Transcendentalism

• • Belief created by Ralph Waldo Emerson that people are born with an inner spirit that allows them to know right from wrong.

Henry David Thoreou wrote Civil Disobedience which explained that it was the job of citizens to disobey unjust government policies. His writings also impacted the reform movements of women’s suffrage and abolitionism

Caused many Americans to reevaluate their beliefs about many societal issues