Transcendentalism Timeline

(1830 - 1860)

Transcendentalism was an American philosophical, literary, and social movement that emerged in New England in the early 19th century. Centered in Concord and Boston, it emphasized individual intuition, self-reliance, nature, and a spiritual connection beyond empirical experience. Key figures included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott. The movement influenced American literature, abolitionism, women's rights, and environmental thought. More Less

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Origins and Foundations

Transcendentalism's roots in Boston Unitarianism

1800

Transcendentalism is closely related to Unitarianism, the liberal religious denomination that was dominant in Boston in the early nineteenth century. The movement grew out of Unitarian thought while pushing beyond its rationalism toward a more intuitive and spiritual understanding of the world.

Henry Ware elected Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard

1805

The election of Henry Ware as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University in 1805 marked a decisive victory for Unitarianism at the institution, setting the intellectual stage from which Transcendentalism would later develop.

John Thornton Kirkland becomes President of Harvard

1810

John Thornton Kirkland's election as President of Harvard University in 1810 further consolidated Unitarian influence at Harvard. With Unitarianism firmly established there, the conditions were in place for Transcendentalism to begin developing among New England intellectuals.

Image source: Transcendentalism

Founding of the Transcendental Club

Sep 12, 1836

Transcendentalism became a coherent movement and a sacred organization with the founding of the Transcendental Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 12, 1836, by prominent New England intellectuals including George Putnam, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Frederic Henry Hedge.

Image source: Transcendental Club

Global Connections

Ram Mohan Roy founds the Brahmo Samaj

1828

Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833), founder of the Brahmo Samaj, rejected both Hindu mythology and the Christian trinity. In 1828 he asked for support for missionary activities from the American Unitarians, forging an early transatlantic religious connection.

Roy abandons the Unitarian Committee

1829

By 1829, Ram Mohan Roy had abandoned the Unitarian Committee in Calcutta. However, after Roy's death, the Brahmo Samaj maintained close ties with the Unitarian Church, which strove toward a rational faith, social reform, and their joining in a renewed religion.

Image source: Raja Ram Mohan Roy

First English translation of the Lotus Sutra appears in The Dial

1844

In 1844, the first English translation of the Lotus Sutra was included in The Dial, a publication of the New England Transcendentalists, translated from French by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, reflecting the movement's interest in Eastern religious texts.

Image source: The Dial

Nature and Outdoor Experiments

Charles Stearns Wheeler builds shanty at Flint's Pond

1836

Influenced by Emerson and the importance of nature, Charles Stearns Wheeler built a shanty at Flint's Pond in 1836. It is considered the first Transcendentalist outdoor living experiment, and Wheeler used it during his summer vacations from Harvard from 1836 to 1842.

Thoreau stays at Wheeler's shanty

1837

Henry David Thoreau stayed at Wheeler's shanty for six weeks during the summer of 1837, where he got the idea that he wanted to build his own cabin — an idea later realized at Walden Pond in 1845.

Thoreau builds his cabin at Walden Pond

1845

Thoreau realized the idea first sparked during his stay at Wheeler's shanty by building his own cabin at Walden Pond in 1845, beginning the famous experiment in simple living that would produce his masterpiece Walden.

Image source: Walden

Criticism and Satire

Poe satirizes transcendentalism in 'How to Write a Blackwood Article'

1838

Edgar Allan Poe satirized transcendentalism in his 1838 story 'How to Write a Blackwood Article,' one of several works in which he mocked the movement and its followers, whom he elsewhere called 'Frogpondians' after the pond on Boston Common.

Image source: A Predicament

Poe's 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head' mocks transcendentalists

1841

Edgar Allan Poe continued his satire of transcendentalism in 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head' (1841), deriding the movement's followers as 'Frogpondians' after the pond on Boston Common, reflecting his broader disdain for New England literary culture.

Image source: Never Bet the Devil Your Head

Poe denounces 'the excess of the suggested meaning'

1846

In his essay 'The Philosophy of Composition' (1846), Edgar Allan Poe denounced 'the excess of the suggested meaning,' continuing his pointed criticism of the Transcendentalist style of writing and its tendency toward overwrought symbolism.

Image source: The Philosophy of Composition

Hawthorne satirizes the movement in The Blithedale Romance

1852

Nathaniel Hawthorne satirized the movement in his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852), based on his experiences at Brook Farm, a short-lived utopian community founded on transcendental principles.

Image source: The Blithedale Romance

Key Figures and Works

The Dial begins publication

1840

From 1840, the Transcendentalists frequently published in their journal The Dial, along with other venues. The journal became the principal organ for expressing the movement's ideas on literature, philosophy, religion, and social reform.

Margaret Fuller publishes Summer on the Lakes

1843

As early as 1843, in Summer on the Lakes, Margaret Fuller noted that 'the noble trees are gone already from this island to feed this caldron,' offering an early Transcendentalist critique of environmental destruction accompanying American expansion.

Image source: Summer on the Lakes

Death of Margaret Fuller

1850

The death of Margaret Fuller in 1850 deepened Emerson's conviction that Transcendentalism was dying out. He wrote, 'All that can be said is that she represents an interesting hour and group in American cultivation.'

Image source: Margaret Fuller

Thoreau publishes Walden

1854

In Walden (1854), Thoreau regarded the trains being built across America's landscape as a 'winged horse or fiery dragon' that 'sprinkle[d] all the restless men and floating merchandise in the country for seed,' critiquing industrialization's impact on nature.

Legacy

Emerson believes the movement is dying out

1848

By the late 1840s, Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that the movement was dying out, and even more so after the death of Margaret Fuller in 1850, marking the waning of the movement's first wave.

Transcendentalism influences the Mental Sciences movement

1850 - 1870

Transcendentalism influenced the growing movement of 'Mental Sciences' of the mid-19th century, which would later become known as the New Thought movement, extending the movement's spiritual ideas into new forms of American metaphysical religion.

Image source: New Thought

Second wave of Transcendentalists emerges

1860 - 1899

Despite the decline of the first wave, a second wave of transcendentalists emerged later in the 19th century, including Moncure Conway, Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Samuel Longfellow, and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, who carried the movement's ideals forward.

Key Facts

The Transcendental Club was founded in 1836 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Ripley, and other like-minded intellectuals.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1836 essay 'Nature' is considered the foundational text of Transcendentalism, articulating its core belief that divinity is found in nature and the individual soul.
Henry David Thoreau spent two years (1845-1847) living at Walden Pond, an experiment in simple living that produced his classic work 'Walden,' published in 1854.
The Dial, a Transcendentalist magazine edited by Margaret Fuller and later Emerson, was published from 1840 to 1844 and served as the movement's main literary voice.
Many Transcendentalists were active social reformers, supporting abolitionism, women's rights, educational reform, and utopian communities such as Brook Farm (1841-1847).

Source

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