Sample Student Research Project 2016: Journal
LITR
4328 American Renaissance / Model Assignments
Sample Student Research Project 2016:
Journal
Kimberly Hall
November 16, 2016
The Language of Revolution: Transcendental Rhetoric and the Evolution of
Civil Disobedience
Being a revolutionary at heart, I began this research project looking at
Transcendentalism as a facet of American Romanticism and its effects on American
social and political movements through history. Finding the topic simply too
broad to be practical, I decided to narrow my focus to examining the rhetoric of
Transcendentalism, and actually found some very interesting parallels between
that rhetoric and that of various sociopolitical movements–ones that, upon first
glance, may not seem to be related to each other, but upon closer inspection,
reveal many commonalities.
I’ve spanned my study from the language of the Founding Fathers, to early
civil disobedience, to contemporary social movements and modern counterculture.
While they may seem unrelated, they all have some rhetoric in common–that of a
higher law, above the laws of man and society, and of individual growth and
enlightenment–which gives way to each of them arguing for social change
(wherever and whenever needed) and rebelling against their societies’
expectations.
ORIGINS AND BACKGROUND OF TRANSCENDENTALISM
As learned in Dr. White’s American Renaissance course, Transcendentalism
rose out of the Unitarian movement. Unitarian theology emphasizes unity of the
divine, rather than it being split into three parts. Having grown out of the Age
of Reason, Unitarianism also stresses the importance of rationality and
education. This tradition of reason separated Unitarianism from more evangelical
Christianity, and became connected more heavily with the Deism of the Founding
Fathers and their associates. Some famous Unitarian figures from the American
Revolution include Thomas Jefferson, and John and Abigail Adams. Unsurprisingly,
many of the original Transcendentalists were also affiliated with Unitarianism,
such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Amos Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth
Peabody, and Margaret Fuller.
Transcendentalism as a movement focuses on elevation, liberation, and
universality. As learned in the American Renaissance course, some common themes
in Transcendentalist rhetoric include adherence to a higher law, ascending forms
and movement, and inclusiveness of peoples and ideas. It also consistently
questions (if not challenges) social norms, as discussed in the course. By this
nature, Transcendentalist philosophy and rhetoric has found its way into social
reform movements throughout American history, beginning with the founders of
American independence themselves.
EARLY
ASSOCIATIONS WITH REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS
Transcendentalism itself grew out of revolutionary movements, and the
rhetoric of liberation is found throughout Transcendental works. The United
States Declaration of Independence (US 1776), for example, provides what may be
the earliest template for later Transcendental rhetoric–especially that of
reform movements. Here are a couple of examples:
“...the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature’s God entitle them...”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...”
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were both on the Congressional
committee assigned to drafting the Declaration of Independence, were both
Unitarians, so it is unsurprising to find some core Unitarian beliefs within the
piece. As stated before, the idea of a higher law is a common theme in
Transcendental rhetoric, both classic and contemporary; instead of the laws of
man determining society, it should be the laws of nature. Within the rhetoric of
revolutionary movements, the laws of man tend to equate with the laws of a king
or another oppressor, and act by restricting the innate freedoms common to all
of humanity. Also found within the Declaration of Independence is the foundation
of the American notion of civil disobedience:
“...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety
and Happiness.”
In essence, the people have the right to protest a government functioning
unfairly and restricting their individual liberties, and to seek to reform that
government–a message that is still prevalent in contemporary America.
CIVIL
DISOBEDIENCE
Civil disobedience, sometimes known as passive resistance, is a
well-established method of protesting the unfair treatment of people by their
government. Henry David Thoreau, in his essay
Resistance to Civil Government (also
known as Civil Disobedience), states
that “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse
allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its
inefficiency are great and unendurable.” The rhetoric almost directly mirrors
that of the Declaration of Independence. He then uses it as an argument in favor
of non-compliance with the laws of an unjust government; specifically, Thoreau
advocates for not paying taxes to a government that allows slavery, and
addresses what he believes to be a dangerous invasion of Mexico in order to add
more slave states to the Union.
Furthermore, Thoreau stated in
Civil Disobedience that “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the
law, so much as for the right.” Again, this appeals to the Transcendental idea
of a higher law being more important than the laws of men or the laws of
society. Importance was given to what Thoreau viewed as right, rather than what
was lawful, which became a theme throughout Transcendental works, and in social
movements throughout history.
ABOLITION
It is well known that Henry David Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist,
which heavily influenced his motivations for his brand of civil disobedience,
which we discussed during the course. As Thoreau stated in
Civil Disobedience, he “cannot for an
instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the
slave’s government.” He subsequently argues in favor of civil disobedience on
the grounds that slavery by its nature is unjust and should not be tolerated
(Thoreau). Thoreau states that “...if it [injustice] is of such a nature that it
requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the
law.” Basically, he is saying that citizens should break a law simply because it
imposes injustice, rather than adhere to it because it is the law. Once again, a
higher law is to be obeyed, as opposed to the laws of society.
