Margaret Fuller had been a leader of this movement, and when she died Emerson took the reins. While he and Henry David Thoreau were friends, Emerson found Thoreau to be a bit too radical for his refined comforts. Their dynamic personality clash would symbolize one of the essential paradoxes of America-that even while two people may hold similar beliefs about freedom, the nature of their relationship may still be fraught with conflict. While both Emerson and Thoreau believed in one of the fundamental tenants of Transcendentalism (man is fundamentally good, and organized government is a corrupting force) the force of their different approaches to it would test the limits of natural brotherhood (Parker
Margaret Fuller had been a leader of this movement, and when she died Emerson took the reins. While he and Henry David Thoreau were friends, Emerson found Thoreau to be a bit too radical for his refined comforts. Their dynamic personality clash would symbolize one of the essential paradoxes of America-that even while two people may hold similar beliefs about freedom, the nature of their relationship may still be fraught with conflict. While both Emerson and Thoreau believed in one of the fundamental tenants of Transcendentalism (man is fundamentally good, and organized government is a corrupting force) the force of their different approaches to it would test the limits of natural brotherhood (Parker