Transcendentalism
was a movement that upheld the romantic and idealistic themes emerging
between 1820 and 1860. This movement affected art and literature, and
stressed intuition, feeling, individualism, and the study of nature. This
was in response to the Second Great Awakening, established church doctrines,
and the capitalistic merchant class. Transcendentalists include Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. These men and
women were highly individualistic and supported a variety of reform movements.
They viewed organized institutions, especially government, as unimportant,
and in some cases even detestable. They stressed discovering one’s inner
self and finding the essence of God in nature. Transcendentalists were
especially opposed to the institution of slavery.
A
lecture given by Emerson entitled “The American Scholar” urged young Americans
to create a new and original American culture for themselves
instead of copying European societies. He also argued for self-reliance
and the primacy of spiritual matters over material ones. Thoreau, a close
friend and associate of Emerson, actually conducted a two-year transcendentalist
experiment, living by himself in the woods at Walden. He eventually published
a book on his findings called Walden. In this book, Thoreau wrote
about the essential truths he had discovered about life and the universe
through nature. He also introduced the concept of nonviolentprotest in his essay “On Civil Disobedience”,
a concept later used by men such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King,
Jr. Margaret Fuller used the transcendentalist philosophy of individualism
to support equality for women.
Henry
David Thoreau, a transcendentalist author
Ralph
Waldo Emerson, a transcendentalist author and speaker
A
picture of Walden by Thoreau about his transcendentalist
experiment
