ABSTRACT
Yosemite was established in 1865 when Congress and President Lincoln ceded land to California on the condition that the state “preserve it for the people.” 1 In 1872, using much the same rationale, Yellowstone was established as the first national park, not only in the U.S., but in the world—it was an American idea. The development of both parks came very quickly after “discovery” by Euro-Americans. That this idea appeared at all and developed so quickly is related to the cultural setting of the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Important to the establishment of Yosemite was the Civil War. A unifying focal point was needed and American land of spectacular beauty, located outside the center of the fray, was seen by Lincoln as a symbol of this unity. A more general condition of the period was the rise of industrialization, with increased access to and means of travel that led Americans to turn to tourism and create their own version of Europe's Grand Tour. Coupled with this, the expanding settlement of the country increasingly opened the lands of the West as appropriate sites for pleasure travel. Finally, what was in the air of the culture was a sense of America coming of age, becoming more than an offshoot of England, and developing a culture in its own right. The land of America, especially as enshrined in national parks, became a key element of this new identity.
