Throughout history "Civil Disobedience" has played a significant role in many of the social reforms that we all take for granted today, reforms such as the abolition of slavery, civil rights movement, and anti-war movements. ... Playing a significant role in many of the social reforms that took place in the United States, including the abolition of slavery, civil rights movement, and anti-war movement, civil disobedience is still used in today's society for people whose demands and needs goes beyond politics or the government's laws. In 1848 Thoreau spent one night in jai...

• Word Count: 1587
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Furthermore, philosophers such as Socrates and Vonnegut have stressed that responsibility for one's actions is the first step toward understanding why things are the way they are (i.e. war, hunger, injustice, etc.) ... In the turbulent polytheistic society of Athens, no one action could please all of the gods, but more importantly, Socrates would advocate that it is ludicrous to act in a mechanical way merely to please beings which are at constant war with each other. ... He also recognizes the irony and hypocrisy of dissenters of slavery and the Mexican War being called unpatriotic an...

• Word Count: 2901
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." This famous quote reflects the tension felt between the individual and society for some of the later Romantic writers and is apparent in their work. Transcendent...

• Word Count: 1963
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate