Self-Reliance....Thoughts on the Frontier in American History. Reaction paper: Self-reliance The concept of self-reliance is extremely important in the discourse of politics today, as people argue that self-reliance from the federal government is a very important value. For Ralph Waldo Emerson, however, the world had a different meaning and resonance. First and foremost, self-reliance for Emerson meant the citizen was true to his or her ideals, versus conforming to the ideas

Yet through his explorations of order, Franklin admits that it is "extremely difficult to acquire" as a virtue (p. 88). Franklin further claims that of all the virtues, "my scheme of order gave me the most trouble; and I found that, tho' it might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it

Emerson, he believed resistance to conformity and exploration of self, led to a kind of self-reliance that permeated the inner workings and imaginings of the human soul. What began as a simple analysis of self-explored concepts, took on the form of universal philosophy. This essay will examine Emerson's work, "Self-Reliance" in a way that will not only analyze themes, but also provide a closer look into the context surrounding

Like Emerson, Whitman found beauty symbols of American future progress, even in industrial America and standardized and homogenized modern progress like the "Locomotive in Winter": "For once come serve the Muse and merge in verse, even as here I see thee," cries Whitman, celebrating the terrible, beautiful, awesome power of the moving train cars. Whitman finds inspiration in the man-made device, as well as terror. He optimistic, like Emerson, in

Emerson believed that the broader culture could rid itself of slavery through moral persuasion. At the beginning of the renaissance, Emerson "maintained that reform was best achieved by the moral persuasion of individuals rather than by the militant action of groups," (Lowance, 2000, 301). but, in the years immediately leading up to the Civil War, Emerson's philosophy collided with reality. In 1855, he wrote and delivered his Lecture on

Consistent with Emerson and Fuller's beliefs regarding transcendentalism, Justice Holmes' emphasis was on the achievement of a higher level of knowledge, wherein he explicated on the importance of transcendentalist belief when interpreting and understanding the rudiments of law. In "Common Law," he argued that understanding the law would entail the avoidance of "two errors" by the "writer and reader" (of law): "One is that of supposing, because an idea seems