Western Philosophy
19th century philosophy |
 Henry David Thoreau | | Name | Henry David Thoreau | | Birth | 12 July 1817
Concord, Massachusetts | | Death | 6 May 1862 (aged 44)
Concord, Massachusetts | | School/tradition | Transcendentalism | | Main interests | Natural history | | Notable ideas | Abolitionism, tax resistance, development criticism, civil disobedience, conscientious objection, direct action, environmentalism, nonviolent resistance, simple living | | Influenced by | Ralph Waldo Emerson | | Influenced | Leo Tolstoy, Louisa May Alcott, Mahatma Gandhi, William O. Douglas, Edwin Way Teale, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy | Henry David Thoreau (12 July 1817 – 6 May 1862; born David Henry Thoreau; generally pronounced /θəˈroʊ/, but he stressed the first syllable: /ˈθʌroʊ/ "thorough")[1] was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher. His teachings also greatly influenced the New Thought movement of the mid 1800s. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. In the 18th Century the philosophies of The Enlightenment would begin to have dramatic effect, and the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau would have an electrifying effect on a new generation of thinkers. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (623x768, 150 KB) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Source : http://eserver. ...
is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1635 Incorporated 1635 Government - Type Open town meeting Area - Total 25. ...
This article is about the U.S. state. ...
is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about 1862 . ...
Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early-to mid-19th century. ...
Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ...
This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...
A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies. ...
Development criticism refers to far-reaching criticisms of modernization and its central aspects : modern technology, industrialization, capitalism and economic globalization . ...
For other uses, see Civil disobedience (disambiguation). ...
John T. Neufeld was a WWI conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the military prison at Leavenworth. ...
For the Canadian urban guerrilla group Direct Action, see Squamish Five. ...
The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ...
Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. ...
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ...
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA: ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ...
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist. ...
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869–January 30, 1948) (Devanagari : मोहनदास करमचनà¥à¤¦ गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી) was a national icon who led the struggle for Indias independence from British colonial rule, empowered by tens of millions of common Indians. ...
William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ...
Edwin Way Teale (1899–1980) was an American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. ...
Martin Luther King redirects here. ...
John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...
is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about 1862 . ...
Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ...
Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early-to mid-19th century. ...
A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies. ...
Development criticism refers to far-reaching criticisms of modernization and its central aspects : modern technology, industrialization, capitalism and economic globalization . ...
For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ...
The New Thought Movement or New Thought is comprised of a loosely allied group of denominations, organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, visualization, and personal power. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...
Civil Disobedience is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. ...
For other uses, see Civil disobedience (disambiguation). ...
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. Nature writing is traditionally defined as nonfiction prose writing about the natural environment. ...
For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ...
Environmental history is the study of humans and nature and their past interrelationships. ...
The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ...
He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...
The fugitive slave laws were statutes passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a public territory. ...
Wendell Phillips Statue in the Boston Public Garden. ...
John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a white American abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery. ...
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA: ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ...
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869–January 30, 1948) (Devanagari : मोहनदास करमचनà¥à¤¦ गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી) was a national icon who led the struggle for Indias independence from British colonial rule, empowered by tens of millions of common Indians. ...
Martin Luther King redirects here. ...
Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist[2][3] as well as an inspiration to anarchists. Though Civil Disobedience calls for improving rather than abolishing government — “I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government”[4] — the direction of this improvement aims at anarchism: “‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”[4] Theory and practice Issues History Culture By region Lists Related Anarchism Portal Politics Portal · Individualist anarchism (also anarchist individualism, anarcho-individualism, individualistic anarchism) refers to any of several traditions that hold that individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public...
Early life and education Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts to John Thoreau (a pencil maker) and Cynthia Dunbar. His paternal grandfather was of French origin and was born in Jersey.[5] His maternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar, was known for leading Harvard's 1766 student "Butter Rebellion"[6] the first recorded student protest in the United States.[7] David Henry was named after a recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau. He did not become “Henry David” until after college, although he never petitioned to make a legal name change.[8] He had two older siblings, Helen and John Jr., and a younger sister, Sophia.[9] Thoreau’s birthplace still exists on Virginia Road in Concord and is currently the focus of preservation efforts. The house is original, but it now stands about 100 yards away from its first site. Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1635 Incorporated 1635 Government - Type Open town meeting Area - Total 25. ...
