History of the United States I / Unit 17 USH1 2421 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Transcendentalists
Captions available
The idea
Transcendentalism emerged in the Northeast from the eighteen twenties, holding that people could attain an understanding surpassing rational, sensory experience, against the tyranny of the majority.
In practice
Emerson's Nature and Self-Reliance, and Thoreau's Civil Disobedience of eighteen forty-nine.
Where people slip
Unit 13 covers the movement and its critics. Thoreau's essay came out of his disgust at the Mexican-American War and at slavery.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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