Henry David Thoreau's Accomplishments

Kaitlyn Rodriguez
Mr. Cedeño
U.S. History F Block
12/7/14
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau was an america author and naturalist and is considered to be one of the most influential figures in American history and literature. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817 along with his two older brother and sister, John and Helen, and his younger sister, Sophia. Today, he's remembered for many things but two of the most important things that he is remembered for are his philosophical and naturalist writings. His father had a pencil factory and his mother was a saleswoman who would rent out parts of the family's home to borders. Thoreau attended Harvard College, which is now called Harvard University. He studied Greek, Latin and German while he was there. During his journey through college, Thoreau became ill and had to unfortunately take a break from school. After his illness, he returned to college and finished finally in 1837. Thoreau did not know where to start when he graduated, even though he was very educated he did not know what to do. He finally set up a school with his brother John in 1838, but that did not last long because john became ill. For the time being after the school closed down, Thoreau went to work for his father in the pencil factory.

Thoreau and Emerson became very good friends which is when Thoreau was introduced to transcendentalism. Thoreau was taught about the many transcendentalist movement's most important figures, for example, Bronson Alcott and Margret Fuller. Emerson was a very important figure in Thoreau's life and he supported him in everything he did. Thoreau also lived with Emerson and served as a caretaker for him and his home. Emerson would promote some of Thoreau's works and even got one of his works posted in The Dial, which was a transcendentalist