Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a renowned philosopher, essayist, and poet from the United States, who spent his life delivering lectures and speeches throughout his country. He also traveled to Europe, where he met Stuart Mill and Wordsworth, and became friends with Carlyle. His essay "Nature" (1836) marked the consolidation of the "transcendentalism" cultural movement and the founding of the Transcendentalist Club, which also included Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. In his address "The American Scholar" (1837), Emerson encouraged the creation of an independent American literary style separate from Europe. "Conduct of Life," published in 1860, is his seventh collection of essays.