... religious fervor that had been so prevalent two centuries ago was gone, replaced by the ideals of Transcendentalism. Henry David Thoreau helped to propel this movement, expressing his own deviance through writing. "Civil Disobedience" argues against the legitimacy of government and laws, and is Thoreau's most famous (and radical) essay. As a result of its deviant nature, however, the essay was largely ... He completely rejected this developing consumerist society, instead spending much of his lifetime outdoors in nature. "Thoreau was a frontiersman, an explorer of the primeval wilderness...

• Word Count: 789
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... american intellectuals was called Transcendental Club founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson in Boston in 1836. Apart from the founder of the club the most important representatives there were: Henry David Thoreau, Amos Branson Alcott, Margaret Fuller and Elizabeth Peabody. Transcendentalists thought that the intuitive faculty, instead of rational or sensical, became the means for a conscious union of the individual ... and an expression of his own awereness of the importance of the present moment. His understanding of self-reliance enabled him to appreciate the resisting independence and integr...

• Word Count: 1093
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate