Disobedience

Within Civil Disobedience, Thoreau emphasizes the necessity for individuals to prioritize their conscience over whatever the law dictates. Throughout the essay, he discusses the American Government’s incompetence, particularly in its inability to provoke change. This may be attributed to the fact that the government draws its power from the people and that it typically makes decisions based off the public’s interests rather than what is best for the people. As individuals of such a society, Thoreau imposes the idea that it is the role of the people to oppose the unjust government regardless of its legal consequences. Issues presented by America’s unjust society at the time revolved around its practices of slavery and imperialistic war.

When your human rights are being stripped, it is a great way to change society, as we see in Gandhi’s peaceful revolt. However, in many cases it is not necessary. It would do even more damage, especially if there are other, safer and more human ways for addressing concerns. Laws would be threatened as well as American infrastructure and economy. Through this, civil disobedience requires us to examine the situation. It requires intelligent people to sacrifice something for the greater good, and when it is necessary. The people thinking about disobeying must ask the question “is the law I am being pushed under unjust?” before performing the act. As Gandhi once said “An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and

Civil disobedience is a crucial part of any free society, especially a society that wishes to give its citizens the most liberty possible. Looking back on American history, one can see that the colonists originally protested the laws that Britain had imposed, and had done so peacefully. By not paying taxes and by assembling outside public offices, the colonists disobeyed British laws and the British crown. Their protests not only helped spark the American Revolution, but also made light of the fact that any free society relies on its citizens to disobey the government, especially when it's done peacefully.

Brilliantly put by what many deem to be America’s greatest president of all time, Abraham Lincoln, “Let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children’s liberty.” Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to comply with certain laws as a form of political protest. Although many may argue that this is the sole way to keep the government in check and to make minorities heard, rational people will realize that it is not this disrespect of the law that proves the democracy of our nation.

While growing up, our parents taught us what was right and what was wrong based on their beliefs and views. When we were younger, we were taught to follow and obey those who were older than us and possessed a higher authoritative status. One’s reasoning for being obedient includes: religious beliefs, background, and work ethics. Civil disobedience played a large role in America. Creating protests, riots, and sit-ins, America had many examples of disobedience. In America, we value our rights as citizens and individuals. We have the right to protest as stated in the first amendment of the United States Constitution, which is called Freedom of Speech. According to the Webster Dictionary, civil disobedience is said to be “the refusal to obey government demands or commands and nonresistance to consequent arrest and punishment.” Citizens are willing to accept the legal consequences associated with their disobedient actions. How does the law respond to people who engage in civil disobedience? Fining and jail time are the legal consequences enforced by authority but also there is a trend of change. I believe civil disobedience is justified simply by your own personal beliefs and the rights you attain as a citizen. The law is the law, if you disobey; the authoritative figure is responsible for giving a consequence.

Civil disobedience spawns a major and widely debated issue by many who established by well-known intelligent scholars and many examples of civil disobedience become displayed. The acts of civil disobedience can be noted in major works such as Sophocles?s Antigone, King?s ?Letter from Birmingham Jail?, or even from Plato?s ?from Crito?. A specific claim exemplified throughout these works make that civil disobedience races in gaining popularity and should remain allowed, and continued to be seen as a solution to reform poorly established laws. A claim represented is, civil disobedience is right. Rhetorically, appeals such

Unjust governments have been a part of everyone's lives. Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. have all written about the unjust governments at that time. Of these texts, ‘Civil Disobedience’ by Thoreau contains the most effective argument. One aspect of Thoreau’s argument that makes ‘Civil Disobedience’ the most convincing text is because the way Thoreau explains his situation, he uses facts and feelings to get his point across. Similarly, Thoreau uses rhetoric to strengthen his argument in favor of civil disobedience in the face of unjust government. Thoreau's ‘Civil Disobedience’ expresses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws.

Boycotts. Labor Resistance. Sit-Ins. Protests. Blockades. Debt Refusals. Tax Resistance. Civil disobedience has been a prominent form of influencing governmental policy and law to accept differing perspectives. Since the birth of the nation–beginning with the Boston Tea Party and continuing into modern movements such as the women’s suffrage–the United States relies on civil disobedience in order to keep governmental growth from becoming stagnant and aiding in the optimization of benefits for its citizens. Civil disobedience is an intentional, non-violent act against the state exercised by those banned from exerting power with the purpose of bringing equality, moral conviction, an upright criminal justice system, and extensive action. Although civil disobedience invalidates governmental authority, it is a necessary trade off for the protection of liberty guaranteed by the first amendment. Civil disobedience, as a recognized procedure, is an obligation for all citizens to combat injustice among legislature.

