Henry+David+Thoreau

 Type in the content of your page here. Henry David Thoreau was a very important man who had a great deal of influence on many people, such as Martin Luther King Jr. He was born on July 12, 1817, and died on May 6, 1862 in Concord Massachusetts. He believed in Transcendentalism and enjoyed nature very much. In fact, he was one of the leaders of Transcendentalism. American Transcendentalism is the idea that one should follow his/her own inner, spiritual principles even if that goes against the traditional beliefs held by the government or religion.The reason he was so influential was because his writing had influence over the culture at that time. When he wrote __Civil Disobedience__, he was saying that if a government is not meeting the needs of the people, you shouldn't have to follow its rules. For example, he even went to jail because he didn't want to pay taxes to a government he thought was wrong.

He also wrote __Walden__ as an autobiography of the time he lived in the woods. He did like nature and he thought he would live his own life without worrying about the rest of society. He built his own cabin and grew his own food. He basically did his own thing alone.

Henry David Thoreau was a smart man. He went to Harvard University and that's where Transcendentalism started. Part of his beliefs was against violence. Like, there's a peaceful solution to everything. You can stand up for what you believe in without acting crazy. So when I said he influenced Martin Luther King Jr, that's what I mean. Dr. King wanted to change the laws but tried to do that the peaceful way. Gandhi also followed the ideas of Thoreau. Dr. King followed Gandhi.

If we still look up to Martin Luther King and Gandhi, we are influenced by Henry David Thoreau. He died from tuberculosis. .