Slavery existed in the U。S。 for a long period。 In the early 19th century, large-scale slave uprisings started to appear。 However, the state took crucial ways to suppress these slavery revolts。 In the history of anti-slavery, John Brown was worth our attention。 As a white people, he led the abolitionist movement in which he himself was captured and sentenced to death by the government。 It was believed that Thoreau at that time delivered lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law, and in opposition with the popular opinion of the time, supported radical abolitionist militia leader John Brown and his party。 Merciless repression and control on slavery revolts done by institutions exerted negative effects on Thoreau。 We can see that “from the perspective of government’s treatments with social violence( including slavery revolt) in 19th century, the State more or less represented the interests of exploiters and racists。”(王心扬,2014) Meanwhile in 1846, Mexican-American War broke out, and from the war, America won 2。3 million square kilometers of territory。 Thoreau was fervently against the Mexican-American War because he considered Mexico "unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army" as a means to expand the slave territory。 All in all, the state’s autocratic attitudes and acts evoked Thoreau and prompted his abomination。 

In conclusion, in the first half of the 19th century, the Market Revolution took place in the United States and prompted the development of economy。 Interpersonal relationships were affected by the prosperous market and people at that time led to an eye-on-money lifestyle。 Meanwhile the country went through many social upheavals including war and revolts。 And the governments controlled those upheavals with condemnation of autocracy。文献综述

1。2 Transcendentalism and Thoreau 

American Transcendentalism was born in New England, the north-eastern part of the United States around 1830s。 American Transcendentalists extolled inpidualism and encouraged inpiduals to be reliant on themselves and their development as human beings。 They very often were active in social movements。 The majority of transcendentalists shared the same spiritual virtues that were inpiduality and directness with truth through sense。 They insisted in the “eternity of god, dependence on sensory organs in realization of truth, and rejection to external authority。” (生安锋,2002) Transcendentalists have an abhorrence of negative impacts brought by industrial development, that were the loss of humanity and inpiduality, the over-pursuit of materials and the alienation from nature。

As a famous representative of Transcendentalism, Thoreau moved to Walden and lived alone in the woods, trying to escape from prevailing materialism, and to prove the feasibility of subsistence departed from developed industrial society。 During that period of time, Thoreau documented his natural observations and personal experiences, and embedded his sentiments for ethical truths about the way humans should treat one another in the writing of Walden。 Furthermore, Thoreau was a radical inpidualist。 In the time by the Walden pond, “the thoughts about slavery, poverty, and the Mexican War were never far from his mind。”(Nichols A,2009) Thoreau held strong opposition to the state, and his political attitude was clearly showed in his journals and in Walden。 “Thoreau’s politics are about the inpidual conscience—about the right of each person to answer to a higher law rather than the law of any social, religious, or political system。”(Nichols A,2009) Governments, in his concerns, was a oppression on citizen’s inpiduality。 “He did not trust any institutions, but he had faith in inpiduality in that the rights of reform should be handed over to everyone, which was the most effective way to gain freedom and self-esteem。”(倪  峰,1993) He believed that one man’s life was above society and the state。 He criticized the abnormality of human life under the oppression of society。来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.chuibin.com +QQ752018766-