Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience In The United States

From the start of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has consistently been whether a person can wage a battle using words rather than actions. The notion of civil disobedience would seem to be an inept weapon against political inequity; history, however, has persistently proven it to be the most dynamic weapon of the individual. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned, Henry David Thoreau demonstrated this very defiance. Thoreau’s Resistance to Civil Government conveys the effectiveness of the individual conscience, renounces hypocrisy, and cultivates a sense of urgency where inaction creates a moral conflict. This path of responsibility paved by Thoreau gave our leaders of today the means they

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.

In Thoreau’s continuing effort to describe the context for citizen rebellion, he beseeches how irrelevant public opinion is if it is not acted on. “How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved?” (Thoreau). This question develops a sense of urgency that unless an opinion is acted on, first, there will be a complete absence of realistic results, but second, it simply exacerbates the issue that citizen opinion is against. To an extent, opinions are worthless if there is no motivation behind them, and Thoreau makes this very clear within his essay to assist the exigence behind his straightforward tone.

According Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, he mentions that to require civil disobedience, the circumstances must be like America’s. Circumstances like practicing war, deriving power from the people, having unjust laws, and supporting slavery. Thoreau writes, “must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislation?” (Thoreau ). He mentions how no man should be subdued to any government or institution, especially if it portrays unjust. Therefore he also implies that if a law exhibits unjust, the population should not follow the law with the knowledge of the consequence. Similarly, Thoreau establishes, “when . . . a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize,” (Thoreau ). He explains how it expresses the duty of Americans to rebel and use civil disobedience, it is not just a right, but it drives Americans to be aware of and completely use for the advantage of society. Thoreau further explains the unlawful government by stating, “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which the slave's government also,” (Thoreau ). He describes the circumstance of America as a prejudiced institution, which rightfully allows citizens to use their duty of civil disobedience. A government should require unjust laws, slavery, aggressive law, and strength over intelligence to cause civil disobedience. However, civil disobedience a citizen’s duty and they must maintain it.

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience talks about politics, government and the issues concerning these areas today. "Government is best which governs least." This motto means that the government should not have complete power over the people. The people's opinion is what matters the most. Individualism is stressed throughout his writing. To stand up for what you believe in and not bend backwards for the government is necessary. He speaks of Slavery and the war in Mexico and how is must be put to a stop. The people are responsible for this happening. Many people opposed these things yet did nothing to change it. Allowing yourself to be a part of injustice makes you a part of the negativity. Paying taxes to a corrupt government makes you

Thoreau believes that, “ That government is best which governs not at all” stating that the government should not only represent the people but should be run by them as well (Thoreau 940). Thoreau’s beliefs explain his position on civil disobedience, stating that civil disobedience is needed when the government implements policies that are against the individual's conscience and beliefs. Thoreau gives an example of when civil disobedience is needed by expressing his objections towards the American government's involvement in the Mexican war, “file of soldiers ...marching in admirable order over the hill and dale to wars, against their wills”(Thoreau 941). While the soldier's duty is to serve their country, if their country is asking them to disregard their own judgement to become useful for their benefit, the individual must refuse allegiance and become useful as a person and not a machine the government can use at their own will. The people that the government uses, are used to invade other countries and are enforcing their policies, making them become a popular vote government as well, “we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness” ( Thoreau 945). Thoreau is implying that civil disobedience is required in order to follow one’s own voice, to follow through to their morals, even if it means not being included in the popular vote. Thoreau states that civil disobedience is a duty that is required to indicate the necessity for change in the government, “whole country is unjustly overrun...not too soon for honest men to rebel

In his “Civil Disobedience”, Thoreau argued that the nation shouldn’t let themselves be governed by their inexpedient government. Thoreau was calling the common man to practice civil disobedience by not paying taxes. Thoreau included an anecdote to dramatize and help explain his night in jail as result

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.

