After the American Revolution, colonists wanted to be independent from England in all aspects, including politics and social and artistic creativity. They wanted an entirely new culture that was uniquely American. American’s were now free to explore new opportunities, and thus, a new American tradition in literature, art, thought, and social reform came forth.

In upstate New York, a man by the name Reverend Charles Grandison Finney began preaching that through good works people can achieve salvation by God. During the Second Great Awakening, evangelists such as Reverend Finney were spreading the message of hope and opportunity. Religion was being revived and transformed in American society. These were positive messages and assurance on life. It touched people and they flocked to hear these messages.

Many new religious sects were created. A man by the name Joseph Smith began having religious visions and published the Book of Mormon and established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1830. This radical religion was the subject of harassment due to its radical ideas including polygamy. The Mormons were always on the move. Joseph Smith and his brother were killed. Under leadership of Brigham Young, the Mormons finally settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, which remains mostly Mormon to this day

Many of these groups became well established churches such as the Baptists, Methodists, and Congregationalists. They began moving westward with their messages of revival. The frontier could be uncertain and dangerous, and evangelists found their messages carried greater enthusiasm. Camp meetings were common as James McCready preached about hellfire and brimstone and held gatherings that lasted for days and attracted thousands of fanatical religious men and women. As the Second Great Awakening was making waves throughout the North and West, churches in the South were becoming more authoritarian and did not encourage questioning institutions. The idea that all men could achieve salvation if their heart was pure, did not mix with the idea of slavery. Most everywhere else, the church became a champion for the common man. It encouraged dignity and the betterment for all.

A new thought was making its way through the social system in America: The idea that all people equally have a knowledge that goes beyond what they can hear, see, taste, or touch. This idea is known as transcendentalism. One cannot learn transcendentalism, rather it comes to them through intuition and imagination. People should trust themselves to know what is right. These were not to be religious beliefs, but a way of life. The transcendental club was most associated with spreading this new way of thinking. Their major publication was called the Dial and was edited by Margaret Fuller, a political radical and feminist. Among the famous transcendentalist thinkers was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who held a leadership position. Emerson was an American thinker. He was Harvard educated and wrote the famous essay, "The American Scholar.” In this essay, he urged Americans to stop modeling after Europe. He urged others to look to themselves for answers to complex questions about life. Emmerson inspired a unique American ideal.

In the mid 1800s, the Transcendental Club associated with many great thinkers and writers. Among these were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Walt Whitman. However, it was Henry David Thoreau who put transcendentalism into action. For two years, Thoreau experimented with self-reliance at Walden Pond. He built a hut and tried to live being self-reliant without society. He came to the conclusion that life is wasted pursuing wealth and following society. Nature can show unity in all things and restore faith in humanity. Transcendentalists promoted individualism and self-reliance. They were progressive when it came to women’s rights, abolition, reform, and education. They were against major government, organized religion, and other social institutions. They promoted imagination over reason. And they created an American “state of mind.”