Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25th, 1803 in Boston Massachusetts. Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet. Around the mid-19th century, he led the Transcendentalist movement. His works, such as his 1836 essay, Nature, express the philosophy of Transcendentalism. His main interests are in Individualism and Mysticism. As for notable ideas, they were Self Reliance and Over Soul. He died on April 27th, 1882, at the age of 78.

Loisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29th, 1832 in Germantown, PA. Alcott was an American novelist. She was best known for her book, Little Women, was was published in 1868. Her pen name was A.M. Barnard. She was also an abolitionist and a feminist. Alcott passed away on March 6th, 1888 at the age of 55.

Transcendentalism

Around the 19th century, the transcendentalism movement was present. It was an American literary, political, and philosophical movement. A few popular transcendentalists includes Alcott, Thoreau, and Emerson. It’s core belief was in the goodness of both people and nature. It believes that society corrupted the purity of an individual person.

Lewis and Clark

After the Louisiana Purchase was made, Thomas Jefferson appointed two explorers to explore the wilderness of the Louisiana Territory in 1804. He appointed Meriweather Lewis and William Clark as the leaders of the expedition. A Shoshone woman named Sacagawea accompanied them on the expedition and worked as a translator for the group. Lewis and Clark were able to document many findings of plants and discovered new animals never seen before. Although their main goal originally was to find a waterway in the territory for commerce, but they discovered much more than that and made scientific achievements. Due to their efforts navigating through the rough wilderness, a geographic map and documentations of new plants and animals of the territory was produced.

Louisiana Purchase

Thomas Jefferson sought to expand the country and the opportunity came when the Louisiana Territory was up for sale in1803. Napolean needed to raise funds for his army and he had to sell the territory France had owned in North America to make it possible. Originally, the purchase was to be made for the territory containing New Orleans for no more than ten million dollars. However due to Napolean’s desperation, he decided to sell all of the Louisiana Territory France owned to raise funds because of potential war with Britain may be soon. Jefferson sent officials to negotiate the deal and they returned having bought the larger land for fifteen million dollars. Jefferson saw it reasonable to have made the purchase since it rid France’s presence from the United States.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Stephen A. Douglass proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and it passed in 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska territory at the time was not ready to apply for statehood, but Douglass urged for their admission. It repealed the Missouri Compromise since new states were allowed to determine the status of slavery with popular sovereignty. The people in the Kansas-Nebraska territory were both equally torn on the issue of slavery and popular sovereignty would not solve this issue. This led to a civil war within the territory over this dispute known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Frederick wished for the admission of these two states in order to have the Transcontinental Railroad run through Illinois to allow his state to prosper economically. Kansas was left in the open as land that could be bought by rich slave owners and becoming the majority to vote for slavery in the territory was an issue.

John Brown's Raid

John Brown was a northern white abolitionist who used violence to protest against slavery. His most infamous protest was his raid on Harper’s Ferry Arsenal in 1859. John Brown gathered a group of slaves as well as abolitionists to raid the Arsenal and acquired weapons. They took southern hostages and killed several. After he was arrested, he was later to be executed. The north knew the wrong in John Brown’s actions, but supported him because he was an abolitionist. So they praised him as a martyr years later and erected a statue in his honor. The south became outraged because of the north’s foolish praise for the “martyr” and deemed John Brown as a madman.