The Hudson River School was a group of American landscape painters in the 19th century. They took the unique natural landscapes of America as their subject, beginning with the Hudson River Valley in New York and later extending to other areas like California. Their paintings reflected the political, social, and economic changes happening in America at the time as the nation underwent transformation. The artists used landscapes to portray America's vast differences from Europe and imply harmony between man and nature in God's plan. Their works represented America as young, new, and free from the corruption of European monarchy.