One of Americas most influential thinkers and authors was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston on May 25, 1803. Emerson's dad died when he was only eight, which forced his mom to take in boarders to support the family's needs. When Emerson was only 14, he entered Harvard, where he ran became a sort of secretary for the president of the university. When he graduated Harvard, at age 18, he became a teacher. When he got tired or teaching, he enrolled in the Divinity School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to become a preacher. After his graduation of the Divinity School, he started his minister career as a guest speaker at local churches. Three years after