Henry David Thoreau

Author Code: AHDT

Graduated from Harvard in 1837 and spent some years teaching. Thoreau spent 1841 to 1843 in Emerson's home, where he became one of the inner circle of Transcendentalists. From 1845-47, Thoreau lived at Walden where he evolved his doctrine of simplification. During this stay he was imprisoned for failure to pay a poll tax, which led to his publication in 1849 of Civil Disobedience. His close relationship with nature and the outdoors led to the publication of A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers (1849) and Walden (1854). His Excursions (1863), The Maine Woods (1864) and Cape Cod (1865) were all published posthumously. His fourteen volumes of Journals and a 20 volume Works were first published in 1906. Thoreau's fervent belief was that moral imperatives take precedence over institutions, which led to his belief in abolition.