Ralph Waldo Emerson: Moral Law

Words: 346
Pages: 2

The transcendentalists began to emerge when Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first article was published. Although the American Transcendentalism period is known to have begun around 1836, many authors are accredited with inquiring the same principles into their writing well before then. Both John Woolman and Bryant, authors well published before Emerson’s writings, integrated transcendentalist ideas into their own texts. Moral law was one idea the transcendentalists believed in and is defined as promoting right action. In The Journal of John Woolman, the author explains to his readers that he believes that everyone was born with goodness in their hearts. On page 491, Woolman states, “[God] hath placed a principle in the human mind which incites to exercise