Open your Notebook to page 48. Create the following Venn Diagram

Transcendentalism and Individualism Two common themes from this era in U.S. History

The Two Philosophies of the Time Transcendentalism Individualism People, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel. This knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses. People can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. As a group, the transcendentalists led the celebration of the American experiment as one of individualism and self-reliance. They took progressive stands on women's rights, abolition, reform, and education. They criticized government, organized religion, laws, social institutions, and creeping industrialization. They created an American "state of mind" in which imagination was better than reason, creativity was better than theory, and action was better than contemplation. Many famous leaders of this society include Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Individualism endorses the principle that the ends or purposes of the human individual possess dignity and worth that take precedence over society. In the United States, individualism became part of the core American ideology by the 19th century, incorporating the influences of New England Puritanism, Jeffersonianism, and the philosophy of natural rights. Individualism was the rise of capitalism as an economic system that emphasized the individual both as the holder of self-interest and as the foundation of all legal rights. It also promoted a great sense of democracy as the individual worth of each person was explored. This would lead to the desires of more people having a say in our government.

Emerson, Excerpt from “Nature” “There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.” How does this quote from “Nature” illustrate the ideas behind Transcendentalism? Be sure to back up your answer.

Emerson, Excerpt from Self Reliance “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.” How does this quote from “Self Reliance” illustrate the ideas behind Transcendentalism? Be sure to back up your answer.

Thoreau, Excerpt from Walden “Men frequently say to me, “I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially.” I am tempted to reply to such, -- This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.” How does this quote from “Walden” illustrate the ideas behind Transcendentalism? Be sure to back up your answer.