1. BY MATT KUHN AND RYAN MOUNTAIN AND BRIAN MORRIS Henry David Thoreau

2. Biography  Was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817  While living in Concord his neighbor was Ralph Waldo Emerson  Henry grew up close to his brother John, who taught school to pay for Henry’s tuition at Harvard  1842- John died of a severe cut/Thoreau was traumatized by this tragedy  Became good friends with Emerson who inspired Thoreau’s movement  In 1862 Thoreau died of Tuberculosis at the age of 44

3. Transcendentalism He was part of the Transcendentalist movement in literature where he established the ideas of freedom, religion, and spirituality Other major people that took part in this movement from the 1830’s-1840’s were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, and Margaret Fuller Not only was Thoreau a writer, but was a scientist, explorer, poet, engineer, surveyor, and inventor; all of which contributed to the movement One of Thoreau’s major works in regard to the movement was his book “Walden”, which documented Thoreau’s time spent in nature, his invention of the modern day graphite pencil, and his idea of having a scientific method for every experiment Advocate for anti-slavery ; although he was individualistic he believed in activism against injustice He showed the activism when later in his life he met with John Brown, an abolitionist who led the raids in Kansas against slavery

4. Influence on the Movement He opened up the possibilities to the world of what can be achieved in the literary and philosophical world Famous authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson(“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”) and Sinclair Lewis( “It Can’t Happen Here”) were greatly influenced by Thoreau’s way of life Thoreau’s curiosity and questions about life help get this movement on its feet Thoreau’s influential points on the movement included things like “every individual had divine inspiration”, “every person has a reason to live a world of possible paths to take” Points like these helped make non-believers into believers and gave them the chance to do something with their lives. Being able to single-handedly inspire so man people to explore the outside world and find their place is a pretty remarkable thing to be able to do; this makes Thoreau one of the most influential people of this Transcendentalism movement

5. Literature Books Published during Thoreau's Lifetime A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Some of the essays that Thoreau published Aulus Persius Flaccus Natural History of Massachusetts.” Homer, Ossian, Chaucer. A Walk to Wachusett. Dark Ages A Winter Walk The Landlord Herald of Freedom Thomas Carlyle and His Works Civil Disobedience

6. Impact He has influenced many famous and powerful individuals with his writings such as John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, William O. Douglas. Most of these people were really influenced by his most famous writing Civil Disobedience Mahatma Gandhi quotes “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. Martin Luther King quotes “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.