Harvard redirects here. ...
Bronson Alcott and Thoreau's aunt both wrote that “Thoreau” is pronounced like the word “thorough”, whose standard American pronunciation rhymes with “furrow”.[10] In appearance he was homely, with a nose that he called “my most prominent feature.”[11] Of his face, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: "[Thoreau] is as ugly as sin, long-nosed, queer-mouthed, and with uncouth and rustic, though courteous manners, corresponding very well with such an exterior. But his ugliness is of an honest and agreeable fashion, and becomes him much better than beauty."[12] Thoreau also wore a neck-beard for many years, which he insisted many women found attractive. However, Louisa May Alcott reportedly mentioned to Ralph Waldo Emerson that Thoreau's facial hair "will most assuredly deflect amorous advances and preserve the man's virtue in perpetuity."[13] Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799–March 4, 1888) was an American teacher and writer. ...
Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ...
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist. ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ...
Thoreau studied at Harvard University between 1833 and 1837. He lived in Hollis Hall and took courses in rhetoric, classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science. Legend states that Thoreau refused to pay the five-dollar fee for a Harvard diploma. In fact, the master's degree he declined to purchase had no academic merit: Harvard College offered it to graduates "who proved their physical worth by being alive three years after graduating, and their saving, earning, or inheriting quality or condition by having Five Dollars to give the college."[14] His comment was: “Let every sheep keep its own skin.” This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. ...
Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ...
Return to Concord: 1837-1841 During a leave of absence from Harvard in 1835, Thoreau taught school in Canton, Massachusetts. After graduating in 1837, he joined the faculty of Concord Academy, but he refused to administer corporal punishment, and the school board soon dismissed him. He and his brother John then opened a grammar school in Concord in 1838. They introduced several progressive concepts, including nature walks and visits to local shops and businesses. The school ended when John became fatally ill from tetanus in 1842.[15] Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. ...
Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain and suffering intended to change a persons behavior or to punish them. ...
A grammar school is a school that may, depending on regional usage as exemplified below, provide either secondary education or, a much less common usage, primary education (also known as elementary). Grammar schools trace their origins back to medieval Europe, as schools in which university preparatory subjects, such as Latin...
Tetanus is a medical condition that is characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. ...
Upon graduation Thoreau returned home to Concord, where he befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson took a paternal and at times patronizing interest in Thoreau, advising the young man and introducing him to a circle of local writers and thinkers, including Ellery Channing, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his son Julian Hawthorne, who was a boy at the time. William Ellery Channing (June 10, 1818-December 23, 1901) was a Transcendentalist poet, nephew of the Unitarian preacher Dr. William Ellery Channing. ...
Margaret Fuller, by Marchioness Ossoli. ...
Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799–March 4, 1888) was an American teacher and writer. ...
Julian Hawthorne (June 22, 1846-1934) followed in the footsteps of his father, the famous novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and became a prolific American author and journalist. ...
Emerson constantly urged Thoreau to contribute essays and poems to a quarterly periodical, The Dial, and Emerson lobbied with editor Margaret Fuller to publish those writings. Thoreau’s first essay published there was Natural History of Massachusetts; half book review, half natural history essay, it appeared in 1842. It consisted of revised passages from his journal, which he had begun keeping at Emerson’s suggestion. The first entry on 22 October 1837 reads, “‘What are you doing now?’ he asked. ‘Do you keep a journal?’ So I make my first entry today.” The January 1920 issue of the Dial. ...
is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Thoreau was a philosopher of nature and its relation to the human condition. In his early years he followed Transcendentalism, a loose and eclectic idealist philosophy advocated by Emerson, Fuller, and Alcott. They held that an ideal spiritual state transcends, or goes beyond, the physical and empirical, and that one achieves that insight via personal intuition rather than religious doctrine. In their view, Nature is the outward sign of inward spirit, expressing the “radical correspondence of visible things and human thoughts,” as Emerson wrote in Nature (1836). Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early-to mid-19th century. ...
