By: Thomas Anthony Joseph Rapp, Alexander Davis Anderson, and David Martin Yee “How vain is it to sit down to write when you haven’t stood up to live” - Thoreau

Born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12,1817 Henry was the third child of John and Cynthia (Dunbar) Thoreau John Thoreau was a successful small business owner In 1818 the Thoreau family moved only to return to Concord in 1823 Henry attended the Concord Academy from 1828 to 1833 He then attended Harvard University and graduated in 1837

Henry taught for a brief period of time after his Harvard education In 1835/1836 Henry contracted Tuberculosis Henry got a job at the Center School, but resigned after two weeks because he did not believe in the use of corporal punishment When he left Center School he returned to Concord and worked in his fathers pencil factory In 1838 Henry and his brother John opened a school in Concord, and Henry taught there from Soon after John died from Tetanus After his brothers death Henry gave lectures at nearby Universities, and worked as a land surveyor

In 1831 Henry met Ralph Waldo Emerson and lived with him from 1841 to 1843 and again from 1847 to 1848 While living with Emerson he worked as a handyman and tutored his son William During his second stay with Emerson he began the construction of a log cabin deep in the frontier Ralph Waldo Emerson "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, I discover that I had not lived." - Thoreau After the cabin’s completion Thoreau lived secluded from society for almost three years During this time he wrote one of his earliest works, “Walden” “Walden” was compilation of his journal entries and an account of the time he spent in the cabin

After his time at Walden’s Pond Henry frequently gave lectures at universities and traveled as far as Minnesota On May 6, 1862 Henry David Thoreau died of Tuberculosis while living in his hometown of Concorde Massachusetts At the time of his death, Henry had only published two books (neither of which were in print) Henry’s long time friend Ralph Waldo Emerson edited and published many of his letters and essays Walden’s Pond A recreation of Henry David Thoreau’s Cabin

Henry David Thoreau was a major part of the New England and the United States Transcendental Movement The dictionary definition of Transcendentalism is - any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the processes of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical: in the U.S., associated with Emerson and Thoreau. Transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson stressed the importance of individuality Many transcendentalists felt a divine bond to nature and pursued knowledge through its study

In his lifetime, Henry David Thoreau served as a model for all Transcendentalists Henry’s morals and behavior exemplify the ideals of his fellow Transcendentalists Henry gave many lectures and made the Transcendental movement known to the public In his writings Henry supported all the major Transcendental beliefs and added a few of his own “Civil Disobedience”, arguably Henry’s most famous was a response to the night he spent in jail for refusing to pay his taxes Henry claimed that he would not pay his taxes because he did not support the war with Mexico and the acceptance of slavery Henry was a founding father of conservationism and one of the first American’s to write about the limited amount of natural resources Henry distrusted institutions like the government and organized religion War with Mexico 1846

Today, the liberal minded education system embraces individuals like Thoreau for their “ahead of their time” thinking Henry David Thoreau is a role model for conversationalists, equal rights advocates, and all progressive minded individuals Henry’s essay “Civil Disobedience” influenced the passive resistance of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Mohandas Gandhi Martin Luther King Jr.

“Civil Disobiedence” “Thoreau, Henry David” “Walden” (excerpt)