Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures. This new philosophy created a rebellion and turn away from the traditional societies in the United States.Transcendentalism, started around the mid 1800’s during the Romantic era, had a great deal of influence and similarities on many of the activist movements seen throughout the world. Writers such as Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau created a mindset that strove even as late as the late 1900’s, seen in movements such as the ones headed by Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, with the commonality of a nonconforming purpose or idea. …show more content…
Activists such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. feel strongly that nonviolent resistance was the key to success and matching pain with more pain did nothing but ruin the world. This went hand in hand with the approach of Transcendentalism as a whole, especially to Thoreau. Thoreau agreed with the new movement activists, resorting to peaceful protest in a time period where urges and spontaneous action, including violence, was rampant in. They fought for their ideals of racial equalities, having one of the only differences being the time period and the race that was fighting for inequality. They agreed upon the idea that they must take into action the changes they want to this world, and did not wait for others to so that they could join in later. They were leaders with similar beliefs, and understood the deeper truths are grasped only through