Morality is the quality of being morally right. Thoreau views morality as acting on one’s conscience. Conscience is a faculty that God gives to every man so he can discern between right and wrong. Its verdicts are consistent across different circumstances, and across time. Therefore, morality is absolute. In this section, Thoreau explores ways in which people justify not acting according to their consciences. However, Thoreau maintains the conviction that nothing can excuse withholding what is morally right.
Thoreau focuses his point on “patrons of virtue.” A patron of virtue is a person who understands and supports the right, but does not act on what he knows. He introduces this group using a verse, which reads, "A drab of state, a
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The majority will likely only ‘abolish slavery’ through law when their culture has already deemed it null. Thoreau believes only men who live by conscience can actually abolish slavery. These men show their desires in their votes, but their choices to not need to prevail. These men know that only their individual actions on conscience can cause the change they know is right.
Thoreau also believes that expediency cannot substitute for morality. He cites the philosopher William Paley, who claims that “the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other" (79). Paley argues that the morally correct action in any scenario requires only comparing the costs o the actions on either side. Thoreau understands that many apply Paley’s theory to cases dealing with morality, which is evident when he calls Paley “a common authority with many on moral questions” (79). Those who would use Paley’s statement as a way to judge morally correct action would not disown the United States government for its acceptance of slavery, because it would cause “unnecessary” grievance on their own part, and inconvenience to the authorities. However, Thoreau says that Paley’s view only applies where the rule of expediency applies, or where only non-moral questions
Henry David Thoreau’s words that “disobedience is the true foundation of liberty” and that “the obedient must be slaves” is a political statement that never lost its topicality during the Romantic era. Thoreau served as an important contributor to the philosophical and American literary movement known as New England Transcendentalism. Nature and the conduct of life are two central themes that are often weaved together in his essays and books that were published in the Romantic era of literature. Thoreau brought these two themes together to write on how people ought to live a simplistic life through embracing nature. His naturalistic writing intertwined cataloging and observation with Transcendentalist views of nature. Through his life and
Thoreau painstakingly reminds the individual of the universal principle that is all people, regardless of race, color or beliefs, deserve to live lives free from the tyranny of oppression and he who does not help grant this freedom to those oppressed, is equally as damned as he who enforced it. Thoreau expanded on this idea, “There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them…they hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest, and with effect.” Clearly, Thoreau’s insistence is that rebuking evil is a much a moral obligation as is praising the good. In fact, he insisted, “If one honest man, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the country jail therefore, it would be the abolition of slavery in America.” Such a drastic and frank statement from Thoreau only proves how steadfast he was in his beliefs that the individual could bring forth great change. Every functioning member of society deserves the chance to make a compelling difference in the lives of those around them, regardless of factors such as race. For it is those who do not protest who aid in the condemnation.
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.
What does Thoreau do in “Civil Disobedience to urge his readers to believe him to be a trustworthy, credible person?
In Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, he argues that when civil laws conflict with an individual's morality, the individual should follows his conscience. Thoreau like many Transcendentalists felt a less involved government was best. Thoreau wrote, "That government is best which governs not at all." Obviously, Thoreau realized that he could afford to take this open opinion on government because of the American government. But he felt that government's authority should be limited to physical matters of the country, such as infrastructure and orderliness. He felt a government that become involved in moral matters such as sobriety and slavery was a government over-stepping its boundaries. Ultimately, Thoreau and other transcendentalists felt a utopian society would be the best.
The point of the essay is to encourage the reader to act upon their opinions. Thoreau believes that simply having an opinion or casting a vote doesn’t cause change in the world, so it is important that people take the necessary steps to fix the problems they face as a society.
Brown was sentenced to death and called ridiculous for his actions by the community; Thoreau took the opportunity to deliver a speech address to Brown called A Plea for Captain John Brown. He praised Brown’s decision to take action and drew a representation of a fearless man willing to take a stand for others “A man of rare common-sense and directness of speech, as of action; a transcendentalist above all, a man of ideas and principles, --that was what distinguished him. Not yielding to a whim or transient impulse, but carrying out the purpose of a life…I do not believe in erecting statues to those who still live in our hearts, whose bones have not yet crumbled in the earth around us, but I would rather see the statue of Captain Brown in the Massachusetts State-House yard, than that of any other man whom I know. I rejoice that I live in this age, that I am his contemporary.” (“Avalon Project- A Plea For Captain John Brown By Henry David Thoreau; October 30,1959”). This is the example of the moral system Thoreau wanted others to adopt; here, one man’s decision to take a step and make a change for those who couldn’t do it for themselves, would make a difference in the current society.
Thoreau questions society and essentially the core of its practicality, posing the question: Is the idea of a civil citizen possible without loosing ones’ principles? In his essay he articulates, “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content
First off, you, yourself are pretty darn important. It goes without saying that the stuff you believe are important to yourself as well. This stands true for most people and Thoreau is not an exception. He believes that the conscience has higher priority than the dictates of laws. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. The root at which this topic arrives from is basically, “People ‘making’ you think or do differently, because I said so.” In the book, he is put in jail for not
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
In his famous essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,’’ Martin Luther King, Jr. cites conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and defying unjust laws. In the same way, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” that people should do what their conscience tells them and not obey unjust laws. The positions of the two writers are very close; they use a common theme of conscience, and they use a similar rhetorical appeal of ethos.
In Thoreau's words, "There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what ton do, and do nothing". Thoreau is trying to encourage those who disagree with the government's laws because they go against their own moral law to do something about it rather than sit by and watch it
Henry David Thoreau was an American writer and protester, who wrote the influential essay “Civil Disobedience”. In his essay, he advocates for citizens to protest against government actions that they deem unjust and to stand up for one’s rights, putting morals before law,
Thoreau believed that we should fight against injustice through non-violence, instead of being neither acquiescent nor using physical violence. “Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine.” This meant that we should stop the government and corporations that had no conscience. He deemed that