The Origins of American Literature
to be "a brave and upright man, who must find or cut a straight path to everything
excellent in the earth, and not only go honourably himself, but make it easier for all who
follow him to go in honor and with benefit." In this way most of the reforms were
attempts to awaken and regenerate the human spirit rather than to prescribe particular
and concrete movements which were to be fostered. The transcendentalists were, for
instance, among the early advocates of the enfranchisement of women.
Ultimately, despite these practical manifestations, transcendentalism was an
epistemology, a way of knowing, and the ultimate characteristics which tied together the
frequently contradictory beliefs of the loosely formed group called "The
Transcendentalists" was the belief that man can intuitively transcend the limits of the
senses and of logic and receive directly higher truths and greater knowledge denied to
the mundane methods of knowing.
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