Connect the significance of the hudson river school in the antebellum era to the reaction to the exploitation of the american environment during the gilded age. (ccot and comparison)

The Hudson River School was an art movement that was influenced by Romanticism. It was embodied by a group of landscape painters that wanted to show the world the beauty of the US. During the Gilded Age, America went through quick industrialization, to grow the industry started to explore everything including the environment, there was heavy use of oil, coal that increased air and water pollution.

Those consequences of industrialism fueled the concepts of conservatism and preservation. John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt worked then to create National Parks, to protect America’s landscapes and animals. People started to be aware and advocate to protect nature and natural resources - for example Forest Reserve Act (1891), Sierra Club (1892), National Reclamation Act (1902), US Forest Service (1905)-.

So you can notice that after heavy industrialization, people went back into the Hudson River School concept and started to pay attention to the beauty of American nature.

a phrase from a poem by ralph waldo emerson about the battle of lexington and concord. emerson's words read, “here once the embattled farmers stood / and fired the shot heard round the world.”