 1841.  Wikipedia: "Publishing short stories, critical reviews, and music as well as information on fashion, Graham intended the journal to reach all audiences including both men and women. He offered the high payment of $5 per page, successfully attracting some of the best-known writers of the day. It also became known for its engravings and artwork. Graham's may have been the first magazine in the United States to copyright each issue."

1837 "Twice Told Tales" Nathaniel Hawthorne (b.1804 d.1864) Short story collection in Two Volumes.  This excerpt iis the ending of one of his stories: "While his auditors shrank from one another, in mutual affright, Father Hooper fell back upon his pillow, a veiled corpse, with a faint smile lingering on the lips. Still veiled, they laid him in his coffin, and a veiled corpse they bore. him to the grave. The grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the burial stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper's face is dust; but awful is still the thought that it moldered beneath the Black Veil!"

1838 "Self Culture" William Ellery Channing (b.1780 d.1842) Unitarian Preacher, descendant of a singer, William Ellery.  Channing influenced the New England Transcendentalists.
An excerpt: "I have expressed my strong interest in the mass of the people; and this is founded, not on their usefulness to the community, so much as on what they are in themselves. Their condition is indeed obscure but their importance is not on this account a whit the less. The multitude of men cannot, from the nature of the case, be distinguished; for the very idea of distinction is that a man stands out from the multitude. They make little noise and draw little notice in their narrow spheres of action; but still they have their full proportion of personal worth and even of greatness. Indeed every man, in every condition, is great. It is only our own diseased sight which makes him little. A man is great as a man, be he where or what he may. The grandeur of his nature turns to insignificance all outward distinctions. His powers of intellect, of conscience, of love, of knowing God, of perceiving the beautiful, of acting on his own mind, on outward nature, and on his fellow-creatures,— these are glorious prerogatives."

1839 "The Fall of the House of Usher" Edgar Allen Poe  full text: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/POE/fall.html
An excerpt:   "Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our last meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a distant part of the country -- a letter from him -- which, in its wildly importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply. The MS. gave evidence of nervous agitation. The writer spoke of acute bodily illness -- of a mental disorder which oppressed him -- and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in which all this, and much more, was said -- it the apparent heart that went with his request --which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons."
 
