 Central to both Margaret Fuller’s theory and practice of life was the cultivation of the self. The practice of “self-improvement” or “self-culture” was very widespread among middle-class white Americans of the time. Even working-class men like Abraham Lincoln labored for self-improvement in their individual character and talents as a pathway to security and prosperity. Conscious development of one’s own integrity and abilities was regarded as a personal application of America’s proud white male democracy. The most admired and sophisticated exponent of self-culture was the famous clergyman of the recently emerged Unitarian religious denomination, William Ellery Channing (1780–1842). Channing pioneered a form of Christian humanism. Fuller regarded him as a heroic exemplar of her own ideal of self-culture. Channing’s project included both genders and all races of human beings (Fuller 1845: 60).