Transcendentalism was a 19th-century New England movement of writers and philosophers who shared an idealistic outlook. Core beliefs included the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of humanity, and the supremacy of insight over logic and sensory experience for revealing the deepest truths.
Figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau emphasized self-reliance, a direct spiritual relationship to nature and the universe, and distrust of unthinking social conformity. Many Transcendentalists also backed reform causes including education, labor conditions, and women’s suffrage.