Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss educational theorist and reformer who was known for his kindness, trust, and patience, even among difficult and unteachable children. His emphasis on and faith in the innate moral and spiritual abilities of children resonated strongly with the New England Transcendentalists, who also had great concern for self-culture and expected pupils to assume responsibility for their ethical as well as intellectual growth. Transcendentalists such as
Amos Bronson Alcott and
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody readily adopted Pestalozzi’s ideas, which found application not only in New England at Alcott’s experimental schools but also in England at Alcott House, established by
James Pierrepont Greaves in 1838.