Civil disobedience, if nothing else, forces the government to act. Whether that action is beneficial or detrimental has varied greatly throughout American history, and usually resulted in a mixed outcome. For example, after South Carolina and the other Southern states seceded, a terrible civil war broke out. In the end, slavery was abolished in all of the states, but at the cost of national unity and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Similarly, the civil disobedience displayed by the American colonists in Boston during the 1770s led to an aggravated crown and a restless public, eventually giving birth to the American Revolution that would create the United States. The war cost thousands of lives, but brought freedom to the colonies, the very thing that the colonists wanted.

In this regard, therefore, civil disobedience arises in a situation where a person or a group of individuals actively decline to obey the set laws and regulations and make it clear to the law enforcers that they can by no chance obey such laws. In philosophy, civil disobedience is explained as the failure to accept and follow the law and consequently acting in violation of the law. This essay discusses civil disobedience from two different perspectives as presented by famous philosophers; Socrates and Martin Luther King Jr (MLK).

The world has been driven by a force of civil disobedience by many different well known leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. , Rosa Parks, Alice Paul, and Mahatma Ghandi. Civil disobedience, the act of disobeying the law in a peaceful manner for one’s own rights and thoughts, has been used for the greater good for centuries past and will most likely continue to do this through the many centuries to come. The Constitution itself states that congress can make no law prohibiting religion, media, speech, the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances and the right to peacefully assemble. Civil disobedience is also shown vividly through the Civil

Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it empowers the people to speak out, it serves as a reminder that government is in the hands of the citizens, and it is the courageous way to publicize one’s opinion without violence. The evidence of the positive impact of Civil Disobedience is deep in the roots of American History, written on the sweaty brows of the feather-bedecked Patriots hoisting tea overboard in Boston; and sung in notes of the song, “We Shall Overcome”, by protesters being beaten and arrested at Selma. The very founding of America was an act of Civil Disobedience, as our forefathers penned the Declaration of Independence, defying Britain’s law and control. Over and over throughout history, groups have

It encourages conversation between a government and its people. In the United States, peaceful resistance is, in fact, celebrated. Beginning in elementary school, students are exposed to the heroics of Samuel Adams for his role in the Boston Tea Party. In his interview, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also says that, “in our own history there’s nothing that expresses massive civil disobedience more than the Boston Tea Party, yet we give this to our young people and our students as part of the great tradition of our nation” (“MLK Interview On NBC’s Meet the Press”) Unfortunately, the tradition of civil disobedience in the United States doesn’t extend to each and every nation. Some governments prevent their citizens from having the opportunity to speak out against their government. However, civil disobedience is not only a positive force in a society, it is necessary in order to instigate

Civil disobedience isn’t uncommon in America, but the modern idea of civil disobedience has become flawed and distorted from its original intent. Currently, there are thousands of causes and ideals that are spastically flung around and just as soon forgotten. This is because the guise of civil disobedience is often abused by people simply to attract publicity. These methods of claimed civil disobedience often do little to nothing in working towards the goal that they claim to stand for, or their intensions are vague and unclear. For example, in the news, the most popular recent controversial example of civil disobedience is the kneeling during the national anthem before a football game. At its manifestation, this movement was intended to protest the inequalities in the treatment of races by the police especially in Chicago. This effectively accomplished nothing. It raised awareness but the majority of intelligent civilians were already aware of the inequalities. The flaw of this example is that the form of disobedience

Thoughts of disobedience and rebellion have existed for almost as long as the first law or rule that could be broken. These thoughts come naturally to us, being humans we are curious and we wonder, what would happen if we were to do something different, something off the beaten path. This curiosity has fueled, our evolution, our development to the beings that we are now. It has spawned the thoughts of morality and justice that caused the subject of this essay, civil disobedience. People, when they are dissatisfied, naturally become pent up and temperamental, a prelude to actions taken to resolve the dissatisfaction. Throughout history this element of human nature surfaced to be witnessed numerous times: riots, revolts, rebellions, civil wars, revolutions, and movements. Previously, we devolved to using violence and brute force to accomplish what we wanted but as time passed we evolved to be more civilized. Civil Disobedience, a way of expressing our dissatisfaction of the current situation by peacefully going against the status quo, has proven an effective and efficient agent of change because of the moral implication it imposes and the attention it garners.