The Unitarians of New England started transcendentalism, reaching its peak during the 1840s. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the foremost American Transcendentalist, and he believed that the physical world was minor to the spiritual world. Still, the physical world served society by showing splendor, discipline, language, and the experience of comedy. He also believed that people should educate themselves as much as they can about science and do so through observation. Emerson and his followers believed in individuality. They held the belief that humans should uncover the truth within themselves and trust themselves primarily. They thought to find out what is true; people must resist peer pressure and social rules to do what they believe within. The transcendentalists believed people should not let themselves be tied down by Christianity but find god in their own way.
             Though Transcendentalism in no way became accepted in America, it still had a large effect on society and remains influential today. Transcendentalist writings have and will continue to influence people not just in the United States but all through humanity. Other leading Transcendentalists include Branson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, and David Henry Thoreau. The American writer Henry David Thoreau is considered one of the most representative writers of Transcendental thought. He wrote philosophical essays in which he described nature and individualism and wrote of civil disobedience in literature for the first time. Thoreau's essay, "Resistance to Civil Government," is considered one the most famous political essays on Transcendentalism of the time. This essay was published anonymously, but major writers of this period identify him as the author.
             Transcendentalism began as a reform from the Unitarian church and became a social and intellectual movement. Transcendentalism was shaped by the discussion of philosophy, literature, and religion. It advanced intellec...