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 1967 U.S. postage stamp honoring Thoreau. On 18 April 1841, Thoreau moved into the Emerson house.[16] There, from 1841-1844, he served as the children’s tutor, editorial assistant, and repair man/gardener. For a few months in 1843, he moved to the home of William Emerson on Staten Island, tutoring the family sons while writing for New York periodicals, aided in part by his future literary representative Horace Greeley[citation needed]. Image File history File links Thoreau1967stamp. ...
Image File history File links Thoreau1967stamp. ...
is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
This article is about the borough in New York City. ...
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, reformer and politician. ...
Thoreau returned to Concord and worked in his family's pencil factory, which he continued to do for most of his adult life. He rediscovered the process to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite by using clay as the binder; this invention improved upon graphite found in New Hampshire in 1821 by Charles Dunbar. (The process of mixing graphite and clay, known as the Conté process, was patented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in 1795.) Later, Thoreau converted the factory to produce plumbago (graphite), used to ink typesetting machines.[17] This article is about the handwriting instrument. ...
For other uses, see Graphite (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see New Hampshire (disambiguation). ...
Nicolas-Jacques Conté, between 1780 and 1800. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
Once back in Concord, Thoreau went through a restless period. In April 1844 he and his friend Edward Hoar accidentally set a fire that consumed 300 acres of Walden Woods.[18] He spoke often of finding a farm to buy or lease, which he felt would give him a means to support himself while also providing enough solitude to write his first book[citation needed].
Civil disobedience and the Walden years: 1845–1849
 A reproduction of Thoreau’s cabin with a statue of Thoreau. Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living on 4 July 1845, when he moved to a small self-built house on land owned by Emerson in a second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond. The house was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from his family home.[citation needed] Image File history File linksMetadata Thoreau_cabin_statue_flickr. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Thoreau_cabin_statue_flickr. ...
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...
is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
The forest in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada is generally considered to have second and third growth characteristics. ...
Thoreaus Cove, Concord, Mass. ...
On 24 July or 25 July 1846, Thoreau ran into the local tax collector, Sam Staples, who asked him to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. Thoreau refused because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery, and he spent a night in jail because of this refusal. (The next day Thoreau was freed, over his protests, when his aunt paid his taxes.[19]) The experience had a strong impact on Thoreau. In January and February 1848, he delivered lectures on "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government”[20] explaining his tax resistance at the Concord Lyceum. Bronson Alcott attended the lecture; who wrote in his journal on 26 January, is the 205th day of the year (206th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. ...
Sam Staples was the town constable in Concord, Massachussets and friend of Henry David Thoreau. ...
A poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income). ...
Combatants United States Mexico Commanders Zachary Taylor Winfield Scott Stephen W. Kearney Antonio López de Santa Anna Mariano Arista Pedro de Ampudia José Mariá Flores Strength 78,790 soldiers 25,000–40,000 soldiers Casualties KIA: 1733 Total dead: 13,271 Wounded: 4,152 AWOL: 9,200+ 25,000...
Slave sale in Easton, Maryland The history of slavery in the United States (1619-1865) began soon after English colonists first settled Virginia and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. ...
Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799–March 4, 1888) was an American teacher and writer. ...
is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Heard Thoreau’s lecture before the Lyceum on the relation of the individual to the State — an admirable statement of the rights of the individual to self-government, and an attentive audience. His allusions to the Mexican War, to Mr. Hoar’s expulsion from Carolina, his own imprisonment in Concord Jail for refusal to pay his tax, Mr. Hoar’s payment of mine when taken to prison for a similar refusal, were all pertinent, well considered, and reasoned. I took great pleasure in this deed of Thoreau’s.[21] Thoreau revised the lecture into an essay entitled Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience). In May 1849 it was published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers. Civil Disobedience is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. ...
