Download transcendentalism: a philosophy stressing the relationship between

transcendentalism: a philosophy stressing the relationship between human beingsand nature, spiritual things
over material things, and the importance of the individual conscience. Unitarianism and the Second Great
Awakening helped develop transcendentalism. Unitarians placed a premium on stability, harmony, rational
thought, progressive morality, classical learning, and other hallmarks of Enlightenment Christianity.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Ralph Waldo Emerson
He was once a Unitarian Minister, but quit the pulpit in 1832. His philosophies inspired young business men of
the 1830s and 1840s to achieve success in a responsible manner, in addition, to inspiring fellow writers and
transcendentalists such as Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau. Popularized transcendentalism. He wrote
“Nature” in 1836 and “Self-Reliance” in 1841
Henry David Thoreau
Walden recounts his experiment with living alone on the Walden Pond outside Concord so he could test
individualism. His Civil disobedience was inspired after he spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes. His
reasoning was that it was supporting an immoral government since it condoned slavery and supported the
Mexican war which he found imperialistic. He lived in Concord, Massachusetts (similar to the location of many
transcendentalists)
Margaret Fuller
The Dial was a magazine that she worked with Emerson that helped spread the transcendentalist movement.
Became the critic of the New York Tribune. She wrote women of the 19th century which argued that women
deserve equal political rights. Was the First war correspondent in the Italian revolution.
Elizabeth Peabody made a great contribution as a transcendentalist by becoming a teacher. She held the first
“reading parties” and instituted and taught several schools.
Amos Bronson Alcott created the school with innovative transcendentalist ideas, Concord School of
Philosophy.
Theodore Parker was an abolitionist that hid fugitive slaves and obstructed the return of the slave Anthony
Burns.
Effects
And it helped spread religion and thinking for one’s self
Margaret Fuller became a role model for feminist intellectuals
The writings of Thoreau shaped the non violent methods of the Gandhi and Martin Luther King and the
underlying vision of the ecology movement.
Brook Farm was the prototype of many of the communes of the 1960s and 1970s
Elisabeth Peabody founded the Kindergarten movement in America, also based on Transcendentalist faith in the
children’s minds
George Ripley founded Brook Farm as an experiment in communitarian living.
Bronson Alcott founded Fruitlands community based on simplicity and cooperation.
The Shakers
Shakers
Fled persecution from England, arrived in 1700s. Mother Ann Lee was believed to be the second coming of
Jesus. She was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was imprisoned briefly
for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.
Mother Ann herself endured persecution and even physical attacks when traveling to evangelize. The movement
expanded after her death, peaking in the 1830's with some 6,000 Shakers living in 19 communities under the
leadership of male and female elders and deacons.
Brook Farm
Founded by George Ripley in 1841. Brook Farm was developed cooperative community uniting physical and
mental labor within the framework of a simple but cultured way of life.. All members whether manual or
intellectual workers, received the same wage and worked for the community. There was an infant school, a
primary school and college preparatory course covering six years. Some novelists were Nathaniel Hawthorne,
and Charles Dana. Theodore Parker, Emerson and other transcendentalists lectured there. In 1846 there was a
fire disaster which burned the newly financed Phalanstery building and other financial troubles that including
Hawthorne's suit against Ripley and Dana to recover his investment in the project. The financial troubles
brought about the end of the Brook Farm community the following year
Onedia
Founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1841. . He then gave up law studies and attended Andover theological
seminary and Yale Divinity School. He became convinced that the Second Coming of Christ was not an event
of the future but had already occurred within a generation of Christ’s ministry on Earth. He Believed in sexual
community and absence of marriage. Oneida flourished for thirty years and had economic stability in traps that
were the best of its times. Industries included embroidered silks and canned fruit.
Rappites
Johann Georg Rapp founded the Rappites that immigrated from Württemburg, Germany, to the United States in
1803. They believed that the bible was humanity’s sole authority. The colony was established in Butler county
Pennsylvania. The believed in celibacy and communal life without individual potions. By 1814 they had 700
members, and a widespread reputation for goods such as wines, whisky, textiles and woolens, Re located but
sold holdings reestablished to Robert Owen.
New Harmony
Less successful than most utopias, because there was not a central belief to unify them. Believed in equality and
responsibility to each citizen to contribute to the labor force. Owen instituted a time money and time stores that
were equal to the amount of work a worker labored in exchange for commodities. Had progressive paternalism
in which house inspections, curfews, fines for drunkenness and illegitimate children. Owen equated happiness
with docility and was criticized for condescending to the working class.
Fruitlands.
Founded by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Land. It was established June 1, 1842. Alcott also believed in
the perfect intuition of children and, therefore, put a strong emphasis on education and hoped that their
innocence would have a rejuvenating effect on elders. Though Bronson Alcott had come up with the idea of
Fruitlands himself, he was not involved in purchasing the land, largely because he was penniless after the
failure of his Temple School, And his subsequent years in Concord, Massachusetts as a farmer. In July, Alcott
announced plans in Fuller’s The Dial.