What is one major idea that appears in us literature from the late 1700s and early 1800s

Romanticism was an international movement that developed in the US between the late 1700s and early 1800s. This movement, which ocurred in art, literature as well as music, was a reaction against the classical artistic styles. Romantics, who opposed the 1600's and 1700's Neoclassicism and its importance on the power of reason as a way of discovering truth, hoped to transform the world through the power of the imagination (the major idea of the Romantic movement). They emphasized the mystical, supernatural, individualistic and spiritual values.

The American Romantics developed a deep love of nature which took a philosophical form known as transcendentalism, such is the case of New England writers who also celebrated the American spirit that still remains influential in all the country. The late 1700s brought Revolutionary writers, while the 1800s gave birth to First Nationalist ones.