Emerson not a Transcendentalist? (Research)

For months, I have labeled Ralph Waldo Emerson as one of the fathers of the transcendentalist movement. However, I have just recently read an article called "Emerson's Transcendentalism" by Regis Michaud, that totally refutes this. Michaud boldly claims that Emerson is not a true tanscendentalist because he had no system, and was more a philosopher than a poet. He also relates the origin of transcendentalism to Channing, and not Emerson. I feel that this article is invalid because of its lack of adequate examples. However, it did raise questions in my mind that could heavily influence my paper, such as, Who is the originator of transcendentalism?