The Steuben County Newspaper Stories and Poems:
1836: (From the Amateur Newspaper re-written in the Steuben Advocate -- Bath)
I AM JUST SIXTEEN
'Heigh-ho,' yawned Mary Sandborn as she took up her lamp to go to bed --
'Heigh-ho! I wonder what ails me -- I have no cold -- I am not sick, and father gave me a new dress this morning and yet I want something. I wish I knew what it was. Perhaps Henry could tell; I'll ask him to morrow morning!'
Mary went to bed and tossed and tumbled, and felt no better. In the morning her eyes looked as if they were bound with red ferret, and she complained of a headache. Nevertheless when her mother offered her a cup of strong coffee, saying is good for that disease, she replied, 'I thank you, ma, help Henry first if you please.'
Mr. Sandborn, Mary's father, was a merchant. He had a store on India or Long Wharf and dealt with canvass, hemp, raven's duck, and other articles of Russia goods. He was an honest man and a good father, but took little heed of any thing but the fluctuation of trade, and the rise and fall of the market. One day his daughter asked him how he liked Henry Willet's summer suit. 'O very well,' he replied, 'but I should like his white pantaloons better if they were made of linen instead of crape.
Henry Willet was the son of his correspondent at St. Petersburg and had been sent in early childhood to Boston, for the benefit of our schools. On leaving college at eighteen he expressed his willingness to enter Mr. Sandborn's counting room, in order to be initiated into the mysteries of trade. Perhaps he would rather have chosen one of the liberal professions, but there was something under his guardian's roof that made him very unwilling to leave it. So he remained there until his twentieth year had expired, with the prospect of seeing his name painted in yellow letters after Mr. Sandborn's at the expiration of his minority. His principal one day declared, that he loved Henry as well, as if he were his son. 'Ah!' said Mary, 'I wish he were your son.' 'And why so?' asked the father. 'Because,' replied Mary with a smile of bewitching naiveté, ' he would then be my brother.'
Henry did not wish any such thing. Yet he loved her with an affection beyond that of a brother, and would have told her so had he dared. In another year, thought he to himself, if my father makes the advances I have a right to expect, and if I continue to give Mr. Sandborn satisfaction, I shall become his partner and of course his equal. Mary will only be sixteen then, and it would be unfair to engage her affections now before she has a chance to form any judgment for herself. Courage, a year will soon be over, and she will like me as well as she does now.
This forbearance was very honorable on his part, no doubt, but it led to a course of conduct very little pleasing to Miss Sandborn. Henry waited on her to church, and looked out the exercise of the day for her, but she had little of his company elsewhere. If she asked him to attend her to the theatre, or any of the fashionable resorts of the gay, he was sure to be engaged in business. Mary grieved at this, and believed herself slighted, but her resentment was not enduring -- she redoubled her efforts to please him, and ere the year elapsed discovered why she valued his approbation and wondered what ailed her. The occasion as follows.
She was sick, at least imagined so, and her father sent for Dr. G---. The good physician listened patiently to her complaints of sleepiness, loss of appetite, &c, and decided she had the vapors. 'You want air and exercise,' he said. 'Let Mr. Willet or your father take you in an open chaise to Cambridge, Dorchester or Dedham, three times a week, and I will answer for your recovery.'
'I can't go today' said Mr. Sandborn, I have too much business to attend to; but Henry will go. I know, to oblige you and I dare say you had as lief have him as me!' 'O, yes, full of lief and a great deal rather,' replied Mary very innocently. 'He is an excellent driver.'
Henry could have no objection, and he accordingly drove the chaise to the door, and took Miss Sandborn in. till they took leave of the rough pavement in Roxbury, neither said anything, and then the conversation was carried on in monosyllables, for Mr. Willet, poor fellow, was afflicted with bashfulness. At least, however, matters took a more lively turn.
'How green the grass is!' said the lady for want of something better.
'Very green indeed. It always is in the springtime,' answered Henry, and then relapsed into silence.
"What birds are those sitting on the rail yonder?' asked Mary, after a pause of some minutes.
"I believe they are turtle doves,' replied the youth. In fact they were crows, but the interlocutors were both cities bred, and if they fell into a mistake, they may be pardoned for ignorance of Natural History. The doves, black as they were, served them for a topic.
'What? Are those the birds that love one another so well?' rejoined the young lady.
'Yes,' said Mr. Willet, 'the very same; and it is said that when one of the pair is killed the other pines away and dies of grief.'
'I am sure I don't wonder at all!' exclaimed Miss Sandborn, her eyes at the same time filling with tears. 'I am sure I should pine and die too in such a case; should you not, Henry?' As she spoke these words her eyelids closed and her head inclined towards Mr. Willet's shoulder. The question embarrassed him; so did her posture, and he hesitated as he replied, 'I believe hearts are not broken so easily.'
Then followed another long pause, during which Henry's eyes were fixed on the road before him. At last Mary raised her head with -- 'This is a very long road; is it not, Mr. Willet?'
'It is just forty-five miles before it comes to the sea,' he answered. 'I have traveled it often on the way to New York. It passes through Providence.'
'Providence?' said Miss Sandborn musingly, 'is it not there people run away to get married?'
'I have heard so, and believe it is true,' answered her lover.
'If we were to run to Providence now and get married I wonder what folks would say,' rejoiced Mary. 'It would be a fine joke, would it not, Henry?'
'I should not care much what any but your father might say,' replied Mr. Willet. 'He would call him a dishonorable swindler who absconded with the property entrusted to him. But he will have no reason to be angry with me, for I would not ask you to do so for all the money in the world, or if I should, you would not consent.'
'Ah, Henry,' said the young lady -- there is no knowing what I might do.' Here her head drooped again. 'Do you think it would be so very wrong, then? Would my father be so very angry?'
'Indeed he would,' replied Willet. 'In the first place, I have not asked you of him -- he has not refused, and therefore he would have a right to complain. Besides you are so very young that he would have reason to say that I led you away.'
'Indeed,' rejoined Miss Sandborn -- 'I would tell him that I went away of my own accord without being led by anybody. But why don't you ask him then? and if he refuses we shall have a good excuse for running away afterwards -- I am very forward, though -- for perhaps you would not have me any rate.'
