Our nation's founders, however, couldn't have rebelled without help. By themselves, Adams, Jefferson, Washington and the rest would have eventually been jailed and hanged for treason. Instead, however, they enlisted the help of people who conformed to their ideals rather than to Britain's. The great thinkers may be able to channel the tides of history in new directions, but the masses are the force behind the waves. Emerson's essay implies that most anyone could take independent control of things, but what Emerson neglects to mention is that there is a crucial difference between those in control and those in the masses.
Few people can take such control of life without any education.
At the very least, reading and writing are essential parts of communicating in the modern age. The soul cannot roam freely in the realms of thought if it knows nothing of them. Wise folks find the need to learn about events and issues before they can create opinions on them. We must learn the fundamentals of thought before we can put them behind us and think outside of the box. The movie character Forrest Gump, as an extreme example, is an utter moron.