Not-So-Sure-Transcendentalist

The basic ideology of Transcendentalism is appealing, but at this time I cannot see myself as a transcendentalist. In his essay about transcendentalism, Self-Reliance, Emerson speaks about the God in all of us. Personally, I haven’t found that god he speaks of, or any for that matter. Although, I do more or less agree with the idea that we all have a piece of some greatness or spirituality in us. Everyone has their own version of the world and I for one think that what makes you makes the world that surrounds you.

On the other hand, Emerson talks about self-reliance. He thinks we should take control of our own live as an individual. A philosophy I can drag out of his words are stay true to you. Emerson writes, “Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again though it contradicts every thing you said today.” I love that, do and say whatever you want at that moment, even if they did change from the previous day.

Further, I like Emerson’s idea of our relation to nature. I’ve always found peace on the water or hiking in the woods. Transcendentalists thought that man and nature were innately good. I would love to believe this is true, but many people clearly stray away from ‘good’. As for now, I choose to believe that everyone has some sort of caring soul, and hopefully I am not proven wrong.

Map Analaysis: A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King

Made in 1715, this map shows the original colonies that were controlled by the King of England, George I. These first settlements were only along the East coast; therefore, the map ends at the Appalachian Mountains. It illustrates the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New Foundland, New York, New England, and New Scotland. During the beginnings of the new world, Englishmen clashed with the many natives that lived there, largely over territory ownership. One of the first encounters with Native Americans was the Iroquois tribe, and in the map you can see where they settled.

In the bottom right, there is a square image of dry land with waterfalls filled with numerous beavers working to chop down logs and build dams. The beaver was great for trade during this time period, and England wished to corner the market for their fur.  This picture demonstrates the desire for riches that England and the crown strived for in the new world.

Valerie Babb writes in her essay Crafting Whiteness in Early America, “Naming settlements as Cape Charles or Cape Henry after British monarchs provided a connective between old English social structures and the order that would emerge across the Atlantic.” (p. 56).  In pre-national America, monarchs controlled the happenings overseas. Within the map you can see Charlestown named after King Charles and Virginia named after the virgin queen Elizabeth. At the top of the map, the title reads “A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King”. ‘Of the King’, that is most important, the absolute monarchs thought of the new territory not as the Empires for their country, but as the Empires of their individual power.