Amos
Bronson Alcott, a contemporary and friend of Thoreau’s, was also an
abolitionist, early education reformer, and early feminist. A Unitarian, Alcott
frequently used Transcendental rhetoric to get his point across to his followers
and colleagues. Alcott used his so-called ‘Orphic Sayings’, published in the
Transcendentalist journal known as The
Dial, to share his Transcendental ideals and philosophies with society. In
Orphic Saying LI, titled Reform,
Alcott uses the nature-based symbolism of Transcendental rhetoric to argue
against slavery and for social change:
“The
trump of reform is sounding throughout the world for a revolution of all human
affairs. The issue we cannot doubt; yet the crises are nto without alarm.
Already is the axe laid at the root of that spreading tree, whose trunk is
idolatry, whose branches are covetousness, war, and slavery, whose blossom is
concupiscence, whose fruit is hate” (Alcott).
SUFFRAGE & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Coinciding with early abolitionist movements in the United States was the
early women’s rights movement. Some of the forerunners include figures such as
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Margaret Fuller.
Stanton, a fervent suffragist and
abolitionist, was an early advocate for women’s right to vote and legislate, for
liberalized divorce laws, and for women’s reproductive rights (Foner and
Garraty). At the Seneca Falls Women’s Convention, Stanton put forth what she
called The Declaration of Sentiments,
which directly mirrored the language used in the United States Declaration of
Independence:
“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations
on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute tyranny over her” (Stanton).
In essence, Stanton shifts the connotation of tyranny from the King of
England, as is used in the Declaration of Independence, to patriarchy. By using
the language of the Declaration of Independence, she gives her point of view on
women’s rights the same weight that the drafters of the Declaration gave to the
rights of the colonies. As stated in Dr. White’s Terms/Themes page on the
subject, a common tactic in civil disobedience is to use the dominant culture’s
own rhetoric to your advantage; use their words to advocate for your cause.
Margaret Fuller, another early feminist and abolitionist, used a similar tactic
when writing The Great Lawsuit, which
she originally published in The Dial,
a Transcendentalist journal:
“Though the national independence be blurred by the servility of individuals;
though freedom and equality have been proclaimed only to leave room for a
monstrous display of slave dealing and slave keeping; though the free American
so often feels himself free, like the Roman, only to pamper his appetites and
his indolence through the misery of his fellow beings, still it is not in vain,
that the verbal statement has been made, ‘All men are born free and equal.’
There it stands, a golden certainty, wherewith to encourage the good, to shame
the bad” (Fuller).
Fuller uses the most well-known claim made by the Declaration of
Independence, that all people are created equal, and uses it to both recognize
the Transcendental ideals of that claim and to challenge those who would deny
that claim on the basis of either sex or race. “We would have every path laid
open to woman as freely as to man,” Fuller declares, arguing that “human beings
are not so constituted, that they can live without expansion.” Using the
Transcendental ideal of individual expansion and enlightenment, Fuller equates
men and women, and demands that society equate them as well.
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Echoes of Thoreau’s rhetoric in
Resistance to Civil Government are not just reserved for the 19th
century–they can still be found in modern sociopolitical movements, harkening
back to Transcendentalism’s revolutionary roots. One example of this is Mario
Savio’s “Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall”. Mario Savio was a major
figure in the Free Speech Movement in California in the 1960s, and this
particular address was given on December 2, 1964, in front of Sproul Hall at the
University of California in Berkeley, soon before a student strike/sit-in. The
following is an excerpt, and probably the most well-known part of the speech:
“And
that–that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience. There’s a time
when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart
that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to
put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all
the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the
people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the
machine will be prevented from working at all!”
Savio harkens back to Civil
Disobedience, taking the rhetoric of defying an unjust system and applies it
using a metaphor relevant to his audience; that is, society as machine. Society
as a machine became a common metaphor after the Industrial Revolution, and in
this speech Savio then takes the metaphor a step further along the same lines
and uses it as a call to action against the operation of that machine (“Let your
life be a counter-friction to stop the machine” (Thoreau).). Freedom–in this
address, specifically, freedom of speech and freedom from censorship (Savio)–is
placed at a higher value than the law or the norms of society.
COUNTERCULTURE
Transcendental rhetoric was also influential in the development of
American counterculture in the 20th century. In literature, the
Transcendentalists were particularly influential on writers now known as the
Beat Generation, including well-known figures such as Jack Kerouac, Neal
Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg, using the rhetoric and themes to express
dissatisfaction with contemporary society and to rebel against the cultural
norms they found oppressive (Rahn). In fact, it’s thanks to the Beats that
Transcendentalists like Thoreau are held at such a high literary status today
(Rahn).