I cannot speak to the power of voting at the time Thoreau wrote this, but in the modern world, discouraging voting is the last thing that needs to be done in America. Today many people complain about our country’s political situation, and yet they make no active efforts to change the situation by voting to fix it. In this day and age, Americans post such atrocious voter turnouts such as the 2014 elections, which saw a whopping 36% turnout according to the Washington Post, and yet they wonder why congress has a mere 11% approval rating according to a Gallop poll. Thoreau may believe that the ideal government is a nonexistent one, but in the modern world we must accept that the abandonment of government is not a pragmatic option, so it is our civic duty to our fellow citizens to do our part to make the best of the government that we have by imbuing it with the voice of the people. After all, in the famous words of Abraham Lincoln, this government is meant to be one “of the people, by the people, for the people,” so it makes sense that when the people are taken out of the equation, what we are left with is a bastardization of government riddled with corruption and

Therefore, we can see that although Thoreau advocates for the power of individual changes, he knows it is going to take collective effort for any significant changes to happen. Everyone knows, including him, that one person’s withdraw of support from the government can never result in abolition; it will take a thousand people. However, Thoreau recognizes that because of this way of thinking, people have been seeing themselves as a dispensable agent. They will never take action if they keep waiting for more people to get on board in the revolution. Thus, to break this death cycle, Thoreau tries to shift people’s attention away from believing that majority effort is needed, and instead makes people believe that one single person is all it takes to change everything, even though it was in fact not the case.

It is this principle that gives people the liberty to do as they please, granted they do not infringe on others’ rights; and it is this right that gives people the liberty to disobey the law if their conscience does not allow them to abide by it. Civil disobedience is the exercise of that liberty, the conscience-driven decision to do something both illegal and moral. Indeed, civil disobedience is the most admirable exercise of freedom—the doing of what one believes to be just, and the refusal to do what one believes to be unjust. Lacking this exercise of conscience, individuals are reduced to mere automatons in service of government policy. As Henry David Thoreau, a pacifist and writer arrested for refusing to pay a poll tax going towards the Mexican-American War, wrote in his 1849 essay Civil Disobedience, “the mass of men serve the state…not as men mainly, but as machines….In

Thoreau argues that for one to know ones own moral standards and beliefs, one must take oneself out of society, into a mode of isolation, to achieve civil disobedience- writing, “You must live within yourself, and depend upon yourself…and not have many affairs,” (Thoreau, 11). This in itself is problematic, as the core method of achieving civil disobedience is extremely limiting to those who can practice the method. At the time this was written, 1849, not many had access or means that allowed isolation. Therefore, by limiting the amount of who can practice what Thoreau is preaching, he is limiting the amount of civil disobedience that can partake in the society. If one does what Thoreau is asking, for the individual to act on their individual principle, Thoreau is essentially limiting civil disobedience from ever taking full form. Thoreau's idea of refusing to pay taxes is not arbitrary, but he suppress the effect of this action by demanding it must be done on the individual level. One of his most flawed arguments in his writing is that of voting being equal to complicity, as he writes, “I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right;...but I am willing to leave it to the majority…Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it,” (Thoreau, 5). This is quite backwards, as he argues before that “political action” is what will counter complicity- so how could voting, a form of political action,

“Resistance to Civil Government” is an essay that was written by famous American Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau prepared this essay and lecture primarily in response to the Mexican War, which was anticipated to expand slave territory. Despite the widespread opinion and belief that Thoreau’s essay originally was intended to advocate for the dissolution of the entire government itself, he “[asked] for, not at once no government, but at once a better government” (945). The Transcendentalist writer considers that a government in which the majority is the hierarchy in all decisions cannot be a government that is based on justice. Moral issues are intended to be resolved by an individual and their conscience, rather than a majority

After reading “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, I believe that this historic piece of literature can still have a substantial impact upon the current beliefs of the American people. The reason that this essay has such significance to America is because this essay addresses the proper way to go about civil disobedience in addition to providing education about the nature of civil disobedience. I believe the most significant message that this essay could teach Americans is expressed in this quote, “A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.” This quote expresses the need to not just believe in a cause but to actively support it. This is in contrast to a wide spread phenomenon called false activism that is prominent in society. We all know someone who is, and for the most part all of us are guilty of seeing a cause online, claiming to support it, and then not doing a single thing to progress the cause. For example, most everyone you talk to would claim to strongly support more environmentally friendly methods of gathering energy yet the majority of us have not done anything to progress the cause of green energy.

He also says that if one disagrees with the law, they should remove themselves and get as far away as they can. In his essay, he states that he does not think that any reform in the government is possible. He continues by saying that petitioning and voting do not do anything for the common people. Henry David Thoreau uses his experiences in jail to effectively prove his points.