1.5: The Second Great Awakening and the Emergence of Transcendentalism
Another important cultural phenomenon taking place at this time centered on religion, and is often referred to as "The Second Great Awakening". Read this account of the religious fervor that swept the United States in the early 1800s, transforming American culture and society and paralleling the emergence of Transcendentalism.
Read this excerpt about Transcendentalism, a scholarly account taken from Harold Clark Goddard's 18-volume History of American Literature that came out between 1907 and 1921. The movement emerged in 1836 with the first gathering of the Transcendental Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prominent contributors included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, William Henry Channing, and George Ripley. With Fuller's death in 1850, one of the movement's great advocates was silenced. Emerson lacked the ability and interest to follow in her path. Though their hold on the public imagination was short-lived, the long-lasting influence that the Transcendentalists had on American literature cannot be discounted. Even the philosophy's critics were forced to acknowledge the effects that the Transcendental Movement had on the world, particularly the American experience. Transcendentalism was a distinctly American expression, with concerns and ideals that did not fully translate in England or Continental Europe. Think about how this philosophy fits into the larger "American Renaissance" and what literary characteristics it offers to the era.