Relate the Romantic traits to the continued development of American identity and point to any traits that may still exist in 21st century America.

Many of the traits which originally characterized the British Romantic movement, and which came to be echoed and amplified by American Romanticists, are also traits which are inextricably connected to the idea of American identity as it was first developed. It is not surprising that, in adapting the Romanticism of writers and poets in the United Kingdom, American writers chose to focus upon, and then proliferate, the particular ideas which appealed to them as pioneers in a young and expanding nation. British Romanticism became American Romanticism, and American Romanticism helped shape the American identity.
There are strong connections between the early proponents of the American Revolution, such as Thomas Paine, and the progenitors of Romanticism. Mary Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin, the parents of Mary Shelley, were supporters of the American Revolution and ideas of democratic freedom and rebellion against governments they saw to be unjust. William Godwin passed down these beliefs to his daughter, and she moved with a crowd of Romantic writers—including Byron, Keats, and her later husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley—who also promoted revolutionary values in their work. Indeed, all the key English Romantic poets (Mary and Percy Shelley, Byron, Keats, Coleridge and Wordsworth) supported the French Revolution and promoted values of freedom and fraternity in their works. The connection between this trait of Romanticism and the developing American identity is clear: Romanticism had a long tradition of championing the oppressed (see also William Blake) and railing against governments it saw to be unfit to govern. The early, and indeed the current, American identity placed great store by these ideas of brotherhood and liberty and of government by the people and for the people.
Connected to the idea of revolution and liberty in Romanticism is the emphasis upon individualism we also find espoused by the Romantic poets. Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight," in which he celebrates the "babe" who contains "all things in himself," is an excellent example of this, but the idea of the individual's significance in determining his own path can be found in much English Romantic poetry. Likewise, it is a key tenet of the work of American poet Emerson (see his essay "Self Reliance") and a significant part of the American identity. Individualism, or the belief that each person makes of himself what he chooses, is a key principle of what it means to be American. It is the foundation of capitalism, a rejection of state control or collective thought or action, and has contributed to the idea of American exceptionalism. While individualism espouses that self-reliance and originality are what help us succeed, in the USA, this concept has become inextricably connected to the idea that, because America is such a unique nation, it is entirely unlike other countries and can do things others cannot.
There are other, less politicized, traits of Romantic poetry which can also be said to have helped shape the American identity. Perhaps the overriding feature of Romantic poetry is that it celebrates the sublime as it is found in nature, particularly in dramatic landscapes which evoke strong emotion. The celebration of nature is inherent in much American literature and, indeed, in the American character itself. Americans have always wanted to possess land, and there is a strong theme of being "part of" the land in many American writings. As the country expanded westwards, we can also see the Romantic theme of the hinterland—exploring the borders between the known and the unknown—become transmuted into the American Romantic fascination with frontiers. While British Romanticism (and, later, Gothic literature) explores the meaning of borders and hinterlands as places where ideas intersect and dreams can be born, American Romanticism takes this idea a step further, privileging the idea that beyond the known borders of the USA was a new world, or new dream. During the Gold Rush, as Americans expanded westwards and many made a fortune overnight from the natural wealth of California, this idea became solidified in American culture, and the American Dream was born. The love of nature and the belief in individualism combined to create the idea that a fortune can be gained from the land, if only a man is willing to work hard enough. While it is no longer true that a fortune can easily be found in the physical landscape of America, the American Dream is certainly still alive today and concerns with self-reliance and individualism are the bedrock of American capitalism.