Romanticism Vs Transcendentalism Essay
The greatest mission of the Transcendentalist Movement was the abolition of slavery. There were many people who worked to end the slavery in so many ways. In Romanticism and Transcendentalism (1800-1860) book, one man who stood out was Fredrick Douglass. Fredrick Douglass wanted to fight in a peaceful way. Mr. Fredrick gave speeches, and wrote books to convince others to help him fight against slavery. He told others about his life as a slave and why it was wrong to own other people. Only Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a greater influence than Douglass upon the anti-slavery movement in America. As the nineteenth century came to its midpoint, the transcendentalists dissatisfaction with their society became focused on politics
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and actions of the United States government. Above all on what was going on, they cared about the continuing and expanding the practice of slavery. It is during this period, also, that abolitionist enters the American lexicon and anti-slave diaries and narratives such as Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: an American Slave find an audience and became part of the contemporary canon of ‘must read’ literature.
Slavery had existed in the United States from the beginning of the country but when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, all citizens of the country to assist in returning fugitive slaves to their owners.
The subject of Thoreau's “Slavery in Massachusetts” (1854), was on public view when an escaped slave named Anthony Burns was captured in Boston. Thoreau denounced the absurdity of a court in Boston “trying a MAN, to find out if he is not really a SLAVE,” when the question has already been “decided from eternity”. The citizen has no duty to resign his conscience to the state, and may even have a duty to oppose moral legislation such as that which supports ever in the Mexican War. Thoreau concludes “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is slave's government also”. Slavery could be abolished by “peaceable revolution”, he continues, if people refuse to pay their taxes and clogged the system by going to jail. Although Thoreau advocates nonviolent action in “Resistance to Civil Government,” he later supported the violent actions of John Brown who killed unarmed pro slavery settlers in Kansas, and in 1859 attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
I believe that Thoreau did a good job describing how slavery worked and why it should be ended. I liked how he was against violent and how his writing made people think about slavery more often and it’s bad for the
world.
and actions of the United States government. Above all on what was going on, they cared about the continuing and expanding the practice of slavery. It is during this period, also, that abolitionist enters the American lexicon and anti-slave diaries and narratives such as Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: an American Slave find an audience and became part of the contemporary canon of ‘must read’ literature.
Slavery had existed in the United States from the beginning of the country but when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, all citizens of the country to assist in returning fugitive slaves to their owners.
The subject of Thoreau's “Slavery in Massachusetts” (1854), was on public view when an escaped slave named Anthony Burns was captured in Boston. Thoreau denounced the absurdity of a court in Boston “trying a MAN, to find out if he is not really a SLAVE,” when the question has already been “decided from eternity”. The citizen has no duty to resign his conscience to the state, and may even have a duty to oppose moral legislation such as that which supports ever in the Mexican War. Thoreau concludes “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is slave's government also”. Slavery could be abolished by “peaceable revolution”, he continues, if people refuse to pay their taxes and clogged the system by going to jail. Although Thoreau advocates nonviolent action in “Resistance to Civil Government,” he later supported the violent actions of John Brown who killed unarmed pro slavery settlers in Kansas, and in 1859 attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
I believe that Thoreau did a good job describing how slavery worked and why it should be ended. I liked how he was against violent and how his writing made people think about slavery more often and it’s bad for the
world.