His impact on New England thought and his views on pragmatism influenced the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Orestes Brownson, and Frederich Nietzsche, among others.
[1] A quintessential American voice, Emerson believed that civilization was only beginning and could reach unfathomable places through moral force and creative intelligence.
Remember, he says, “The law is only a memorandum.” This gives rise to the most popular quote in this essay: “The less government we have the better.” Emerson believed that an ideal government, aside from a nonexistent one dissolved when improvements in human character through love and wisdom could abolish the state,[3] was one that advocated for the growth of the individual, and be able to protect one’s individual rights.
The intelligence needed from each individual would triumph over business interests and politics, because the mind is the richest asset you can have.
Emerson’s overwhelming faith in the individual is completely opposite to his views on nations: “Every actual state is corrupt.” Political parties are “made out of necessity” of the time period and not out of any underlying theory.