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, (May 16, 1804-January 3, 1894) educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. ...
Thoreau is frequently quoted as espousing that the true place for a just man is in prison. He in fact actually writes in Civil Disobedience, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."[22]
At Walden Pond, he completed a first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, an elegy to his brother, John, that described their 1839 trip to the White Mountains. Thoreau did not find a publisher for this book and instead printed 1,000 copies at his own expense, though less than 300 sold.[23] Thoreau self-published on the advice of Emerson, using Emerson’s own publisher Munroe, who did little to publicize the book. Its failure put Thoreau into debt that took years to pay off, and Emerson’s flawed advice caused a schism between the friends that never entirely healed. For other uses, see Elegy (disambiguation). ...
Looking south on the Franconia Ridge Trail. ...
In August 1846, Thoreau briefly left Walden to make a trip to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a journey later recorded in “Ktaadn,” the first part of The Maine Woods. Mount Katahdin (USGS name) is the highest mountain in Maine. ...
Official language(s) None (English and French de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area Ranked 39th - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²) - Width 210 miles (338 km) - Length 320 miles (515 km) - % water 13. ...
Thoreau left Walden Pond on 6 September 1847.[24] Over several years, he worked to pay off his debts and also continuously revised his manuscript. In 1854, he published Walden, or Life in the Woods, recounting the two years, two months, and two days he had spent at Walden Pond. The book compresses that time into a single calendar year, using the passage of four seasons to symbolize human development. Part memoir and part spiritual quest, Walden at first won few admirers, but today critics regard it as a classic American book that explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty as models for just social and cultural conditions. is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning memory), or a reminiscence, forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ...
Late years: 1851-1862
 Henry David Thoreau, photograph published circa 1879 In 1851, Thoreau became increasingly fascinated with natural history and travel/expedition narratives. He read avidly on botany and often wrote observations on this topic into his journal. He greatly admired William Bartram and Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle. He kept detailed observations on Concord's nature lore, recording everything from how the fruit ripened over time to the fluctuating depths of Walden Pond and the days certain birds migrated. The point of this task was to “anticipate” the seasons of nature, in his words. Henry David Thoreau, photograph published circa 1879, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right. ...
Henry David Thoreau, photograph published circa 1879, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right. ...
Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ...
Pinguicula grandiflora commonly known as a Butterwort Example of a cross section of a stem [1] Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ...
Portrait of Bartram by Peale William Bartram (April 20, 1739 — July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, the son of John Bartram. ...
For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ...
A watercolour by HMS Beagles draughtsman, Conrad Martens. ...
He became a land surveyor and continued to write increasingly detailed natural history observations about the 26 square mile (67 km²) township in his journal, a two-million word document he kept for 24 years. He also kept a series of separate notebooks, and these observations became the source for Thoreau's late natural history writings, such as Autumnal Tints, The Succession of Trees, and Wild Apples, an essay bemoaning the destruction of indigenous and wild apple species.
Until the 1970s, Thoreau’s late pursuits were dismissed by literary critics as amateur science and philosophy. With the rise of environmental history and ecocriticism, several new readings of this matter began to emerge, showing Thoreau to be both a philosopher and an analyst of ecological patterns in fields and woodlots. For instance, his late essay, "The Succession of Forest Trees," shows that he used experimentation and analysis to explain how forests regenerate after fire or human destruction, through dispersal by seed-bearing winds or animals. Environmental history is the study of humans and nature and their past interrelationships. ...
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He traveled to Quebec once, Cape Cod four times, and Maine three times; these landscapes inspired his "excursion" books, A Yankee in Canada, Cape Cod, and The Maine Woods, in which travel itineraries frame his thoughts about geography, history and philosophy. Other travels took him southwest to Philadelphia and New York City in 1854, and west across the Great Lakes region in 1861, visiting Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Mackinac Island.[25] This article is about the Canadian province. ...
