Utopia Visions of Emerson and Winthrop Research Paper

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American thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Winthrop developed cogent visions of their new nation, promulgating utopian ideals and encouraging their readers to actively create an idealized society. As Peyser puts it, both Emerson and Winthrop were "deeply suffused with a sense of America's missionary destiny, of the new nation's emancipatory message to the rest of the world," (13). However, Winthrop and Emerson held two divergent visions of what a utopian society would look like and how to go about manufacturing grand social, political, and spiritual change. Winthrop, an American colonial leader and Puritan in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, cultivated an unabashedly Christian vision of a utopian society. Although Emerson was himself "the product of nearly two centuries of New England Puritanism," and was likewise deeply religious, his utopian vision was less specifically Christian than Winthrop's (Nicoll 334). More importantly, Emerson advocated for the type of self-reliance that the transcendentalist movement became famous for, whereas Winthrop's vision of utopia was grounded more in communitarianism.

Whereas Emerson "deliberately eschewed politics," Winthrop most certainly did not and made an express point to use positions of power to promote his utopian values and Christian ideals (Padover 334). Winthrop began his political career from within the Church prior to expatriating himself from England as an outspoken Puritan reformer of the Anglicans. Along with like-minded thinkers, Winthrop determined that starting a new society in the New World would help Christians like him to realize their vision for a more utopic society based on deep spirituality and contemplation and which was far more ascetic and severe in its approach to material culture than the Anglican society.

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As a preacher, Winthrop composed sermons like "A Modell of Christian Charity," and "Citty Upon a Hill," both of which convey Winthrop's core ideals of a collectivist, collaborative society in which each person works toward a common goal under a definite Christian rubric. Winthrop's vision of a utopia was one that included centralized leadership, and he viewed himself as being part and parcel of that position of religious and political authority.

On the contrary, Emerson developed a vision of a utopian society that was absolutely decentralized. Committed to a path of self-reliance, Emerson became the "spiritual guide of many thousands" without seeking any position of power (Nicoll 675). Emerson's utopic was organic, mirroring what he observed in nature. Inspired by Romantic poets, painters, and visionaries like himself, Emerson preferred a utopia comprised of independent and free thinkers, who were deeply but personally spiritual rather than being committed to an expressly Christian path. Ironically, Emerson came from a long line of preachers and was himself trained as a Unitarian minister. His Christian background did not preclude Emerson from viewing the purpose of religion in a less political and more personal way than Puritans like Winthrop. Emerson and….....

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