James Fenimore Cooper and His Writings America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! -America the Beautiful, Katherine Lee Bates The growth of American Literature was further developed in the era of American Romanticism. In this period, stirrings of national consciousness appeared more and more strongly with the emergence of a truly American literature. During this time, as Americans began to understand the meaning of being "American", they also began to grow culturally. This paralleled the time when, the world as a whole was experiencing a change in ways of thinking: the