Transcendentalism

Sources

Origins. Transcendentalism was a literary, religious, and philosophical movement that began in New England in the 1830s. It had no formal structure or doctrine but rather consisted of the ideas of a group of people who shared a common outlook and interests. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Amos Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Orestes Augustus Brownson, and many others met frequently near Boston for conversation and in 1840 began publishing a periodical, The Dial, to express their views. While topics of discussion ranged over a variety of subjects from education to slavery to the distinctiveness of the American character, most Transcendentalists saw the movement as essentially spiritual. Like many others of their day, they were religious seekers with enthusiasm for utopianism and social reform. They were distinguished, however, by the intellectual rigor with which they explored their interests and their incorporation of a wide variety of traditions, including ancient mysticism and other nonChristian beliefs, in their quest for spiritual truth.

Inward Experience. Although several Transcendentalists, notably James Freeman Clarke, Theodore Parker, and William Henry Channing, were Unitarian ministers, as a general rule the movement was not based around the practice of public worship in a church. Dissatisfied with the doctrines and styles of worship of the established churches, most Transcendentalists rejected religious dogma in favor of a simple belief in human moral potential and intuitive capacity for discovering spiritual truth. They believed that divinity lay in man and nature, and so true religion meant seeking the divine in oneself and one’s surroundings. Inward experience was seen as the ultimate path to spiritual satisfaction, and thus they cultivated a lifestyle that encouraged contemplation, communing with nature, continuing education, and creative expression. Many kept regular journals, which they considered invaluable tools in the process of self-examination.

Communal Interests. Along with their commitment to the development of the individual, many Transcendentalists also held a deep appreciation for communal activities. They shared their private journals with one another and laid almost ritual significance on their regular meetings for conversation. Several became involved in the development of Utopian communities, which they believed might provide ideal conditions for personal growth and living in harmony with nature. In 1841 Unitarian minister George Ripley established a 160-acre community called Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, where all members worked together at agriculture, industry, and crafts. Many Transcendentalists became frequent visitors or members of the farm, where they created a well-respected school and held cultural events and public conversations, until a fire destroyed much of the community in 1846. In 1843 Alcott established another community, Fruitlands, thirty miles from Boston. Members were required to conform to restrictive patterns of eating, dress, and hygiene that were intended to be socially conscious (cotton was forbidden because it was produced by the slavery of people, wool because of the slavery of sheep) and conducive to personal development. Some of the ideals set for the community proved hard to meet, and when one influential member sought to introduce celibacy, the experiment came to an end after only seven months.

Reform and Influence. The impulse toward improving or even perfecting society that drew many Transcendentalists to utopianism was also manifest in their involvement in social reform movements and educational endeavors. Drawing on the liberal, rationalistic tradition of Unitarianism, they rejected the widespread Calvinist notion that humans are innately sinful and helpless before God, accepting instead that man is a moral creature with a natural capacity to do good. Seeking to cultivate this capacity in themselves and others, they spoke out on social issues from economic inequality to slavery to women’s rights. While Transcendentalist publications were poorly circulated in their time, Emerson and others drew public attention to their ideas on religion, literature, philosophy, and social issues by traveling the country on a lecture circuit where they addressed as many as fifty thousand people at a time. Many of their listeners were undoubtedly moved by what they heard, but the diffuse and informal nature of the Transcendentalist movement makes its popular influence difficult to gauge. It is clear, however, that Transcendentalism had a lasting impact on American literature, particularly through the works of Emerson, and laid the groundwork for new movements as diverse as the tradition of theological liberalism of the later nineteenth century and the environmental conservation movement of the early twentieth century.

Sources

Catherine L. Albanese, Corresponding Motion: Transcendental Religion and the New America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1977);

Paul F. Boller Jr. American Transcendentalism, 1830–1860: An Intellectual Inquiry (New York: Putnam, 1974).