'Would I not?' cried Henry. 'Heaven knows I would. You know that I am not of age, yet, nor set up in business. He would laugh at me. I must wait until I am twenty-one, for then my father is to advance me ten thousand dollars to begin with. I can ask your father then without blushing.'
'Why no ask him now what he will do when you come of age?' asked Mary. 'I think I should know.'
'What a fool I was not to think of that before,' cried Willet. 'It would have put me out of pain long ago. I will ask your father as soon as we get home.'
'It is not necessary to record the rest of their conversation, which related principally to their future prospects -- which in their young eyes were tinged with the beautiful tins of the rainbow. When they reached Mr. Sandborn's house, the old merchant stood at the door to receive them. His features denoted vexation and he whistling 'O be easy,' according to the custom when excited. He had handed his daughter out of the chaise without saying a word, and then desired Henry to repair without delay to his counting room. The youth complied, and was busy with his ledger when Mr. Sandborn entered, still more gloomy than ever.
'What is the matter, my dear sir?' said the youth, 'has the Nautilus been case away on her passage?'
'I should not care if she was,' replied the merchant, 'for she was insured for twice her value; but mum, Henry, for that, A close mouth catches no flies. It is a good deal worse than that. The Nautilus has arrived while you were away riding, and is now lying at Rinsford's island. She has brought news for both, my boy.'
'Well, sir, let me know it then,' said Willet. 'You must, I think, have letters from my father, for you and myself too!'
'There is no letter for you, my son, from your father, or for me either,' replied the old man, 'but I have heard bad news from another source, and it concerns you more than me.'
'Let me know the worst then, my dear sir, at once,' cried the youth.
'You will know it too soon, and as it is I hate to be the one to tell you,' rejoined Mr. Sandborn. 'The fact is, Henry, that your father has faded and is unable to pay four pence half-penny on the dollar.'
'And how, sir, did this happen,' asked the young man. 'It must have been by some visitation of Providence, -- for my father was the richest man in Petersburg according to the last advices.'
'He was so,' said the old man: 'But he is now the poorest, and you are right in thinking he has become so by the visitation of God. His stores were all swept away by the rising of the Neva, and his property is now a cypher. You knew he never let his money be idle, and just when he had invested it all in merchandize. He had not enough left to pay me alone, and I shall be the least loser among his creditors. The greedy Russians have taken all.'
'My God! What will he do then?' asked Henry imploringly.
'Do!' exclaimed the old man. 'He must set up again -- and shall if money can do it. If I lose him now, I have gained by him before, -- and do you not take it to heart, my lad.'
This news put Henry's intended proposals out of his head entirely. He did not dare to think of becoming a member of Mr. Sandborn's family at least for a while, -- but he resolved to double his diligence and gain standing by his own industry which he had expected to obtain by his father's aid. He now shunned Miss Sandborn as much as possible, having first given her to understand that though his affection was undiminished he dared not offer himself to her father's heiress. She did not see the propriety of his scruples, for she had read a great many novels, and admired the idea of love in a cottage. She looked on riches as young men often, and young women always do, of very little importance; and wondered Henry did not see matters as she did. She did not despair of overcoming the obstinacy, however, nor did she mope or yawn as formerly, before she knew the nature of her ailment.
In due time Henry obtained his majority, and became the partner of his former master. Still he had little property of his own, and did not dare to speak of the object dearest to his heart, to the person who could have rendered him easy at once. The old man ever so much as suspected the state of his partner's feelings, nor guessed why he shunned the society of all but mercantile men and applied himself exclusively to business. He talked as much as ever about debentures, short and long pieces, hemp and duck. Not that he was merely a follower of Mammon; but had a heart as open as charity, and the habit of getting had become with him a passion in the very spring of life. That he did not undervalue his daughter's happiness will be seen.
On the day Miss Sandborn attained her sixteenth year, I met her father on change, and man never wore such a ludicrous air of perplexity. He answered me, after the common courtesies, at cross purpose, and behaved in so singular a manner, that I at last asked him what was the matter. 'Matter,' said he, 'it is matter I cannot understand: but I will show you what astonished me -- with that he took out his pocket book, opened it and extracted a letter which he said he had found on his pillow that morning. I opened it, and saw the following words, in a beautiful Italian hand:
"Dear Father, I am just sixteen. Mary Sandborn"
'Now' said the old man, 'what do you think of that? I asked her myself, but she said if I could not find out her meaning myself, she could never tell me --That was all I could get out of her -- What do you think it means?'
'Why,' said I, after some consideration, 'Miss Mary is now sixteen and is well developed for her years. She is besides, of sanguine complexion. I think I can guess what she means -- she would let you know that she thinks herself old enough to be married.'
'But, said Mr. Sandborn, 'how can the jade be so forward all of a sudden! Till now she has been remarkably reserved to all the world, especially the young men.'
'Depend upon it,' said I, 'there is something of that kind in the way.'
'Well,' said the worthy merchant, 'that was partly my own opinion of the matter, and if you will advise me I'll take care of her directly. She is a good girl, and if twenty thousand dollars will buy her a husband, she shan't be single long.'
I commended his resolution and he wernt home to put it in execution. I afterwards heard an account of his interview with his daughter from his own lips.
'Mary,' said he, who had come at his summons. 'I have been considering of this matter, and I think you are old enough to be married. What do you say to it?'
'If you command me to marry, sir, I shall try to obey you,' said she blushing.
'Well,' rejoined her father, 'there is a Mr. Richings -- he is as good a man as any one change, worth fifty thousand dollars; he has been speaking to me about it. What do you say to him?'
'O, sir, he is a widower, with a son older than I am.'
'There is Ralph Primrose will be very glad to have you. A snug man that -- not worth much though.'
'Dear father, don't mention the old wretch. He might be my grandfather.'
'Tell me then what kind of husband would you like?'
'One as much like Henry Willet, sir, as you can find.'
'O, I ought to have thought of that before,' cried the delighted old man.
They were married three weeks after and many will recognize their acquaintances in the sketch, though the names are changed. Ralph Primrose
 
Boston Post -- "A writer of love tales, in describing one of his heroines says, 'innocence dwells in the rich curls of her dark hair.' The Exeter News Letter thinks it is not a very secure residence, as it would stand a pretty smart chance of being combed out."

Jan 1, 1836, Steuben Farmer's Advocate, Bath
"Shall I never See the Day" by William Ray (a well know poet, by the way, in his day.)
Adversity
Shall I never see the day
When prosperity once more
Smiled adversity away
And the dreadful storm is o'er,
Will that moment ever be
This side of eternity?
No -- that time will never come,
when unmingled peace and joy
Find within the heart n' home
Where no troubles e-er annoy,
No such fruitfull field of bliss
Blossoms in a world like this.
Care, perplexity and dismay,
Surely visit us again,
If they leave us for a day,
If they leave us for an hour,
Come again with triple power.
Life is a burden is at best
An intolerable load;
Who can take a moment's rest
On the solitary road,
Through a wilderness of fears,
Interpers'd with streams of tears,
Life at worst must be endur'd,
For we must not cut the cord;
Evils, that cannot be cur'd
May be blessings from the Lord,
Filial chastenings from above,
Demonstrations of His love.
Hard the lesson is to learn,
Good for us to be distrest,
Hard for mortals to discern
That whatever is, is best:
By submission must be given
To the Lord of earth and heaven.
Dark afflictions, keen and cold,
Long have been my lost and part --
And with tortures manifold
Beat on the Bleeding heart,
Yet, O! Gracious Power Divine
Teach me never to repine.
(Wait until you see next year, William, it's the Panic of 1837!)
The Lady Bug and The Ant by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney (Steuben Advocate, Bath 1936)
The Lady Bug sat in the rose's heart,
And smiled with pride and scorn,
As she saw a plain-dressed Ant go by.
With a heavy grain of corn: --
So she drew the curtain of damask round,
and adjusted her silken vest,
Making her glass of a drop of dew
That lay in the rose's breast.
Then she laughed so loud, that the Ant looked up
And seeing her haughty face,
Took no more notice, but travelled on
At the same industrious pace:
But a sudden blast of Autumn came,
and rudely swept the ground,
And down the rose with the Lady Bug bent,
And scattered its leaves around,
Then the houseless Lady was much amazed
For she knew not where to go,
And hoarse November's early blast
Had brought with it rain and snow:
Her winds were chill'd and her feet were cold,
and she wished for the Ant's warm cell;
and what she did, in the wintry storm,
I'm sure I cannot tell.
But be care Ant was in her nest,
with her little ones by her side;
She taught them all, like herself to toil,
Nor mind the sneer of pride:
And I thought as I sat at the close fo the day,
Eating my bread and milk,
It was wiser to work and improve my time,
Than be idle and dress in silk.
Sigourney is not forgotten, you can read more of her poems: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=amverse;idno=BAD9857.0001.001
Steuben Advocate, Bath, 1836 -- contained a poem by Charles W. Everest, a well-known Christian writer for hymns.

One of his well known hymns: TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
Take up your cross," the Savior said,
"If you would my disciple be;
forsake the past, and come this day,
and humbly follow after me."
Take up your cross; let not its weight
pervade your soul with vain alarm;
his strength shall bear your spirit up,
sustain your heart, and nerve your arm.
Take up your cross, nor heed the shame,
nor let your foolish heart rebel;
for you the Lord endured the cross
to save your soul from death and hell.
Take up your cross and follow Christ,
nor think till death to lay it down;
for only those who bear the cross
may hope to wear a golden crown.

In the 1830's Christian and other religions were radically reforming the Upstate New York Area -- which later became known as the "Burned Over District" -- for more information see: http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/articles/religious-revivals-revivalism-1830s-new-england