This article is about the area of Massachusetts known as Cape Cod. For other uses, see Cape Cod (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Philadelphia (disambiguation) and Philly. ...
New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
The Great Lakes region can refer to: The Great Lakes region of North America The Great Lakes region of Africa This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
For other uses, see Niagara Falls (disambiguation). ...
Detroit redirects here. ...
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For other places with the same name, see Milwaukee (disambiguation). ...
State capitol building in Saint Paul Saint Paul is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Minnesota in the United States of America. ...
Mackinac Island (pronounced or MACK-in-aw) is an island covering 3. ...
After John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry, many prominent voices in the abolitionist movement distanced themselves from Brown, or damned him with faint praise. Thoreau was disgusted by this, and he composed a speech — A Plea for Captain John Brown — which was uncompromising in its defense of Brown and his actions. Thoreau’s speech proved persuasive: first the abolitionist movement began to accept Brown as a martyr, and by the time of the American Civil War entire armies of the North were literally singing Brown’s praises. As a contemporary biographer of John Brown put it: “If, as Alfred Kazin suggests, without John Brown there would have been no Civil War, we would add that without the Concord Transcendentalists, John Brown would have had little cultural impact.”[26] Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 1865. ...
A Plea for Captain John Brown is an essay by Henry David Thoreau. ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...
// John Browns Body (originally known as John Browns Song) is a famous Union marching song of the American Civil War. ...
Alfred Kazin (June 5, 1915 – June 5, 1998) was an American writer and literary critic, many of whose writings depicted the immigrant experience in early twentieth century America. ...
Death
 Thoreau family graves at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Thoreau first contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it sporadically over his life. In 1859, following a late night excursion to count the rings of tree stumps during a rain storm, he became ill with bronchitis. His health declined over three years with brief periods of remission, until he eventually became bedridden. Recognizing the terminal nature of his disease, Thoreau spent his last years revising and editing his unpublished works, particularly The Maine Woods and Excursions, and petitioning publishers to print revised editions of A Week and Walden. He also wrote letters and journal entries until he became too weak to continue. His friends were alarmed at his diminished appearance and were fascinated by his tranquil acceptance of death. When his aunt Louisa asked him in his last weeks if he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded quite simply: “I did not know we had ever quarreled.” He died on 6 May 1862 at age 44. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1401x1094, 645 KB) Summary The Thoreau family gravesite in Sleepy Hollow Cemetary, Concord, Massachusetts. ...
ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1401x1094, 645 KB) Summary The Thoreau family gravesite in Sleepy Hollow Cemetary, Concord, Massachusetts. ...
Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ...
Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi and may specifically refer to: Acute bronchitis, caused by viruses or bacteria and lasting several days or weeks Chronic bronchitis, a persistent, productive cough lasting at least three months in two consecutive years. ...
is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about 1862 . ...
Originally buried in the Dunbar family plot, he and members of his immediate family were eventually moved to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Emerson wrote the eulogy spoken at his funeral.[27] Thoreau’s friend Ellery Channing published his first biography, Thoreau the Poet-Naturalist, in 1873, and Channing and another friend Harrison Blake edited some poems, essays, and journal entries for posthumous publication in the 1890s. Thoreau’s Journal, often mined but largely unpublished at his death, first appeared in 1906 and helped to build his modern reputation. A new and greatly expanded edition of the Journal is underway, published by Princeton University Press. Today, Thoreau is regarded as one of the foremost American writers, both for the modern clarity of his prose style and the prescience of his views on nature and politics. His memory is honored by the international Thoreau Society. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is a cemetery located on Bedford Road in the center of Concord, Massachusetts. ...
Look up eulogy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
William Ellery Channing (June 10, 1818–December 23, 1901) was a Transcendentalist poet, nephew of the Unitarian preacher Dr. William Ellery Channing. ...
About Established in 1941, the Thoreau Society has long contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about Thoreau by collecting books, manuscripts, and artifacts relating to Thoreau and his contemporaries, by encouraging the use of its collections, and by publishing articles in two Society periodicals. ...
