... they were often engaged in projects intended to make this ideal a reality. Ralph Waldo Emerson, champion of the Transcendentalist movement, laid the groundwork for the movement in his eloquent essay entitled, "Self-Reliance." In it, Emerson avows a gospel of spiritual self-sufficiency, where the individual possesses ... night in prison. He was released the very next morning when a wealthy relative paid his taxes. Thoreau borrows a line from Antigone that sums up his experience well, "It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than ... charitable co...

• Word Count: 1633
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate