Henry David Thoreau s Civil Disobedience And Ralph Waldo...

The transcendentalist movement of the early 19th century was one that altered American political, philosophical and literary ideas for centuries to come. In fact, the transcendentalist movement is still alive in the modern day: as seen in our societies focus on individualism, nature and sensibility. This paper will discuss the ideas of transcendentalism through the work of Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance by comparing both works finding similarities and differences between them. To truly understand the most important members of the transcendentalist movement, it is first important to understand the basic foundations of their beliefs. Transcendentalists believed that society and social institutions such as organized religion and political parties corrupt the pureness of individuals. The guiding principle of transcendentalism, therefore, is the belief that people are at their best when they are self-reliant and independent. The central beliefs of transcendentalism were in unity between nature and God, the presence of God in each individual. These core beliefs generated others, particularly in individualism and in the self-reliance extolled by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Although Emerson and Thoreau are both transcendentalist and share the same core beliefs, there are differences between them, which will be discussed later in the essay. After analyzing each of their individual essays, I will then discuss theShow MoreRelatedNatural Justice : The Crux Of Transcendentalism And Abolitionism1651 Words   |  7 Pagesyears, with Nat Turner’s 1831 insurrection in Virginia being one of the most notable. Nevertheless, the law didn’t stop dissidents like John Brown in 1859 or Harriet Tubman from committing civil disobedience: in fact, such actions only strengthened the abolitionist movement and increased the likelihood of a civil war. 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