Emily Shimek
Professor Jordan
HIST-1301.705
31 October 2016
Major Authors of the Early 1800s After the Revolutionary War, the American literature was developed, but due to the copyright laws, not many authors emerged until the early 1800s. Due to the writing, there was an idea of identity and awareness for the country (American). There were many influential writers of this time, but the ones that stuck out were Henry Davis Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These two authors dealt with the concept of the cooperation with Nature and how it could strengthen the United States of America. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an excellent writing and his works inspired many famous American writers, such as Henry Davis Thoreau. Growing up with a minister as
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Instead of looking at making things more complex with living like everyone else at this time he advocated living simply. Growing up Thoreau was mainly poor and attended a local school close to where he lived in Concord, Massachusetts. He then attended Harvard College with a scholarship at the age of 16, and he stood out on his own because he did not share many of the same values as others. He became a teacher but later devoted his times to study nature and writing. Many people of his town considered him to be lazy due to the fact that he studied nature on a daily basis and quit his job of a teacher to do so. Thoreau did not care and did as he pleased, he kept journals of what he saw with nature and used these as the foundation of his writing. Thoreau was interested in the political struggles that were taking place, and was fascinated by abolitionist beliefs. He stood up for what he believed him, he refused to pay a local poll tax, and protested the Mexican War as well as slavery. He was locked up because he did not pay his taxes and thanks to a relative for paying it he was freed. This event had an effect on Thoreau, he gave a speech over resistance of the government and soon developed that into an essay that is known as “Civil Disobedience”. With the journals that he kept up with, he developed Walden. This was considered one of American literature masterpieces. After he wrote this he just continued to write essays and gave lectures over a range of topics, and stayed an active member in the abolitionist movement. Thoreau was an icon with his writings over