... Johnny Appleseed began wandering through Ohio and Indiana, planting apple seeds and teaching the Bible. Thomas Jefferson is best remembered as a great president and as the author of the Declaration of Independence. He also won lasting fame as a diplomat, a political thinker, and a founder of the Democratic Party. Jefferson's interests ... to his country in the field of politics. The tall, red-haired Virginian believed that "those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God." His ideal society was a nation of landowning farmers living under as little government as possible. The t...

• Word Count: 3135
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Henry David Thoreau, an American writer, philosopher and transcendentalist, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817. His friend and fellow author Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke of Thoreau's character saying, "He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused ... with its aggressive wars (the Mexican War) and the ownership of slaves. His belief of democracy is that it will never work due to the fact that a small group is chosen to represent a much larger group and that this small group can easily become corrupt. "The go...

• Word Count: 2858
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... spirit that ever too flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."" ("Self-Reliance-). Emerson related misfits with pure and wise spirits, perhaps they are just misunderstood'. Henry Wadsworth Thoreau, author of "Civil Disobedience- and Walden, integrated idealism with both. From "Civil Disobedience- "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government."" In an exemplar society, a better government ... death) contrasts that of Transcendentalism. "So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw/in silence from the living, and no friend/take note of thy departure?-. From "Th...

• Word Count: 2626
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School