Orestes Augustus Brownson was a prominent contributor to the Transcendentalist Movement and the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century because of the way he used his skills in writing to convey his ideas and visions for the United States. The movements that Brownson participated in contributed to the social and religious reform of the 1800s as a whole. These movements created many questions in religious societies and groups, which in turn affected all of the nation. The questions raised involved ideas relating to human morals and structure of society. Orestes Brownson subsidized the movements that became crucial parts of the larger social and religious reforms.
Because Orestes Brownson was raised in a strict Calvinistic, presbyterian household, it caused him to question his religion and…show more content… Brownson was born in Stockbridge, Vermont in 1803. His father, Sylvester Augustus Brownson, died when he was only two years old. This left his family in a difficult financial situation. After his mother, Relief Metcalf, could not provide for Brownson anymore, she sent him to a foster home in Vermont to live with farmers. When he got to his new home, he was introduced to an extremely Puritan and Calvinist environment. He developed into a very strong reader and writer, but he read only religious works. He went to mass at various different churches which gave him the ability to compare the differences and similarities between branches of Christian religions. After he turned fourteen, he moved back with his mother to New York. He had a decent education and ended up becoming a teacher in New York and then Detroit. This eventually lead him on a course to becoming a preacher and editor of a Universalist journal. Some years later, Browson became a Unitarian priest who was admired by the Transcendentalist community. After
