Transcendentalism Henry David Thoreau and his friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson helped form the Transcendental movement which, in turn, changed America in the nineteenth century with lasting effects into today’s society. The Transcendental period in the nineteenth century was truly unique. It is not considered a religion, a philosophy, or a literary theory, although it has elements of all three of those items. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the father of Transcendentalism, himself often times referred …showed first 75 words of 4153 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4153 total…the immanence, or indwelling, of God in the soul of the individual. “We see God around us because He dwells within us,” wrote William Ellery Channing in 1828; “the beauty and glory of God’s works are revealed to the mind by a light beaming from itself” (Clendenning 295). The Transcendentalism wave died out in the 1860's, but it has had lasting effects until today. Though its spread wasn't very far, it made Concord an intellectual capital.