Explore the writings of Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson in this half-hour video from the American Passages series. In the wake of the political revolution that separated them from the Old World, Americans became determined to liberate themselves culturally as well. A new belief in the power and importance of the individual shaped what became a uniquely American philosophy and literary style. Interviews with scholars round out this documentary about the spirit of nationalism and the Transcendentalist movement.