This paper presents chosen aspects of the anthropology of American Renaissance. A common goal of human existence indicated by many writers of that period was reaching for perfection and striving to become an ideal human being, making use of unique opportunities provided by the New World. The reference point of the desired ideal was diff erent for given authors and in the paper perspectives presented by three prominent writers are discussed: James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Their ideas formed a basis for the poetry of Walt Whitman, named by Emerson the first truly American poet.