  transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement that developed during the late 1820s and '30s in the eastern region of the united states as a protest against the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at harvard university and the doctrine of the unitarian church as taught at harvard divinity school. among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. they believe that society and its institutions&mdash;particularly organized religion and political parties&mdash;ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual. they have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. it is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed. ==history== ===origins=== transcendentalism is closely related to unitarianism, the dominant religious movement in boston at the early nineteenth century. it started to develop in the aftermath of unitarianism taking a hold at the harvard university after henry ware sr. got elected as the hollis professor of divinity in 1805, and of john thorton kirkland as president in 1810. rather than as a rejection of unitarianism, transcendentalism evolved as an organic consequence of the unitarian emphasis on free conscience and the value of intellectual reason. they were not, however, quite content with the sobriety, mildness and calm rationalism of unitarianism, but instead they longed for a more intense spiritual experience. in other words, transcendentalism was not born as a counter-movement to unitarianism, but as a parallel movement to the very ideas introduced by the unitarians. ===emerson's nature=== the publication of ralph waldo emerson's 1836 essay nature is usually considered the moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. emerson wrote in his 1837 speech "the american scholar": "we will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds... a nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the divine soul which also inspires all men." emerson closed the essay by calling for a revolution in human consciousness to emerge from the brand new ide
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