ABSTRACT
MELVILLE AND EMERSON WERE BOTH PRODUCTS OF MID-NINETEENTHcentury America, where culture was on the brink of a great change. The period from 1830 to 1860 was simultaneously marked by disintegration and fulfillment. Democracy in government became for the nation and for most of the states a fact as well as a theory. Canals, turnpikes, steamboats, and railroads multiplied, revolutionizing transportation. Print culture exploded and spread rapidly throughout the country. The industrialization and consequent urbanization of the Northeast progressed with startling rapidity, and the advance of the Western frontier continued. The enervating spirit of independence and technological amelioration pervaded the air.
