Romanticism, Transcendentalism, and Abolitionism

What Is a Man Born for But to Be a Reformer: Abolitionism and Romantic and Transcendental Movement

            Starting in the eighteenth century, some European forward-thinkers were starting to chafe at the boundaries of Enlightenment ideals. These people, dubbed Romantics, were frustrated with the clinical, scientific, senses-only approach. Instead, they relied on their intuition, believing that humans and nature were united, trusting nature to teach humanity on a spiritual level, and adopting the optimistic view that man had the ability to better both himself and his world.  Across the pond in the nineteenth century, American radicals in Massachusetts combined Romantic ideals with Unitarianism and got Transcendentalism, the philosophy that would shape the American mindset for years to come. Transcendentalists preached Nature as god and man as Nature, all men perfectible and united across time and space, each man the ultimate authority over himself. The Transcendentalist movement dubbed organized religion unnecessary, scoffed at blindly upheld traditions, and challenged humanity’s need for any and all institutions: the church, the government, and society at large (Elkins 150). “No institution, practice, belief, or relationship was considered too venerable or too sacred to escape questioning,” writes Merton Dillon of the American mindset in the eighteen hundreds; Transcendentalists embodied that spirit (116). Instead of looking to institutions for guidance, they looked to Nature; Nature revealed the highest truth, and Transcendentalists believed it was their duty to share these higher truths with the rest of the world (Fredrickson 11).

            Believing that every man was essentially a law unto himself, Transcendentalism naturally sparked rampant questioning. Even those who were not a part of the movement proper caught the fever and started evaluating the status quo – and then they started trying to change it (Fredrickson 9).  The nineteenth century was rife with activism. Women’s rights, changed family hierarchies, educational reform, religious reform, Temperance and more were all being promoted, and in many cases, the Transcendentalists were in the vanguard.

            But while the above issues were certainly on America’s radar, the dominating social and moral question in nineteenth century America was undoubtedly that of slavery. The Transcendentalist connection between humans and the sovereignty of each human led to a growing spirit of egalitarianism which was emphasized by the belief in the innate goodness and perfectibility of all men (Fredrickson 9; McPherson 177). Abolition was the most controversial topic in political, economic, and moral spheres. There were rallies and riots – Emerson was actually booed off-stage at an anti-slavery rally in 1861 – and revolts and mobs; there were speeches and pamphlets galore (Gougeon 1; Dillon 76). As the Civil War loomed on the horizon, the Mexican War supplied more slave states, and the Fugitive Slave Law acerbated the problem, abolitionism became more and more the central dispute of a divided nation.

            Considering their closely-held tenets of united mankind, moral improvement, man’s divinity and perfectibility – not to mention their sense of duty to reveal the higher truths Nature had revealed to them – Romantics and Transcendentalists in theory should have been whole-hearted members of the abolition movement. Some of them were; as Henry Commager succinctly writes, “If Man was divine, then it was wicked that his body should be confined in slavery” (viii). However, where there are humans, there is diversity, and the Transcendentalists were no exception. Deep-seated questions about institutionalism and individualism kept many Transcendentalists at arm’s length for many years; so too did the very narrow moral focus of the abolitionist movement and the belligerent methods the movement employed. Other Transcendentalists had other causes that were nearer and dearer to their hearts, and some of them were simply slow on the uptake. Still more divisions occurred when Transcendentalists questioned the best way to bring about emancipation and debated to what degree they should resist slavery-friendly laws.

            This series of posts will explore how America’s Transcendentalists interacted with the abolition movement, when and why they disagreed, when they worked together, and what they sought to accomplish.