Breaking away from society was common among the Transcendentalists, as we
learned in Dr. White’s American Renaissance course, and was not uncommon for the
Beats as well (Bohemianism And Transcendentalism In Jack Kerouac). The primary
difference was in methodology–Emerson and Thoreau lived in forested seclusion,
while Kerouac and his contemporaries went on long road trips full of both
geographic and internal exploration. As shown in his semi-autobiographical novel
On the Road, Jack Kerouac used
mobility as a means to resist cultural expectations of settling down and
adhering to social norms (Cresswell 249). The difference is one of time
period–Kerouac, living in the mid-1900s, would have been more readily able to
wander across the country than Emerson or Thoreau–but the motivation for the
enlightenment found in seclusion was the same.
INFLUENCES OUTSIDE AMERICA
While Transcendentalism is a distinctly American movement, echoes of its
rhetoric and themes have been used in literary works and sociopolitical
movements all over the world. The most prominent example I know is Victor Hugo’s
Les Misérables, which functions as a
classic piece of literature, a criticism of the French government, and a call
for widespread social and political reform. Others include Mary Wollstonecraft’s
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,
the French Déclaration
des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen), and many writings
and speeches given by Mahatma Gandhi.
WEBSITES I FOUND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING
http://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/index.html
I came upon this website while scrolling through the course website,
looking for information on Transcendentalism. The website itself contains a
collection of links to various articles and essays relating to the American
Transcendental movement, its major players, and its roots and influences. Those
articles and essays then provide links to the sources of their information, as
well as sources for further reading. A very expansive source of a wide variety
of information.
While doing more research on Henry David Thoreau and his contemporaries,
I came upon the Walden Woods Project, which is a program founded by (get this)
Don Henley dedicated to promoting environmental conservation and social
responsibility, all in the name of Henry David Thoreau. The website itself
contains links to biographical information about Thoreau, some of his famous
writings and quotations, and a documentary about his philosophies and
influences. It also contains information about and writings by some of Thoreau’s
contemporaries, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Amos Bronson Alcott.
CONCLUSION
I began
this project with a very broad and generalized interest in how Transcendentalism
and Henry David Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience played into movements
for social and political change. While I quickly determined that this topic was
far broader than I could expect myself to cover in a single research paper, I
also quickly narrowed my focus, and found parallels in the rhetoric of social
movements and Transcendentalism that I did not really expect.
Transcendental rhetoric has had an
important impact on the course of American society. Developed in the 18th
century to express the high ideals of the American Revolution, it found fertile
ground in the writings and speeches of social activists and revolutionaries for
over two centuries. Thoreau first coined the phrased “civil disobedience” to
describe the view that laws that violated human rights must not be followed. He
and his contemporaries used this rhetoric to advocate for the abolitionist and
women’s suffrage movements of the 19th century, leading up to and
including the Civil War. It was adopted by social activists across the country,
across the world, and across the centuries in cries for freedom of expression
and freedom from tyranny, and it remains an eloquent vessel for social activists
today.
I have learned about how different
philosophies and traditions of change and rebellion intersected with one
another. Really, they are more alike than they are different–which,
coincidentally, is exactly what the rhetoric tries to emphasize. The state of
humanity is unifying, as is the language used to push for that unification.
Works
Cited
Alcott, Amos B. “Orphic Sayings.” Editorial.
The Dial 1840-1842: n. pag.
The Walden Woods
Project.
Web, 16 Nov. 2016.
http://www.walden.org/work/orphic-sayings-li-c.
"Bohemianism And Transcendentalism In Jack Kerouac." UK Essays. UKEssays.com,
November 2013. Web. 15 November 2016.
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-
literature/bohemianism-and-transcendentalism-in-jack-kerouac-english-literature-
Cresswell, Tim. “Mobility as Resistance: A Geographical Reading of Kerouac's 'On
the
Road'.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 18,
no. 2, 1993, pp.
249–262.
www.jstor.org/stable/622366.
Foner, Eric and Garraty, John A. “Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”
History, 1991,
http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/elizabeth-cady-stanton.
Fuller, Margaret. The Great Lawsuit.
(1843). Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/Transcend/Fuller/greatlawsuit.
htm.
Rahn,
Josh. “The Beat Generation.” The
Literature Network, 2001,
http://www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php.
Savio, Mario. “Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall.”
American Rhetoric,
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mariosaviosproulhallsitin.htm.
Stanton, Elizabeth C. The Declaration of
Sentiments. (1848). Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/StantonSentiments.htm.
The
Web of American Transcendentalism.
Virginia Commonwealth University, 1998,
http://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/index.html.
Thoreau, Henry D. Resistance to Civil
Government. (1849). Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/Transcend/Thoreau/ThoreauReCivGvt.htm.
White, Craig. Civil disobedience or
passive resistance. Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/C/civdis.htm
White, Craig. Transcendentalism. Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/T/transcend.htm
White, Craig. Unitarianism. Web.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/U/Unitarian.htm
"Great Star" flag of pre-Civil War USA