The "Second Church", otherwise known as Old North Church, was built in 1649. This was the first congregational church in the United States, located in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after opening to the public, high population demands led to the expansion of seven more “second churches” in the Boston area. Nearly 150 after the establishment of this church, in 1802 the church was transformed into a unitarian church. This form of Christianity unites God and earth as one rather than individual powers. Hosting nearly twenty-two ministers from 1649 to 1970, this church was infamous for worshipping with purpose and unifying the community.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous American essayist, was a junior minister for this church from 1829 to 1832. In these three short years, Waldo became a member of the Massachusetts legislature, The Boston School Committee, and experienced the passing of his first wife, Ellen. Waldo is known for his support of the transcendentalist movement, and his philosophical writing of “Nature”, a foresight into the connection between God and nature. Widowed, and only twenty-nine years old, Waldo resigned from the church as he claimed they “commemorated Christ in an unsuitable manner”. It was after he resigned from the church that he decided to tour Europe, expanding his philosophical theories and establishing independence from European writing styles.  Almost fifteen years after starting his first draft, Waldo published “Nature” in 1836, in which he critiques many of the practices he formerly taught at the “Second Church”.

Works Cited

Letter to the Second Church, archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/resignletter.html. Accessed 18 Feb. 2024. 

“Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson.

“Second Church, Boston.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Church,_Boston.