Preview

Romanticism Vs Transcendentalism Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
434 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Romanticism Vs Transcendentalism Essay
The greatest mission of the Transcendentalist Movement was the abolition of slavery. There were many people who worked to end the slavery in so many ways. In Romanticism and Transcendentalism (1800-1860) book, one man who stood out was Fredrick Douglass. Fredrick Douglass wanted to fight in a peaceful way. Mr. Fredrick gave speeches, and wrote books to convince others to help him fight against slavery. He told others about his life as a slave and why it was wrong to own other people. Only Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a greater influence than Douglass upon the anti-slavery movement in America. As the nineteenth century came to its midpoint, the transcendentalists dissatisfaction with their society became focused on politics …show more content…
The subject of Thoreau's “Slavery in Massachusetts” (1854), was on public view when an escaped slave named Anthony Burns was captured in Boston. Thoreau denounced the absurdity of a court in Boston “trying a MAN, to find out if he is not really a SLAVE,” when the question has already been “decided from eternity”. The citizen has no duty to resign his conscience to the state, and may even have a duty to oppose moral legislation such as that which supports ever in the Mexican War. Thoreau concludes “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is slave's government also”. Slavery could be abolished by “peaceable revolution”, he continues, if people refuse to pay their taxes and clogged the system by going to jail. Although Thoreau advocates nonviolent action in “Resistance to Civil Government,” he later supported the violent actions of John Brown who killed unarmed pro slavery settlers in Kansas, and in 1859 attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
I believe that Thoreau did a good job describing how slavery worked and why it should be ended. I liked how he was against violent and how his writing made people think about slavery more often and it’s bad for the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Initially John Brown was viewed as an irrational for his actions in Pottawatomie, Kansas. It was in Pottawatomie where Brown and a few colleagues took violent measures of vengeance against five pro-slavery southerners in Response to the Bleeding Kansas crisis. The northern view of Brown changed however after his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The northern people did not immediately view him as a hero however. Many northerners viewed his raid as “utterly mistaken and, in its direct consequences, pernicious”. (Doc A) Southern people viewed Brown’s raid as a commotion and an appeal to rebellion. The previous Bleeding Kansas crisis also pushed the south more towards succession. “It was by delegates chosen by the several states… that the Constitution of the United States was framed in 1787 and submitted to the several states for ratification… that of a compact between independent states.” (Doc H) President Lincoln responded “Having never been States, either in substance, or in name, outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of ‘States Rights’, asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself?” (Doc I). Both of these statements were made in 1861, and clearly represent the division that sent our nation to…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Brown's Raid DBQ

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many different views and ideas about John Brown flew around the North before the Civil War. Debates and arguments sprung up about whether Brown’s actions and means could or should be justified. Some agreed only partially with Brown. Document A proves that with Horace Greeley’s statement “And, while we heartily wish every slave in the world would run away from his master tomorrow and never be retaken, we should not feel justified in entering a slave state to incite them to do so, even if we were sure to succeed in the enterprise.” Greeley is merely saying that he approves of Browns means but not his violent way of going about accomplishing those means.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Brown: Hero? Villain?

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Students of history and those merely interested in casual inquiry will often explore a topic, find a legitimate opinion, accept it at face value, and move on. Too often with young or inexperienced historians this is the case. It does, in a way, make sense. Many topics an individual will study have been researched and written on countless times. It is easy to accept an opinion as is and forget about it. John Brown is one of these subjects. Merrill D. Peterson’s John Brown explores the complicated nature of the legacy of this militant abolitionist. Brown has been, in the time since his departure, construed as a hero, a villain, an antihero, a well-meaning lunatic, and so on. The nature of his actions and the divisive context they are found in gives way to many different opinions. Peterson’s book explores these many definitions of John Brown. The opinions of historians, students, politicians, and the like are weighed against the validity of their status as historical interpreters, their knowledge of the subject, their biases, and Peterson’s own interpretations. John Brown’s legacy is an ambiguous and complicated one and Peterson’s book explores the warring opinions of observers on whether John Brown is hero, villain, or both.…

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Brown’s beliefs about slavery and activities to destroy it hardly represented the mainstream of northern society in the years leading up to the Civil War. This rather unique man, however, has become central to an understanding and in some cases misunderstandings about the origins of the Civil War. The importance of Brown’s mission against slavery was colossal to accelerating the civil war between the North and the South. His raid on Harpers Ferry in1859 divided the United States like nothing else before, and could have been the main event leading to the Civil War.…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edmond S. Morgan’s article, “Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox,” brings across an eye opening thought to America and why we are allotted the rights we have as citizens. He express’ a feeling of gratitude to the people of the period for what they had to give up or take on. Edmond S. Morgan’s article tells that slavery is part of America’s dark history but without it we would not be truly free citizens.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In order to discuss a topic, one must know what said topic is. Transcendentalism is a movement in the nineteenth century and it encourages the idea of individualism, dislike for materialism, a strong connection to nature, and to rely on one’s intuition above all else. This belief and the well-educated people who followed it were decades ahead of their time, as it was for self-independence and was against slavery. These philosophies are established in the story.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conversely, not every situation tends to rely on peaceful and moral motivations when it subjects itself with an act of civil disobedience. An instance in an earlier time period was with Henry David Thoreau’s ideas of direct action when it came to a resistance involving government establishments. He also came to embrace violence, if it constituted "interference" with slavery (Richard, An American Tradition). The specific act of violence in form of mob or protest against slavery do it for the purpose of a higher objective. Their intentions are not for self benefit instead they are aimed at immoral practices that a government has imposed upon the African American slaves. He had in mind not just his own conscience but the good of the republic (David Thoreau). Within his analysis of the different situations of those such as John brown’s violent acts used to end slavery. He argues that his form of action against slavery was justified. The act itself may have been a militia or military failure, but its purpose was a political success. A written article of the justification of civil disobedience and direct action, Doctor Michael Lacewing, a director of research and studied philosophy at the University of Manchester, argues that in some cases violence inhibited within civil disobedience can be justifiable and validated. His research repeats the same ideas that Thoreau had in his professional career, and in his previous studies Lacewing studied Thoreau’s ideas concerning civil disobedience. Discussed in her historical journal entry on the ethical viewpoints in American Political Philosophy, Katrina Forrester, known well for her accomplishments and political interests at Harvard University's, gives a deeper argument and insight of the reasoning and thought behind domestic citizenship’s actions in public. Her…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Brown's Raid