Beliefs Thoreau was an early advocate of recreational hiking and canoeing, of conserving natural resources on private land, and of preserving wilderness as public land. Thoreau was also one of the first American supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution. He was not a strict vegetarian, though he said he preferred that diet[28] and advocated it as a means of self-improvement. He wrote in Walden: "The practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness; and besides, when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It was insignificant and unnecessary, and cost more than it came to. A little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well, with less trouble and filth."[29] New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
Canoeing is the recreational or sporting activity of paddling a canoe or kayak. ...
For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ...
This article is about biological evolution. ...
A variety of vegetarian food ingredients Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, and slaughter by-products. ...
Thoreau neither rejected civilization nor fully embraced wilderness. Instead he sought a middle ground, the pastoral realm that integrates both nature and culture. The wildness he enjoyed was the nearby swamp or forest, and he preferred “partially cultivated country.” His idea of being “far in the recesses of the wilderness” of Maine was to “travel the logger’s path and the Indian trail,” but he also hiked on pristine untouched land. In the essay "Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher" Roderick Nash writes: "Thoreau left Concord in 1846 for the first of three trips to northern Maine. His expectations were high because he hoped to find genuine, primeval America. But contact with real wilderness in Maine affected him far differently than had the idea of wilderness in Concord. Instead of coming out of the woods with a deepened appreciation of the wilds, Thoreau felt a greater respect for civilization and realized the necessity of balance."[30] Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...
On alcohol, Thoreau wrote: "I would fain keep sober always... I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man; wine is not so noble a liquor... Of all ebriosity, who does not prefer to be intoxicated by the air he breathes?"[29]
Influence Thoreau’s writings had far reaching influences on many public figures. Political leaders and reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, President John F. Kennedy, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and Russian author Leo Tolstoy all spoke of being strongly affected by Thoreau’s work, particularly Civil Disobedience. So did many artists and authors including Edward Abbey, Willa Cather, Marcel Proust, William Butler Yeats, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, E. B. White, and Frank Lloyd Wright and naturalists like John Burroughs, John Muir, E.O. Wilson, Edwin Way Teale, Joseph Wood Krutch , B.F Skinner, and David Brower.[31] Anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman also appreciated Thoreau and referred to him as “the greatest American anarchist”. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (669x822, 246 KB) Summary A photo of a bust of Henry David Thoreau from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College taken by me, H0n0r. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (669x822, 246 KB) Summary A photo of a bust of Henry David Thoreau from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College taken by me, H0n0r. ...
A bust can be one of: Bust (sculpture), a sculpture depicting a persons chest, shoulders, and head, usually supported by a stand. ...
View of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans The Hall of Fame for Great Americans, is the original Hall of Fame. Whilst it was the first to be designated Hall of Fame — with fame applied with the intention of transmitting the value-laden meaning that is very close to...
The Bronx Community College of The City University of New York is a community college in the City University of New York system. ...
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869–January 30, 1948) (Devanagari : मोहनदास करमचनà¥à¤¦ गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી) was a national icon who led the struggle for Indias independence from British colonial rule, empowered by tens of millions of common Indians. ...
John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...
Martin Luther King redirects here. ...
William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ...
Motto: - Anthem: Hymn of the Russian Federation Capital Moscow Largest city Moscow Official language(s) Russian, many others in component republics Government President Prime Minister Semi-presidential federation Vladimir Putin Mikhail Fradkov Independence - Declared (Russia Day) - Finalized From the Soviet Union June 12, 1990 December 26, 1991 Area • Total • Water...
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA: ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ...
Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. ...
Wilella Sibert Cather (December 7, 1873[1] – April 24, 1947) is an eminent author from the United States. ...
Proust redirects here. ...
Yeats redirects here. ...
Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 — January 10, 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. ...
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 — July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ...
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York – October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist. ...
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, educator, and philosopher from Oak Park, Illinois. ...
John Burroughs (April 3, 1837-March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. ...
For other persons named John Muir, see John Muir (disambiguation). ...
E.O. Wilson with Dynastes hercules E. O. Wilson, or Edward Osborne Wilson, (born June 10, 1929) is an entomologist and biologist known for his work on ecology, evolution, and sociobiology. ...
Edwin Way Teale (1899–1980) was an American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. ...
Joseph Wood Krutch (November 25, 1893 - May 22, 1970) was an American writer, critic, and naturalist. ...
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 _ August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. ...
David Ross Brower (July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was the founder of many environmentalist organizations including the Sierra Club Foundation, the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the...
Anarchist redirects here. ...
Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ...
Theory Issues Culture By region Lists Anarchism Portal Politics Portal · Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) aka Red Emma, was a Lithuanian-born anarchist known for her writings and speeches. ...
Mahatma Gandhi first read Walden in 1906 while working as a civil rights activist in Johannesburg, South Africa. He told American reporter Webb Miller, "[Thoreau's] ideas influenced me greatly. I adopted some of them and recommended the study of Thoreau to all of my friends who were helping me in the cause of Indian Independence. Why I actually took the name of my movement from Thoreau's essay 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,' written about 80 years ago."[32] Johannesburgs skyline as seen from the observation deck of the Carlton Centre. ...
Martin Luther King, Jr. noted in his autobiography that his first encounter with the idea of non-violent resistance was reading "On Civil Disobedience" in 1944 while attending Morehouse College. He wrote in his autobiography that it was Morehouse College is a private, four-year, all-male, historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. ...
Here, in this courageous New Englander's refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery's territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance. Fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, I was so deeply moved that I reread the work several times. I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice.[33] The University of Michigan's New England Literature Program is an experiential literature and writing program run through the university's Department of English Language and Literature which was started in the 1970s by professors Alan Howes and Walter Clark. Howes and Clark called upon Thoreauvian ideals of nature, independence and community to create an academic program modeled after Thoreau's experiment at Walden Pond. Today, students at NELP study Thoreau's work — as well as that of several other New England writers from the 19th and 20th centuries — in relative isolation on Sebago Lake in Raymond, Maine. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, UM, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan. ...
There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...
Steamboat Landing in c. ...
Raymond is a town located in Cumberland County, Maine. ...
American psychologist B. F. Skinner wrote that he carried a copy of Thoreau's Walden with him in his youth[34] and, in 1945, wrote Walden Two, a fictional utopia about 1,000 members of a community living together inspired by the life of Thoreau.[35] Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990), Ph. ...
Walden Two (1948) is a novel by B.F. Skinner which described a fictional utopia in which a thousand people have obtained a good life modeled after Thoreaus experiment in living near Walden pond. ...
Criticism Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson judged Thoreau’s endorsement of living alone in natural simplicity, apart from modern society, to be a mark of effeminacy: Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (November 13, 1850–December 3, 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, and a representative of neo-romanticism in English literature. ...
…Thoreau’s content and ecstasy in living was, we may say, like a plant that he had watered and tended with womanish solicitude; for there is apt to be something unmanly, something almost dastardly, in a life that does not move with dash and freedom, and that fears the bracing contact of the world. In one word, Thoreau was a skulker. He did not wish virtue to go out of him among his fellow-men, but slunk into a corner to hoard it for himself. He left all for the sake of certain virtuous self-indulgences.[36] However, English novelist George Eliot, writing in the Westminster Review, characterized such critics as uninspired and narrow-minded: Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. ...
The Westminster Review was founded in 1823 by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill as a journal for philosophical radicals, and was published from 1824 to 1914. ...
People — very wise in their own eyes — who would have every man’s life ordered according to a particular pattern, and who are intolerant of every existence the utility of which is not palpable to them, may pooh-pooh Mr. Thoreau and this episode in his history, as unpractical and dreamy.[citation needed]
Works | Henry David Thoreau |
 | | Central topics Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (623x768, 150 KB) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Source : http://eserver. ...
