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almost entirely by the clock. Transcendentalist author Thoreau believed that the inflow of news
that came with increased transportation was nothing but gossip, and wrote for Americans to
"spend one day as deliberately as Nature," and not to be distracted "by every nutshell and
mosquito's wing" that happened to fall in front of them. (Thoreau, 4) In this he meant for people
to have more meaningful lives, to live happier and less indecisively. Thoreau believed that
"eternity remains," though the "thin current [of time] slides away," and wished to "drink deeper,"
instead of only watching its surface.
While there were many reasons for the transportation part of the Industrial Revolution,
one of the prevalent ones was the colonists' urge to connect with nature, having begun to see the
beauty of it through transcendentalist writers like Emerson, who stated that "if eyes were made
for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being." (Emerson) People began to see the value in
nature other than for their own benefit, and as their appreciation for it grew, they spent more time
appreciating nature.
Transcendentalism affected two important aspects of the Industrial Revolution: expansion
westward for the sole purpose of appreciating beauty, and a less clock-centered existence,
especially for the shift-workers in factories. And over all, the influence of transcendentalism led
Americans to desire a more simplified, nature-connected lifestyle.
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Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Rhodora. Early Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York:
Crowell & Company, 1899. Print.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854. Print.