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many things in American history; both good and bad. John Brown’s raid an Harpers Ferry, in particular, is one of those things. John Brown, a white abolitionist, is one of those ‘things in history,’ or rather, a history maker, for what he did and who he was is quite the story and had a huge impact on early America and the start of the Civil War. Brown is described by some as the man that “Killed slavery, sparked the Civil War, and seeded Civil rights” and as “An American who gave his life that millions of other Americans might be free.” It is still today a controversial argument about whether or not John Brown was an accomplished hero or a failed anti-slavery terrorist.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The year is 1845, slavery is still legalized in America. There is a man and he’s writing something important. This is going to be life changing, not to just himself but all of the Americans that lived in it. His name was Frederick Douglass and he was an american slave who wrote his own narrative to express the feelings and what he witnessed as a slave. He went into some very gruesome detail about the brutality of slavery. By reading his narrative it is safe to say that Frederick Douglass believes that slavery is completely wrong.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Brown Abolitionism

    • 2031 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Radical abolitionist ideals were sweeping the North, and these ideals took form through John Brown’s failed effort to provoke a slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. This invasion on a federal armory was organized by Brown. The invasion involved only a handful of abolitionists, and freed no slaves. In fact, one free black was among the numerous people murdered during the raid. This action was condemned by most of the southerners and some of the northerners, but John Brown became a sectional hero to most of the North. Two months after the raid, noted abolitionist writer Horace Greeley wrote an editorial in the New York Tribune (Document A) which stated that although John Brown’s raid was an “unfit mode of combating a great evil”, “his are the errors of a fanatic, not the crimes of a felon.” Statements such as these gradually influenced the public, and soon enough, Brown was looked upon favorably by much of the northern public. An excellent example of this shift of opinions is illustrated through a review of James Redpath’s The Public Life of Captain John Brown, as printed in the Atlantic Monthly of March 1860 (Document D). This review states that the “The lessons of manliness, uprightness and courage, which his [John Brown’s] life teaches, is to be learned by us, not merely as lovers of liberty, not as opponents of slavery, but as men who need more manliness, more uprightness, more courage and simplicity in our common lives.” In this passage, Brown is placed upon a pedestal, and it is the author’s desire to see all Americans imitate his ways. Views such as these paved the way for John Brown’s transition into martyrdom, as seen by northern eyes. The way in which this transition occurred is brilliantly stated in an editorial contained in the Topeka Tribune of November 19, 1859 (Document C), when the author states that the elevation of Brown’s image is sufficiently due…

    • 2031 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The ideas of romanticism, transcendentalism, and anti-slavery emerged in the nineteenth century. These ideas can be witnessed in the literature written by the writers of that time, prominently men. The nineteenth century’s patriarchic American society oppressed women, and did not expect them to be intellectuals, leaders, thinkers, philosophers, or creators. However, there were few women writers who overcame the challenges, and played significant roles in the history of American literature, among which were Harriet Ann Jacobs and Emily Dickinson. Although renowned for two different movements, anti-slavery and transcendentalism respectively, they both defied the societal values of their time and advocated equality, while on the other hand, possessed…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Transcendentalist Movement is known as an American literary, political and philosophical movement of the 1830s that was able to establish a clear voice for Americans. From conclusions drawn throughout Transcendentalism, there is a belief on a higher reality that is ultimately received by human reasoning. In the early nineteenth century, the movement followed with the belief that organized religion, government and other forms of social institutions corrupt the purity of each individual within society. Transcendentalism suggests that individuals have the capability of discovering higher truth by the use of intuition. Now this movement is highly distinguished from previous literary movements such as Romanticism.…

    • 2222 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The philosophies of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr had an impact on transcendentalism and the Civil Rights Movement. Henry David Thoreau was a leading philosopher and transcendentalist in New England. His most famous work in 1849, Civil Disobedience, took transcendentalism and implemented into society. Thoreau’s civil acts were fundamental due to the fact that he did not integrate violence or fear. Thoreau’s defiant actions, involving governmental issues, landed him in jail because he refused to pay taxes.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dark Romanticism took place in the early 1900s. It was a very unique time period where these…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. After reviewing the Romanticism resource page, list three characteristics of Romanticism. Also, identify three authors of the Romantic period.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays