Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson had several effects on Americans during his time. The first effect he had was on the value of the individual. He once wrote, “Let us unfetter ourselves of our historical associations and find a pure standard in the idea of man.” Up to this time, Americans still looked to England and other European countries for ideas on fashion and ways of thinking. Emerson’s writings gave impulse to Americans to be free of European ideas on what is right or good. Along with individualism, Emerson is best known for starting the Transcendentalist movement. This philosophy made important the ideas of self-discovery and the connections between nature, all persons as a group, and the highest being.