A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists/Alcott, Amos Bronson

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Alcott, Amos Bronson, American reformer. B. Nov. 29, 1799. Ed. Wolcott common school. Adopting teaching as his profession, Mr. Alcott made such reforms in method that he won the title of "the American Pestalozzi." His outspoken Rationalism ruined his school at Boston, and he was in 1858 appointed Superintendent of the public schools of Concord, and in 1879 Dean of the Concord School of Philosophy. He was a prominent member of the Transcendentalist group, and was a more pronounced Theist than Emerson. In his later years he professed a vague ethical Christianity, but his writings and his eloquent and popular lectures con tributed materially to the growth of Rationalism in America. 1). Mar. 4, 1888.