What is Trancendentalism? Explain it with the reference to Emersons Self Reliance.

Emerging in a time period where America was undergoing a
bevy of calls for social reform from a variety of sources, Transcendentalism argued for
an injection of emotions into consciousness.  In analyzing what was being called for,
there is much in way of British Romanticism as a base.  Transcendentalists believed that
human emotions were worthy of being fully integrated into the lives people led. 
Thinkers like Emerson were animated by the idea of individuals not following social
demands or the "herd" mentality of society at the time, but rather embrace their own
sense of uniqueness and distinction in following this path.  The individual was able,
according to the Transcendentalist, to form their own path, create their own state of
being in the world and did not need to suppress their own individual emotional
expression in order to assimilate or be deemed as socially acceptable.  This becomes the
basic idea of "Self- Reliance," in its assertion that individuals can be their own
barometers for what is good and right, as the need to be dependent on society to
determine can be less.