1. American Transcendentalism Mind over matter

2. Commonalities ► Wrote non-fiction ► Essay, diary, and sermon ► Not art, not argument, but much of it was intended to persuade

3. Notes ► Transcendentalism was named by those who didn’t like it ► Most prominent Transcendentalists  Margaret Fuller  Ralph Waldo Emerson  Henry David Thoreau ► Secondary Transcendentalists  Herman Melville  Walt Whitman  Emily Dickinson

4. What is Transcendentalism? ► Belief that the human senses don’t tell us everything we need to know ► “Mind over matter” kind of people ► Transcendentalists split from the American Unitarian religion ► Believed there was something beyond normal mental faculty; they called it “reason” ► “Reason” – higher mental power that enabled human beings

5. Reason ► We might call it “conscious” ► Also, sometimes called:  Spirit  Mind  Soul

6. Immanence ► Transcendentalists believed in “immanence” ► The idea that God is present in every human being

7. Transcendentalist Characteristics ► Most grew up around Boston ► From old New England families (before 1700) ► Most Unitarian – most trained for Unitarian ministry ► Most men attended Harvard ► Most were writers (poems, essays, speeches, etc.) ► All supporters of the moral reform  Temperance (no alcohol)  Abolition (no slavery)

8. Summary & Significance ► Not primarily a writing movement but more of a religious movement ► Americans began to culturally separate themselves from England