Quick and Freeby 1

Claire Freeby and Eleanor Quick

History and English
11/17/14
Transcendentalism Spurs in America
During the late 1820s a religious and philosophical movement called Transcendentalism
occurred in the United States that transformed beliefs and influenced other movements in history
and modern times. Beliefs of the movement included goodness of man and nature. This is a time
period that advocated people should utilize intuition and imagination not [the use of] logic or
the senses (Transcendentalism Philosophy). Through this movement, people would become
more self-reliant and independent. This was also a time period of increasing reforms for equality
in the United States, and the transcendentalists took progressive stands on women's rights,
abolition, reform, and education (Transcendentalism Philosophy). Another important movement
in the United States that was inspired by the Transcendentalism ideology was the Second Great
Awakening which was a movement that expanded Christian theology in America.
Many works of literature during this time period were written to express
transcendentalists beliefs and persuaded readers to include these principles in their everyday
lives. A core principle that is seen in literature during and after this time period is goodness of
man, which expresses that man is naturally good therefore there, is not a need for total
transformation or imitation in oneself. The idea that man is born good is not reflected in society,
because society tells people that they are not good enough and identifies their own flaws rather
than recognize their potentials or capabilities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were key writers and poets who
expressed the major belief of goodness of man in their works. Ralph Waldo Emersons piece
Self-Reliance persuades the reader to follow their own ideas and encourage that they are good
enough even though society is telling them that they need to change themselves and their lives to
fit the social norm. Emerson writes in his piece that in every work of genius we recognize our

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own rejected thoughts, by this he means that individuals create works of greatness but doubt
these works due to the way society teaches them to think (Self-Reliance). In the end of the piece
he includes a metaphor of roses to humans, these roses under my window make no reference to
former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are (Self-Reliance). By this use of
metaphor he illustrates to the reader that individuals should take themselves for who they are,
and not compare themselves to others, because individuals will always find a better version of
themselves in someone else. Henry David Thoreaus piece Where I lived, and What I Lived
For was written after he spent two years in a cabin on Walden Pond (Where I Lived). This piece
was written to express his ideas that man should have a more simple state of being which in
doing so will illicit the true joys of life and not the superficial aspects of it. Let us spend one
day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquitos
wing that falls on the rails, what Thoreau expresses in this sentence is that man is easily
distracted by the small petties and stresses of everyday lives instead of having holistic view of
life (Where I Lived). Both Emerson and Thoreau in these writings encourage man to believe in
themselves because they are truly great just as they are.
Transcendentalism ideology has influenced many other movements in America including
the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening occurred during the 1790s to the
1830s, this movement created new Protestant sects and theology of Christianity and how it
should be expressed in the communities. One belief that arose during the Awakening was that it
is not enough to be good, but people have to do good. Meaning, man is good but that is simply
not enough, man needs to also act on this greatness, such as by helping the needy and giving
them necessities to survive. This is influenced by the transcendentalist belief of goodness of man
but goes further into encouraging that people can go beyond just being good and do the work of

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God on Earth, therefore making themselves better. The Second Great Awakening also increased
church attendance and opened up the church for women. Charles Grandison Finney was a
famous American Presbyterian minister, he travelled the country and advocated for women to
have more active roles in the church, having the effect of feminizing Christianity. By opening up
the church to women, this meant that goodness of man was not gender specific open to all
followers of God.
During this period, revolutionary ideology was expressed to encourage the acceptance of
oneself as well as nature and its beauty. These revolutionary ideas were expressed in works of
literature as well as through priests and pastors of religious sects. All of which were aimed to
advocate these new beliefs and help mankind understand why they are individually important.

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Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. 1841. Print.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854. Print.
Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy. U.S. History Online Textbook. Web. 15 Nov.
2014.