jefferson had no idea

Thomas Jefferson is known for having agrarian ideals.

Landscape painter George Innes completed this painting in Rome in 1869.

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, had no idea how critical urban life would be to the United States. Like many of this country's early leaders, he believed the significance of this then-new republic rested in open rural spaces.

By mid-nineteenth century, the ongoing fondness for the countryside was seen in not just in this nation's politicians and intellectuals, but in its artists. The 1869 painting by George Innes presented here serves as one example of this phenomenon.

When do we see the growing importance of the metropolitan space? How does the ongoing debate about the role of cities manifest in everyday life, past and present? How does the Old World  figure into a modernizing and urbanizing America? We will explore these questions and more on the first day of class. See you soon!