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Ah, the simple life... That's the life for Henry David Thoreau. [Thoreau in the wilderness]

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No crazy parties, no loud, crowded places. Yeah, he was a Netflix and chill kind of [crowded party]

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guy. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817. While he later [Concord, MA on a map]

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dismissed college as a place where students couldn't pick up a practical [Thoreau at college]

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skill to save their lives, he thoroughly enjoyed himself at Harvard reading as [Thoreau reads at Harvard]

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many books been taking as many classes as he could. Yeah, he was one of those kids. In

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1837, Thoreau happened to attend a lecture given by Ralph Waldo Emerson, high [Emerson speaks]

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lord of the Transcendentalists. Thoreau loved what Emerson had to say, and he

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introduced himself. The two became such good friends that Thoreau eventually [Emerson and Thoreau meet]

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became Emerson's housekeeper and the "manny" to his kids... He was basically Mary

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Poppins, minus the umbrella and high heels, and flying and all that. But then [Thoreau dressed as Mary Poppins]

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in 1842, tragedy struck. Thoreau's older brother and his best friend died. [brother and friend die]

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A devastated Thoreau took to wandering the New England woods and setting forest [Thoreau wanders through woods]

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fires. Well, to Smokey the Bear, he was public enemy number one. Okay, so he [Smokey the bear appears]

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didn't start fires... at least not on purpose, anyway. In 1845, Emerson asked Thoreau to

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replant trees on his property at Walden Pond. It was at this point that Thoreau [Thoreau and Emerson talk]

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had the idea that would make him famous. See, Thoreau couldn't understand why [Thoreau has idea]

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people were so gung-ho about industrialization. He didn't get why his

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fellow Americans were so dead set on acquiring stuff. Thoreau wanted to live

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as simply as possible, so he decided to build a cabin on the shores of Walden [Thoreau builds cabin]

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Pond and well, basically do just that. Now Thoreau's experiment wasn't as

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radical as he would later make it sound. While he did grow his own food and

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perform odd jobs around town, he was living rent-free on Emerson's property. [Thoreau lives in cabin]

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Not to mention the fact that both Emerson and mama Thoreau lived right down the

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street and were always looking to feed Thoreau a hot meal. While people frequently

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criticized Thoreau for being an unmotivated hippie, which we at Shmoop [Thoreau as a hippie]

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actually think is kind of cool, the fact is that he got a lot of writing

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done while he lived in his cabin. Well, much of that writing would become the

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book Walden, which laid out Thoreau's ideas on nature and conservation. While [Thoreau writes Walden]

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Thoreau wasn't necessarily the first environmentalist, he was the first to try

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and formulate a coherent philosophy about environmentalism itself. By 1848, [Environmentalist philosophy forms]

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Thoreau had moved out of his cabin and embarked on a one-man crusade against [Thoreau protests government]

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the U.S. government. Thoreau hated slavery, and he hated the Mexican-American war. There

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was a lot of hate in such a peaceful guy. But yeah, he believed the American

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government to be unjust, so he refused to support it. He refused to pay his poll [Thoreau criticizes president]

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tax, a crime that got him thrown in prison overnight. And remember, poll tax [Thoreau in jail]

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was so you could vote, right? Thoreau was perfectly willing to rot in jail for longer, but a

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friend bailed him out against his will. "Against his will"... sure there, Henry. In 1849, Thoreau's [friend bails Thoreau out]

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discourse on this experience was published as a text entitled Civil

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Disobedience. His words would go on to inspire Martin Luther King Jr. and [Civil Disobedience inspires others]

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others working for equal rights. Well, in 1862, Thoreau died of a cross between

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consumption and a bad cold. While many people thought him a silly and [Thoreau dies]

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self-indulgent sort of fellow, the fact is that Thoreau was perfectly happy doing

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his own thing. And check out some of those shows on Alaska on Discovery [modern Alaska TV show]

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Channel if you want an idea for the modern day version. He also inspired many people to worry less

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about buying lots of stuff and spend more time doing things that actually [man in cluttered garage]

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matter. Like, you know, accidentally torching Walden Woods. [woods on fire]

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