1. Transcendentalism transcend (v): to rise above or go beyond; overpass; exceed Characteristics: praises individual worth over society contempt for attachment to social customs and habits believe in living in harmony with nature great dignity in manual labor relationship with God should be personal revolutionary thoughts and ideas rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones

2. Everything is a reflection of God  People are basically good  People will still sin, but they will repent and will most of the time choose to do the right thing  People are close to God  Nature is great!

3. Contemplating nature can allow you to transcend the real world and go to a higher, spiritual level  People can get closer to God without church  Nature is as close as you can get to God  Society (the opposite of nature) keeps people from getting to a higher spiritual level

4. A person’s INSTINCT (intuition) can lead them to understand God’s spirit  Everyone can do this! Wealth, status, prior knowledge not needed.  Stressed that people were basically good – their gut instincts could lead them to God

5. Individualism and self-reliance are better than following others or depending on tradition.  People will make the right choices if given the chance  Believed that government was not necessary  Urged people to question tradition  Materialism was not good; people should not be dependent on money or belongings

6. The Biggies Ralph Waldo Emerson He warned against the materialism and money making that were becoming a driving force in the nation.. Henry David Thoreau: He was anti-government and urged passive, non-violent resistance to governmental policies to which an individual was morally opposed. “... Man is not what man should be.... He is a money chest “[If injustice] is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be the friction to stop the machine.”

7. Remember!  Non-Conformity  Self-Reliance  Free-Thought  Confidence  The importance of Nature