Civil Disobedience
Herald of Freedom
Life Without Principle
The Last Days of John Brown
Paradise (to be) Regained
A Plea for Captain John Brown
Reform and the Reformers
Remarks After the Hanging of John Brown
The Service
Sir Walter Raleigh
Slavery in Massachusetts
Thomas Carlyle and His Works
Walden
A Walk to Wachusett
Wendell Phillips Before the Concord Lyceum
The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau
Thoreau Society
Civil Disobedience is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. ...
Herald of Freedom was an essay by Henry David Thoreau published in The Dial in 1844 that praised Herald of Freedom, the journal of the New England Anti-Slavery Society and its editor, Nathaniel P. Rogers. ...
Life Without Principle is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that gives his program for right livelihood. ...
The Last Days of John Brown is an essay by Henry David Thoreau written in 1860 that praised the executed abolitionist militia leader John Brown. ...
Paradise (to be) Regained is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau and published in 1843 in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. ...
A Plea for Captain John Brown is an essay by Henry David Thoreau. ...
Reform and the Reformers is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau. ...
Remarks After the Hanging of John Brown is a speech given by Henry David Thoreau on 2 December 1859 at the time of John Brown’s execution. ...
The Service is an essay written in 1840 by Henry David Thoreau. ...
Sir Walter Raleigh is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that has been reconstructed from notes he wrote for a lecture he gave in 1843 and drafts of an article he was preparing for The Dial. ...
“Slavery in Massachusetts†is an 1854 essay by Henry David Thoreau based on a speech he gave at an anti-slavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1854, after the reënslavement in Boston, Massachusetts of fugitive slave Anthony Burns. ...
Thomas Carlyle and His Works is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau that praises the writings of Thomas Carlyle. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
A Walk to Wachusett is an essay penned by Henry David Thoreau about a journey he took with companion, Richard Fuller from Concord, Massachusetts to the summit of Mount Wachusett located in Princeton, Massachusetts. ...
Wendell Phillips Before the Concord Lyceum is a letter-to-the-editor written by Henry David Thoreau and published in The Liberator in 1845 that praised the abolitionist lecturer Wendell Phillips. ...
The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau is a project that aims to, for the first time, provide accurate texts of the works of Henry David Thoreau, the American author, including his journal, his personal letters, and his writings for publications. ...
About Established in 1941, the Thoreau Society has long contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about Thoreau by collecting books, manuscripts, and artifacts relating to Thoreau and his contemporaries, by encouraging the use of its collections, and by publishing articles in two Society periodicals. ...
Related topics Abolitionism · Anarchism
Anarchism in the United States
Civil disobedience
Concord, Massachusetts
Conscientious objection
Direct action · Ecology
Environmentalism
History of tax resistance
Individualist anarchism
John Brown · Lyceum movement
Nonviolent resistance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Simple living · Tax resistance
Tax resisters · Transcendentalism
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
Walden Pond This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...
Anarchist redirects here. ...
Anarchism in the United States spans a wide range of anarchist philosophy, from individualist anarchism to anarchist communism and other less known forms. ...
For other uses, see Civil disobedience (disambiguation). ...
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1635 Incorporated 1635 Government - Type Open town meeting Area - Total 25. ...
John T. Neufeld was a WWI conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the military prison at Leavenworth. ...
For the Canadian urban guerrilla group Direct Action, see Squamish Five. ...
For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ...
The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ...
Tax resistance has probably existed as long as those in a position of power have imposed taxes. ...
Theory and practice Issues History Culture By region Lists Related Anarchism Portal Politics Portal · Individualist anarchism (also anarchist individualism, anarcho-individualism, individualistic anarchism) refers to any of several traditions that hold that individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public...
John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a white American abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery. ...
The lyceum movement in the United States was a early form of organized adult education based on Aristotles Lyceum in Ancient Greece. ...
Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ...
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...
A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies. ...
Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early-to mid-19th century. ...
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail is a two-act play by Robert Edwin Lee and Jerome Lawrence. ...
Thoreaus Cove, Concord, Mass. ...
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