"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to from only essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived" (Thoreau). American Transcendentalism was a literary and philosophical movement that emerged in New England around 1836 and flourished for ten years until 1846. This school of thought had a profound influence on American religion, philosophy, politics, literature, and art. The American Transcendentalist rejected this empiricism, asserting that wisdom is inherent in the soul of each human being. The roots of the Transcendentalists' humanistic philosophy is that which exalts the individual as a reflection and integral part of God's divine universe.

According to critics, American Transcendentalism was driven by the circumstances of nineteenth-century American life. American Transcendentalism is rooted in the American past. It owes its pervasive morality and the "doctrine of divine light" to such aspects of Puritanism and its concept of nature as a living mystery and not a clockwork universe which is fixed and permanent to the Romanticism age (Reuben 2). The American

human intuition. This dual aspect poses no problem or contradiction for Transcendentalism, which sees a "complementarily harmony of the individual and the universe" (Bousman 1).

Some common words found in the essay are:
American Transcendentalism, American Transcendentalist, Unitarianism England, King Jr, Disobedience Thoreau, Waldo Emerson, Emerson's Transcendentalism, Nineteenth-Century Fuller, On-line Internet, Margaret Fuller, american transcendentalism, on-line internet 22, 22 april 1999, internet 22 april, april 1999, henry david, david thoreau, 22 april, internet 22, henry david thoreau, on-line internet, nineteenth century, ralph waldo emerson, ralph waldo, reuben 2,
Approximate Word count = 1563
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)