Civil Disobedience By David Thoreau

He says if the government have to right to ask things of him, then he has to right to ask things of them. If the state chooses to ignore his petition, then there is no other way to legally try and change the law. He uses this to explain why one must change the law through civil disobedience. Thoreau follows that idea with an example of how the people can actively practice civil disobedience through not paying taxes. He states, tax collection “is the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily meets [the state government] ... the indispensable mode of treating with it is on this head, of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it” (2). He describes the way in which the state collects taxes as “the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily meets it” to demonstrate the lack of connection between the people and the government. He further explains that one must simply ignore these taxes to show his discontentment with the government. Thoreau calls his contemporaries to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the government through civil disobedience, by providing his grievances with the government and an example of how one can try to express their

In Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, he is writing to the American people. He is trying to spark a desire for change, for people to oppose their government without actions. He uses this work to criticize the American institution of slavery as well as the Mexican-American War. Thoreau is attempting to convey the importance of listening to one’s conscience over the laws, believing that it is more important to do what they feel is right rather than listen to the laws given by the majority. Thoreau feels that people should protest against their government, but not using violent actions. He is trying to persuade the people to voice their opinions and break the chain of majority rule. Thoreau is writing during the time of the war between the United States and Mexico, which took place between 1846 and 1848. He writes to oppose the government’s actions and policies during this time period. He refused to pay a tax that would support the war and was imprisoned for a day. Thoreau uses ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade his audience to agree with his view of the American government and to voice their oppositions.

Thoreau is basically rallying for the absence of government in the lives of the citizens. He believed that everyone should govern himself. He also believed that no one should have to ride on the shoulders of the government, but instead rely on himself. He thought people should treat other people the way they wanted to be treated, and follow the natural laws of society. Martin Luther King Jr. believed there should be laws or it would be total anarchy. Thoreau believed that without the

Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" is an essay that attempts to persuade readers to oppose unjust government policies in general and the Mexican War and the institution of slavery in particular. Thoreau's argument seem anti-democratic on their face, particularly his disregard for majority opinion as expressed through elected representatives. But Thoreau reveals himself to be far more nuanced over the course of the essay. His fundamental respect for democracy and the Constitution coexists with a pervasive doubt about the integrity of politicians and the voting process, which significantly limits the ability of ordinary citizens to express their will in the first place.

Henry David Thoreau 's writing, Civil Disobedience, he explains how he does not like civilized societies

Henry David Thoreau was a transcendentalist, political dissenter, and radical figure in the nineteenth-century. Of his many famous works, Civil Disobedience, a treatise on government, is one of the most controversial and impactful, even to this day. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau contends that unregulated states that protrude into the lives of citizens are always unjust. He lays down many principles, but his three best are: a government will always support the views of its majority, even if they are illegal, illegitimate, or immoral; abuse “superior physical strength” to enforce laws, even if they are unjust; and oppose the right of revolution.

While I agree with Thoreau’s premise that people have right to speak out against the government when it makes unjust laws, I take exception with his notions that the best government is the one that does not govern very much at all and a person

His essay is about following one’s own conscience rather than the government when the government is enforcing unjust or irrational laws. Thoreau suggests, “...government is best which governs least[.]” By saying this he wants to tell his audience that men do not need a leader because men are able to

That you can’t ever technically be free from them and to not submit it you feel that something they do is unjust. ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ is still relevant in today. Of course not all the problems Thoreau stated but most of them. Today we still have unjust laws and the oppression of the government. What Thoreau was trying to get us to do or understand is to not submit to something you don’t fully agree to. He wants the people to be free from the burdens of modern day society and to possibly have the government change their ways on how they operate as a

In Resistance to Civil Government Thoreau starts off by telling us “That government is best which governs least;” (945). During his writing he talks about how he doesn’t feel that the government proves itself to be useful to the citizens. He feels that the leaders of his states government have been elected because of majority and power, instead of their

Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, a group of transcendentalists who brought great ideals with them through the mid 1800’s. Their philosophy stated that people needed to stay true to themselves and their own ideas, not those of society. One essay where Thoreau thoroughly exemplifies this is in Civil Disobedience. Throughout this essay, Thoreau tries to show his point that even though the government consists of more people, it will not always be correct. This means that the majority does not always equal the better option and that if people go with what they think, then they will be right. He asserts that anyone can constitute the majority of one and be the one person who draws attention to an issue.

He shows that leadership and laws are vital within a community. He also shows that a government should be based on trust and every member should be included in both the benefits and the punishments in a system of ruling. This contrasts Thoreau beliefs which are that “government is best which governs least” (Thoreau 1). Thoreau shares the same opinions of Steinbeck in that self-government should be based on morals and everyone should be entitled to basic rights, however Thoreau believes that the less government interferes with the lives of individuals, the better that government is in it’s role of

“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” When Thoreau states this quote he is saying that you can try to regulate everything, but it is not going to work people are going to do what they want no matter what. A

Thoreau believed that the government should not be ruled by the minority just because “they are physically the strongest,” instead, we should be ruled by conscience. Furthermore, Thoreau stated that “…a corporation has no conscience,” because the corporation only cared about money, without caring about the multitude. This is still happening even nowadays. For instance, the cigarette companies are still selling cigarettes to the multitude even though they know that there are some carcinogenic materials in cigarettes that smoking cigarettes can cause cancers. They only care about money, without caring about the people who buy their products. As a result, most of the corporations had no conscience. Besides, people should also be conscientious. We should use our brains to think before we act. For example, the soldiers of the army had no conscience because they act like machines without thinking what they were doing. “The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines.” In brief, Thoreau believed that we should be ruled by conscience instead of the inexpedient government which had no conscience. Besides, we should do something to stop the “machine.”