How Did Henry David Thoreau Contribute To Transcendentalism

Introduction

Amidst a country overrun with diverse groups of people from all over the world, the idea that a common dream could unite them all seems almost absurd. As unbelievable as it may be, the American Dream, gradually developed through the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, has become an ingrained, common purpose for many American citizens. Starting with its conception in John Winthrop’s City on a Hill, the primitive American Dream motivated the Puritans, who escaped Britain to avoid persecution, to establish their own society. Later, after being heavily influenced by the nineteenth century movement suggesting that divinity is found in nature and humanity of transcendentalism, Henry David Thoreau contributes to the Dream a juxtaposed

value. Around this same period, Sojourner Truth, a black slave seen as inferior in race, class, and gender, undermines the American Dream’s apparent perfection in her speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” and sparks efforts to level the playing field for minorities. Over the years, the American Dream has branched out from its original basis of accomplishing a common goal through societal efforts to include the values of simplicity and individualism, as well as a decreased exclusion of minorities due to race, class, or gender.

Conclusion
Altering itself for the better over the course of three centuries, the American Dream has come a long way from being centered on conformity solely to include both unique moral values and minorities in their mix. Winthrop, Thoreau, and Truth all added their respective viewpoints, shaped by personal experience, into the Dream, allowing it to encompass people from numerous differing backgrounds. Today, this ingrained idea is often taken for granted, a goal that seems like it would always be there at one’s beck and call. A dream uniting the likes of completely different people from entirely unique backgrounds is not easily replaced or reestablished, and the American Dream is such a desire that needs to be cherished. It is from this that America finds its inner strength and has become something one must fight to preserve to keep the nation as cohesive and strong as it is now.